Office Politics & Gossip

One of the things I like about working at home, exclusively, is the fact that I miss out on all the office politics and gossip. I’ve always taken that to be a good thing to miss.

Evidently that’s a bad thing. At least it is according to a doctoral student in social psychology who’s doing a dissertation on trust at the University of Delaware. I read Steve Bien-Aime’s article, In Telecommuting Age, Face Time Still Essential, in the Deleware Online News Journal.

There are some interesting points to be sure, but I’d argue that even though I work exclusively at home (never going in to the office to work simply because I live far too far away) I still manage to ‘get to know’ my co-workers. I know who has children and who doesn’t; what hobbies they are into; what pets they have; family lives and more. Perhaps more than some folks who see eachother each and every day know.

So, while I’m not convinced that it takes physically working in an office with my co-workers to build trust, it’s still an interesting argument and a nicely written article.