Dear Desk Jockey,

Dear Desk Jockey (part 2),

The New York Times recently published an op-ed, Working From Home is Less Healthy Than You Think. It was written by an orthopedic who has been seeing a rising decline in our physical health. In an earlier post, I talked about the rise in neck and back pain as a result of remote working in a previous blog. A decline in physical health is obvious as we on average have become more sedentary than our parents and grandparents. That has been trending since well before COVID hit.

What I didn’t foresee that this article mentions is the rise in mental health problems. Anxiety and isolation has been trending up. Humans by nature are social creatures. What this article doesn’t explore is why being social is so important. I believe that we are the highest on the food chain by working as a pack. We are not the fastest land creature on this planet, that goes to the cheetah who can run 70 miles per hour. We are not the strongest in the animal kingdom, that goes to grizzly bears, elephants, or hippos depending on who you ask. We don’t have very sharp teeth and some of us don’t even swim, present company included! Yet we took down the wooly mammoth thousands of years ago and I think it is because we worked as a pack.

Our brain rewards us by releasing endocannabinoids when we do nice things for one another and when we work towards a common goal. The endocannabinoid system gives us a feeling of happiness and also helps to regulate appetite and hormones, increases one’s motivation and pain tolerance, and much more. It’s natures way of telling us that we are better together.

There’s no doubt that there are many benefits to remote working. Some can thrive but some will feel lonely and anxious. It’s no wonder employees are “quiet quitting.” What is clear is that working from home took away our ability to see and understand the nuances of each other. I was taught that we should look each other in the eyes when speaking because it shows honesty and integrity. But I don’t even know how to look someone in the eyes during video calls, am I supposed to look in the camera or at my companion on the Zoom tile?!

Between the physical and mental health issues that can be caused by remote working, something needs to change. Employers need to redesign the work day by offering opportunities for in-person collaboration. Employees need to recognize that human interaction is healthy and necessary and make efforts to connect with other humans, whether that be in or outside the workplace. Good luck!

To your health,

Kim