But is a job just an exchange of labor for payment? I view it as so much more. Even if we look at it from a job perspective, its also an opportunity to build personal connections between team members; "I owe you one" - goes a long way. Yes you can absolutely build these personal connections online, and it may be easier for introverted people, but I would say for most people a handshake or a smile passing down the hallway or a 'cool jacket', or someone fixing a bug and rushing to tell their co-workers, and other organic interactions are very hard to replicate online.
My friend, 95% of my coworkers have very little understanding what I do to the point where I could ghost for a week and there’d be probably 80% chance no one would be the wiser. Lots of jobs are like that. Deadline are generally floating, a project can take 30min or 30 days, and micromanaging doesn’t help much if at all. I keep track of what I’m doing on GitHub, make sure my backups are good, and do my thing. They don’t need me there and when I am in the office, very few people need to talk to me lol
I say this as a very social person. I like having colleagues. But the fact is I just don’t need to be in there most days, and they don’t understand what I do beyond “video,” so they don’t offer a lot of opportunity beyond that if we are being very utilitarian about it (which I generally don’t).
Many people have family and friends they'd much rather be around than the people they're forced to be around at work, even if those people are nice and their friends, so they don't need their job to substitute that socialization for them.
They are not a substitute for family or friends. I enjoy my co-workers' company and our little chats and social interactions provide a lot of value to me personally. I don't know why you feel forced to choose between your family and your co-workers. Seems like you've experienced some toxic/bad workplace environments.
I can only speak for myself. I won't get the same thing because we wont be sharing common goals, and/or celebrating little wins, or pulling in favors from other departments, etc, etc.
I totally get the idea, but when a company can easily fire you for no good reason it's hard to develop any real attachment to a job so that it is something beyond just an exchange of labor for payment.
Most employment contracts in the US (sorry for the US centric bias, I don't know where you're from!) are at-will, which means either party can walk away at any time for any reason. That doesn't stop us from forming deep friendships and relationships. Its the human condition.
So don't replicate it online. Having a different venue beyond a job is also an option.
That's the real part highlighted by the pandemic: people are extremely reliant on their jobs for social interaction. With all the problems that come with it. We're practically raised to be dependent on jobs for way too many things.
