My Colleagues Insist on a Maddening Ritual to Cope With Working From Home. It's Ruining It for Me.

"My office went remote during the pandemic, an arrangement which became permanent, much to my delight. I love working from home for all of the reasons one might: from kids, to pets, to putting dinner in the crockpot on my lunch hour, to saving money on clothes, food, and gas. I have reclaimed HOURS of my day! I have time to exercise! It's amazing."

"I know many of them enjoyed seeing each other (and me) almost daily, and don't share my enthusiasm for working from home. The result is that they want to talk on the phone a lot, and during the workday. Some of these people are truly my friends, and I care about them, and we socialize outside of work. But I am exhausted from talking all day long."

"I have the same position as three others, and we share a workload, so everyone knows what everyone else is doing. We are also very busy 98 percent of the time, and I just don't work as fast when I have to keep up constant chit-chat. I have tried everything I can think of, including saying that my productivity is affected, only to have them reassure me that I'm good at my job!"

The office shifted to permanent remote work during the pandemic. The worker values remote work for time savings, childcare, pets, cooking, exercise, and reduced expenses. The worker is introverted and likes most coworkers, but several prefer in-person interaction and make frequent workday phone calls. The phone conversations occur despite a shared workload among four colleagues and high overall busyness. Constant chit-chat reduces the worker's speed and causes exhaustion. Attempts to explain productivity impacts were met with reassurance rather than change. Management cannot be involved because of feared repercussions and loss of anonymity. The worker seeks a script to end or limit these calls.

Read at Slate Magazine