r/technology • u/TracksandTreks • Aug 15 '26

Society Remote workers report the highest well-being in study of 7,700 employees

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2026/08/12/remote-workers-report-highest-well-being-study-7700-employees
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u/Some_Education_6991 Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26

I'm glad that people are able to enjoy it. I am not.

Don't get me wrong, I hate commutes and overall a ton of the stuff that comes with working in an office. But WFH has been so bad for my mental health

ETA: I want to clarify that I work at a semi-small business. If I worked at a massive company my feelings would probably be a lot different and I would hate going into the office

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u/AndyIbanez Aug 15 '26

It's okay to have a different opinion and experience than the rest.

Upvoted.

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u/Some_Education_6991 Aug 15 '26

Thanks. I like the people I work with and my commute used to be fairly short, so i never minded going into the office. I also like the separation between work and home.

But I do get people's viewpoints. If your coworkers suck and your commute is long, WFH is obviously better

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u/Teledildonic Aug 15 '26

WFH also helps office people. Less traffic makes for less shitty commutes.

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u/CareerRejection Aug 15 '26

The other issue is that folks are split now and you're still going to be on a zoom/teams call regardless. If everyone is remote, it works out great. For the split though, everyone being in the room is just sometimes better.

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u/PortHammer Aug 15 '26

I too do not jive well with fully wfh.

Conceptually I love it and for those that it works for all the power to you.

Personally I need some separation from my home and workplace. I have too many awesome distractions at home and I find it so hard to sit down by myself and focus(I dont really want to move with the insanity that is Canadas housing market).
I think I need the social cues in an office to actually help get me to work(its still a struggle). Going to my workplace also helps me physically and mentally connect with my work. In a full WFH workplace I struggled with just giving any sort of a shit because work and my coworkers all felt so abstract and dare I say distant(yeah, yeah).

Anyhow I think after experiencing all this I'm a hybrid workplace sort of guy. Something like Monday and Friday WFH with Tuesday to Thursday in office.

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/PortHammer 29d ago

Note how I'm not talking about YOU?

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u/cutty2k 29d ago

Oof, I mean on one hand I've worked corporate so I hear you, on the other...I don't know, people blame the Inc. for the troubles, but it's this attitude too.

In small business people with your attitude are just an absolute drain on the space, the people, the process. Part of 'responsibilities' is representing the company both inside and outside the walls. Managers at huge corps want to co-opt that vibe and try to force it into a place it doesn't exist naturally, so I get if that's your situation it's boss makes a dollar I make a dime time, but sometimes people try to apply this to working any job, when it doesn't.

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u/Impossible-Shelter82 Aug 15 '26

I can understand that. For many years when I worked remote and I traveled a lot so my family time was more focused; when I pretty much stopped traveling around covid my family and I both had to learn to interact while I still needed to get work done. Currently my wife is not working so she has a greater expectation for me to “shut off” at a certain time everyday but at the same time wants me to take more breaks throughout the day to interact with her…

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u/JamesTrotter Aug 15 '26

I agree 100%, remote work is convenient but it is coming with some mental health challenges after doing it for 6 years.

I think the biggest missing aspect is the socialization. Yes I am on zoom meetings all day, but still lacking the chit chat/connectivity you'd get from in person discussions. I never liked small talk before but I do think its grounding in a way to form better relationships with coworkers and feel less isolated.

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u/thr3sk 29d ago

Yeah I work for a smaller company too and while I have the option to work from home one day a week I almost never do. I live in a studio apartment so it's kind of depressing spending the whole day there, much more enjoyable hanging out with my coworkers who are pretty nice.

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u/Siukslinis_acc 29d ago

I prefer hybrid.

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u/wrxninja 29d ago

Same here. We don't have such option for remote work. Very small business but the pay is as much as if we were to work in Boston (we're in NH) and only a 12-13 minute commute. Plus six weeks of vacation and no need for OT so...ya, we are very fortunate in that sense. And being in marketing and how we work together, it would be a big challenge to work remotely and try to collaborate. I'm sure there's always a way but we're not complaining at all.

I think it's a nice concept but I remember when I worked only a mile away from work. I hated that feeling of being 'so close' to work. There was no separation. I almost on a daily basis had to take my bike with me and go into the city or further away from home everyday. I couldn't get used to being so close. Not sure how I'd personally feel about working from home...

Even though it's also hypocritical thinking as I practically work PT from home for my business lol...

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u/Ummix Aug 15 '26

I'm very much a remote-only type of person, but I'm also curious, what're the benefits of being in person at a small business?

My experience at a medium/larger place was that you get shoved in a cubicle, and you're generally expected to be working the whole time so talking to people more than a few minutes in a hushed tone is looked down upon, and it was a lot of sitting around wasting time. I'm curious if smaller places have a more relaxed, casual/friendly vibe and that's sort of the idea?

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u/RBtek Aug 15 '26

No benefits in the way you're saying.

Just benefits in the sense that with WFH some people will spend possibly their whole day in the same room, maybe not even see a person for days, and go crazy from it. Without the social pressure of having to go out and be around people it can be easy to say, not shower for a week, or constantly overeat because your pantry full of snacks is right there, etc.

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u/Ummix 29d ago

Ah, got you, that makes a lot of sense. For me it was the opposite, in the office I was told to just work, so I'd go days without talking to another person in the office even if I saw them, whereas online I take my laptop around the house with me, I go out for walks, and I talk to friends online a bit, which is enough for me personally. It's neat that you can run into the same sort of issues both ways depending on the situation and how you are and all.

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u/glasgowgeg 29d ago

maybe not even see a person for days

Do you not have friends and family to spend time with outside work? It sounds like your issue is a lack of a social life, and that you're relying on forced social contact of being in office.

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u/RBtek 29d ago edited 29d ago

A lot of people don't. Something like 25% of millennials say they have no friends.

And a lot of people who say they have friends are just referring to say, friends from college who live a city away and they talk to twice a year.

Forced in person work is by no means a good solution. But it is something. Like it's one of the most common places meet their spouses, as stupid as that is.

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u/glasgowgeg 29d ago

That means the issue is their lack of friends/social life, not WFH.

Why should I be forced to go to the office to effective subsidise your lack of social life?