Before, when we worked in the office, coworkers and supervisors would continually stop by to chat about what they're up to — both professionally and personally. Additionally, we would have an all staff meeting every other week where the professional would eventually pivot into the personal.
They told us the frequency of these meetings were important because they didn't want the departments to feel siloed. It's important that everyone knows what everyone is up to, they said.
When we first began working from home we had the same amount of meetings. But then they started to decrease. The all staff meeting is now just every other month — despite the fact that we're more siloed than ever.
My theory: It's because you can't have side conversations in Zoom. Our meetings would always begin with the director speaking to us as a group and eventually derail into everyone having separate conversations with each other around the conference table.
Have you had a similar experience? What's your theory?
It's also worth noting: Not only do I no longer have to pause my work to stop and sing happy birthday to an adult whose name I don't know, I also no longer receive mass emails about birthdays and work anniversaries.
It's funny how these things which were once so important are now gone. It's like we don't have to pretend anymore — we can just do the work.