As we all know, remote work has exploded during the pandemic, becoming much more widely practiced than ever before. In the wake of pandemic (receding or becoming “new normal” in more areas, especially throughout USA in March/April of this year), there’s a lot of discussion of whether/how to bring workers back to the office.
On the worker side, I’m seeing lots of posts (on LinkedIn) by workers extolling the benefits of remote work, including eliminated commute (saving time), easier childcare (?!?), increased comfort and better for marginalized communities (e.g., no need for code-switching). To my mind, the most compelling argument in favor of remote work is the benefit for workers with mobility or sensory issues, as traveling to -or being in- the office can be onerous at best and unsustainable (meaning they can’t keep the job) at worst.
However, I feel like many downsides to office workers switching to remote work are being overlooked, such as offloaded infrastructure, space/network limitations, and health consequences.
Continue reading “Remote Work is No Panacea”