I left the corporate world before Covid.
When I started working remotely with no obligation to go to the office every day, it felt like a relief.
Instead of spending two hours travelling back and forth and listening to office noise, I could focus better on my work. I finished my tasks faster. I managed my time better. I could lead a more meaningful life.
When Covid came, I already had years of experience working from home.
I knew this way of living suited me.
But that is exactly where my blind spot was.
The Blind Spot: Not Everyone Is Like Me
I recently read a LinkedIn post where this topic was discussed, and I must admit, it opened my eyes.
I spend a lot of time thinking about how to design my future company well.
I want the people working with me to stay creative, focused, and without unnecessary stress.
But I do not control what happens in their homes.
And I do not control the strength of their local social fabric.
Leaving a company can be stressful for reasons that have nothing to do with the job itself.
The job may end in a five-minute call. The social fabric around it may take years to rebuild.
Let me compare two cases.
First case:
An employee leaves a company.
He is introverted. He does his work day by day. He does not actively build a large social network. But because he works in an office, some social circles form naturally around him.
Even many introverted people have at least two or three colleagues they talk to regularly. People who know what is happening in their lives. People who notice when something changes.
Then he leaves.
Suddenly, the job is gone.
And with it, much of the social structure disappears too.
Second case:
I leave a company.
This happened to me several times.
Every time I changed work, I lost some work relationships. That was natural.
But I had already spent years building social fabric elsewhere.
Toastmasters.
Tech meetups.
Friends outside work.
Now also the tango community.
So when one professional circle changed, my whole social life did not collapse.
The difference is resiliency.
And no matter what we read online, we are still humans.
Most of us live better when we meet other humans in person.
I learned that over many years.
Today I have a rich social life and a narrow group of deeper friendships.
But that did not happen automatically.
I built it.
What Can a Remote-First Company Do With This?
A remote-first company can easily miss this problem.
From the outside, everything may look fine.
The employee delivers.
The metrics look acceptable.
The person attends calls.
No obvious alarm goes off.
But underneath, isolation may quietly grow.
Many companies try to solve this by forcing people back into offices.
I understand the instinct, but I do not think that is the only answer.
I still believe in remote-first work.
I do not want to exclude talent simply because someone lives in another city, country, or continent.
Creative outliers live everywhere.
If I design a company only around people who can physically reach one office, I lose too much talent.
At the same time, I now see the missing layer more clearly.
Remote-first cannot mean:
You work from home. Your social life is your problem.
That may be legally true.
But it is not good enough as a design philosophy.
If people are isolated, anxious, or socially dependent only on the company, they will not do their best work for long.
And more importantly, they will not live well.
My Pledge
My pledge is this:
For every employee who asks for help, my company will help them build social fabric in the place where they live.
Not as a forced program.
Not as corporate paternalism.
Not as another HR ritual everyone has to attend.
But as support available to those who want it.
Because if someone works remotely, their local life still matters.
Their friendships matter.
Their community matters.
Their ability to meet people outside work matters.
Their mental wellbeing matters.
And yes, from a company perspective, it also affects their ability to think, create, and focus.
What This Could Look Like
The help could have two layers.
First, consulting and coaching.
Some people were never taught how to build social circles intentionally.
They moved through school, university, and work, and the social environment formed around them automatically.
But remote work changes that.
So we can teach the basics:
- how to find communities,
- how to choose activities,
- how to start attending regularly,
- how to become a familiar face,
- how to build friendships slowly,
- how to avoid making work the only social structure.
Second, practical local research.
Since employees can live anywhere, there is only so much a central company can do directly.
But we can still help them search.
We can help find social activities, hobby groups, language exchanges, sports clubs, dance schools, maker spaces, volunteer groups, meetups, public speaking clubs, or other local communities in their area.
The point is not to prescribe one lifestyle.
The point is to help the person build a life that does not depend entirely on work.
And of course, if the employee lives near one of our future branches, they are welcome to come in person.
Remote-first does not mean remote-only.
The Expected Outcome
If this works, employees will have a healthier social life outside the company.
In one sense, this may look like shooting myself in the foot.
A company can gain power over isolated people.
Employees who have no life outside work may tolerate more nonsense because leaving the company would also mean losing their social world.
But I do not want that kind of dependency.
I never cared about squeezing every possible drop out of people.
If I help someone build a stronger life and they eventually leave, that is acceptable.
Other people will come.
And perhaps the way we do things will become part of the brand.
Not because we offer the highest salaries.
Not because we optimize every person as a resource.
But because people can feel that the company was designed by someone who understands that humans are not only workers.
They are social beings.
And remote-first work should respect that.
