I think it largely depends on the person. For example, as I am someone that's extremely introverted, going to work and interacting with people outside of my duties drains the hell out of me and makes me miserable by the time I get home.
The more conciseness of communicating and lack of socializing with coworkers has made me both much happier and more productive. Granted, I'm on the pretty far end of the introvert-extrovert spectrum and am much happier being by myself for extended periods of time, so I'm sure it definitely varies.
We had a single day of office time a week before covid, and I basically wrote off that day as 'social day' for similar reasons.
I'd get things that involved meetings done, but the density of social stuff that got packed into that day meant it was a struggle to get other things done, so I mostly tried to pack meetings into that day and just accepted I'd do little of anything else.
They I realised there was nothing special about those days - it was how things used to be for me when I spent the whole day in an office.
The thought of going back to an office in any future job file me with dread.
> interacting with people outside of my duties drains the hell out of me
Do you find the interaction universally draining or a matter of consent? I usually detest the interruptions save a few colleagues which I find fun to talk to.
I find pretty much any social interaction draining. It's been a source for my chronic, major depression. While I don't have any issues socializing, like talking to people, keeping a conversation, or making friends, I just really don't like doing any of those things and I would be most happy never doing those things again, if it was viable and acceptable.
I’m not necessarily introverted but I detest small talk, I don’t talk about “unsafe” subjects, I don’t complain about anything at the company, I don’t talk about anything going on at home good or bad, what’s left to talk about with coworkers?
I’m always careful to keep a strict professional line with management, it gets to be tiring to always be “on”. My professional self is nothing like how I am in my personal life.
Interaction? Heh. The presence of other people is already draining. Trying to work surrounded by people in open space feels like trying to work when loud music is playing. Yes, it is possible, but I wish so much I could have an office -- or just a cubicle -- for myself alone!
The happiest moments are when I get into flow and stop noticing the world around me. And that's usually when the interruptions happen.
Talking with the few colleagues I like is fun. But at the end of the day, the work needs to get done, and the working conditions are not helpful.
That’s a good point, presence is enough to cause me stress, since it means interruption can happen at any moment. I find it’s hard to motivate working on anything that might take more than 15 minutes. I guess that represents the average time to interruption or amount of time I can ask anyone to wait for me to finish what I’m doing.
It’s a shame since the most interesting stuff gets done when no one else is around, specifically at home after family’s gone to bed, but that could be each work day.
The more conciseness of communicating and lack of socializing with coworkers has made me both much happier and more productive. Granted, I'm on the pretty far end of the introvert-extrovert spectrum and am much happier being by myself for extended periods of time, so I'm sure it definitely varies.