Workplace Bonds in a Remote World: Are We Losing Meaningful Connections?

There’s something special about the connections we make in the workplace, especially when we spend years interacting with colleagues. Think about all the people you’ve crossed paths with over your career. Some of these colleagues became more than just coworkers—they became familiar faces, people you could count on for a quick chat about last night's game, a lunchtime walk to Starbucks, or maybe even a little venting session over coffee.

While you may not have invited them over for dinner or stayed in touch after leaving the company, those bonds felt real. If you saw one of these former colleagues walking down the street today, you’d likely recognize them instantly. There’s a good chance you’d stop, share a smile, and maybe even exchange a hug. You’d catch up on old times, relive a few memories, and talk about life as it is now. That connection you had, even if it was based on everyday work interactions, would still feel meaningful because of the time you spent together in person.

But let’s take that scenario and place it in today’s world, where remote work has changed the way we connect. With video calls and digital meetings becoming the norm, how do these relationships evolve? Are we still making the same type of meaningful connections when we only see our coworkers through a screen? Imagine working with someone for years in a fully remote capacity. You see them on organized Zoom calls, maybe exchange a few emails or instant messages, but that’s it. There are no casual hallway chats, no spontaneous coffee runs, no shared moments that would have otherwise naturally deepened your relationship.

Fast forward a few years. You and this remote colleague have both moved on to new roles, and suddenly, you find yourself sitting next to them in a café. Would you even recognize them? You might be surprised to find that the image you have of someone from video calls doesn’t always translate to real life. Video calls are flat. They don’t capture the same subtleties that come with meeting in person—body language, presence, the way someone walks into a room. If you did recognize them, it would probably feel a little odd, since that moment would actually be the first time you’re meeting face-to-face, despite having worked together for years.

Sure, you’d have plenty to talk about, and there might even be something cool about finally meeting in person after all those remote interactions. But would it feel the same as it would with a colleague you spent years in the office with? There’s something intangible that gets built when you’re physically present with someone day in and day out. Those little moments, the shared laughs, the quick glances exchanged during a meeting—those things shape the way we relate to people in ways that video calls simply can’t replicate.

Now, think about the emotional connection you have with remote colleagues. If you heard some bad news about a former in-person colleague—a sickness, an accident—you’d probably feel a deep sense of empathy. You shared physical space with them, you knew their quirks, you maybe even met their family at a work event. There’s a closeness that exists, even if you haven’t spoken in years.

But what if it was a remote colleague you’d never met in person? Would you feel the same? Would that emotional proximity be there if they were, essentially, just an avatar on your screen? Maybe not. And it’s a fair question to ask: How does the absence of real-life interaction affect the bonds we build with our remote coworkers?

These are questions that might be worth exploring more deeply by fields like psychology in the years to come. But for now, it’s something we can all reflect on as remote work continues to shape the future of how we connect, both personally and professionally. The dynamics of workplace relationships are shifting, and while video calls have allowed us to stay productive, there’s no denying that something is lost when we don’t share the same physical space. Will we ever get that back, or is this simply the new reality we must learn to adapt to? Only time will tell.