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Working From Home: What if You Never Saw Your Colleagues in Person Again? (bbc.com)

Bryan Lufkin, writing for BBC: Throughout my career I've worked with people that I've never met in person. In theory, I could spend an entire day without meeting another human face-to-face. But could this kind of self-imposed isolation become standard working practice in the future?

Studies show that in the US, the number of telecommuters rose 115% between 2005 and 2017. And in early 2015, around 500,000 people used Slack, the real-time chat room programme, daily. By last September, that number soared to over 6 million. In 2017 a Gallup poll revealed that 43% of 15,000 Americans say they spend at least some of their time working remotely, a 4% rise from 2012. And a 2015 YouGov study found that 30% of UK office workers say they feel more productive when they work outside their workplace. How would we feel if we never had to work with another person face-to-face again? Would we care? Have things gone so far that we might not even notice?

2 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Yes please! by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope so!

    --
    Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    1. Re:Yes please! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hope so!

      Be careful what you wish for. Work that can be done from Montana can also be done from Mumbai.

      I telecommute from Montana to my outsourcing job in Mumbai to do work in London where they offshored work from Helena. It really stinks that when they call me from London, I have to have a fake Indian accent. And if I get a direct call from Montana, I have to fake an English accent. But my accent is really from the Northeast so I put 'R's where they don't belong.