Finding Connection as a Remote Worker
Remote work has allowed greater flexibility in how we spend our time, where we work, and where we live, and it’s also created more connections. No longer restricted by the physical location of an office, people can choose to live closer to family and friends, and employers can maintain connections with talent regardless of their physical location.
In other ways, it’s created greater disconnection.
In a recent study, remote workers cited flexibility as the top benefit of remote work, but loneliness as the top challenge. In another study, more than 70% of remote workers said they don’t feel like they have adequate opportunities to socialize, and the feeling of disconnection is often enough to make them consider leaving their job.
It’s a conundrum I can empathize with. My name is Liz Barney, and last summer I moved home to Ann Arbor to be closer to my family. When a former client heard I was back in the midwest, they asked if I would help with a marketing project to launch the first Four Seasons Hotel in Minneapolis. At first I declined the job, insistent on living in Michigan, but when they returned with an offer to create a remote position for me, I decided to give it a go. For the first time, I found myself physically separated from the community and team I was working with, and I struggled with a feeling of disconnection.
Don’t get me wrong, there are several big parts of a remote job that work well for me. I need periods of deep, uninterrupted focus, and the ability to be in my own home office allows me the privilege of switching both my devices and my personal environments to “do not disturb” mode. And let’s not forget the joys of making a snack every couple hours and sharing a moment with my pets. No longer does there feel like there is such a strong divide between personal and professional life, and the ability to integrate some of my favorite things from my home life into my professional life can be rewarding. And while I enjoyed time with family and friends after working hours, I missed the daytime water cooler moments. I found that during monthly visits to Minneapolis, I left the in-person morning stand-up meetings with a different type of energy than logging off the same meeting remotely.
In a way, I felt like a houseplant. A plant that was originally designed to be part of a larger network, growing in the sun sharing an underground network of roots and exchanging nutrients and support with the other living organisms around them. And while potted plants may allow plants to live year-round in locations they wouldn’t normally be able to survive, it takes a lot more work to water them, provide artificial light and fertilizer to supplement all the things they would have in their traditional environment. At the end of the day, there’s no true substitute for the real thing. The digital socialization of virtual meetings was starting to feel a little more like soc-isolation.
Enter coworking spaces.
I found myself wandering down to Cahoots, and it felt like re-planting myself in a field. I was able to continue working on my remote job, but being surrounded by other people in the space was a revitalizing boost to my system.
When I finished the project I was working on for the remote job and went back to freelancing, I started consulting with Cahoots and found myself thinking about the energy of in-person stand-ups. I wondered how I could create the same feeling for remote workers who had experienced what I had? I talked with Executive Director Chelsea Hohn, and we put our heads together and decided to start Flock, a mid-week morning coffee hour for remote workers. Inspired by my own flock of pet chickens, I wanted to replicate that in-person energy by creating a weekly ritual for gathering with other remote workers. Over the last several months, we’ve experimented with a variety of formats, from round-circle facilitated group conversations, to a casual walk-in environment where people can enter and leave as they need and engage in smaller groups.
Chelsea and Liz created Flock to recreate the energy of in-person stand-ups for remote workers.
While not mandatory, we suggested a simple format for attendees to share weekly happenings with each other:
Rose: What is a highlight from your week so far?
Thorn: What is something you are struggling with?
Bud: What is something you are feeling hopeful about?
It’s always fun hearing about the weekly wins and celebrating. But it was also encouraging to see that when one person shared struggles, others stepped in to share resources, whether it was a yoga recommendation or a helpful book. And while everyone came from different job titles and companies and had different experiences, they all share the same understanding of what it feels like to be frustrated with a communication breakdown, anxious about a looming deadline, or feeling unheard in an exchange. As people continued to attend they cultivated community. One member mentioned that previously they only knew a handful of other people in the space, and they felt awkward just walking up and introducing themselves to strangers at desks, but having the opportunity to connect on this level created a greater sense of camaraderie and friendship. And as people began to feel a deeper sense of connection, they found themselves wanting to give back to each other.
Parisa is a remote worker and aspiring cookbook author with a penchant for pastries. At a recent Flock she mentioned that she had just brought back a large portion of butter from her visit to Paris and she was looking forward to baking with it. As impromptu in-person conversations go, this evolved into an idea to bring a pastry pop-up to a future Flock. So the week before Thanksgiving, she brought an assortment of mouth-watering baked goods to Flock on a donation basis, with all proceeds being donated to Food Gatherers, a local food pantry.
People mingled and munched, and Parisa raised over $250, which will provide 450+ nutritious, healthy meals to individuals in the Washtenaw area. And while everyone enjoyed the pastries she shared, it’s also rewarding to see the moments people are enjoying together.
Remote work is not going away anytime soon. In fact, it’s estimated that 22% of the American workforce will be remote by 2025. But as remote working continues to grow, so will the importance of co-working spaces as a place for people to find energy and support.
Because at the end of the day, whether you’re a person or a plant, we all do better when we’re physically rooted and connected to each other.
If you’re a remote worker who has been missing being in a space around other people, send us a message and join us for a trial day.
