The shift to remote work, accelerated by the global COVID-19 pandemic, has fundamentally altered the landscape of employee socialization. For remote workers, gone are the water-cooler chats, office pop-ins and hallway run-ins that spurred so much camaraderie and ad-hoc collaboration pre-2020. Gone, too, are the daily shared breaks and lunch outings that once contributed to the development of close personal ties.
The changes that remote and hybrid work have brought about have definite implications for work relationships ranging from friendships, to mentorships, and even to potential romantic relationships.
