A 25-year-old medical staffer in the US who used to work from home recently returned to work from the office instead after she felt lonely working by herself and missed her colleagues.
Speaking to Business Insider, Macy Matt said initially she felt that working remotely seemed to be the best of both worlds -- she could continue working as a medical staff while travelling with her boyfriend.
"You're more in control of your schedule, and you have a level of freedom that people don't have when they work from an office daily," Matt told the publication. "Because of these benefits, I always thought that working remotely would be incredible, so when my boyfriend took an assignment as a travel nurse in March, I asked my company if I could work remotely so I could travel with him." Her boss accepted her request.
By then, Matt had been working in medical staffing for three years, and she felt really good about her job. "I was looking forward to traveling with my boyfriend on his new adventure -- plus, I'd cut out a 30-minute commute," she said.
But what she didn't expect was that working from home was a lonely experience.
"I never knew how much I depended on the social and emotional stimulation of the office until I didn't have it. Suddenly, it was just me by myself the entire day while my boyfriend was at work. I would sit in front of my computer in our rental house and miss my coworkers. I didn't see it coming at all."
Matt added that being an introvert, although she loved being by herself, being alone all the time and knowing her coworkers were together was really hard. "I didn't realize how much I feed off being around other people and making them happy. It really took a toll on me," she told Business Insider.
"I started waking up 5 minutes before work and bringing my laptop to bed to start at 8 am. I wouldn't even get out of bed some days, which was so different from when I worked in the office and I would wake up at 5 am feeling so put together," she added.
For Matt, it was hard to feel as invested in her job while working remotely because of the loneliness that's when she decided to return to her office in Omaha. "I'm now going into the office three days a week and working from home two days a week. It's really nice to be back in the office, but I don't know what the future holds," she said adding that she is trying to strike a balance between her personal and professional life.
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