Remote Work Didn’t Break Culture. We Did.

When Did Work Become So Transactional?

I discussed this topic with my dad last night and shared some very candid thoughts.

Somewhere along the way, work stopped feeling like a shared endeavour and became a checklist.

No, this is not just about remote work, which I genuinely appreciate.

I remember being in offices, talking shop with backend developers, staying late, wearing multiple hats, and building things we were truly proud of. None of us were making great money, but that wasn’t the point. The point was momentum, trust, and the quiet energy that comes from solving problems together.

For the past six years, I’ve also lived the opposite experience.

I worked fully remote while most of my colleagues were three time zones behind me on the West Coast. Different cities and schedules, but we shared the same mentality. We collaborated, kept things light, and delivered meaningful work. Distance didn’t dilute the culture.

Then something shifted. I felt it less than two years ago.

Work slowly became about individual tasks instead of collective progress. Conversations turned into tickets. Collaboration became optional. Culture stopped being something you build and became something you reference in onboarding decks.

That’s when work gets transactional.

Independence Is Not the Enemy

Let me be clear. I love remote work.

I’m independent, resourceful, and I don’t need hand-holding or constant supervision. Give me a problem, give me context, and get out of the way.

But not everyone works like that.

Some people need connection and rhythm. They need to feel part of something bigger than their Jira queue. When those elements disappear, mental health takes the first hit. Productivity follows shortly after. I’ve seen it firsthand.

• Isolation creates silos.

• Silos create misalignment.

• Misalignment kills momentum.

That’s not a remote problem. That’s a leadership and design problem.

The Future of Work Still Needs Togetherness

Remote work is not going away. It shouldn’t.

But I struggle to imagine it being truly successful without intentional overlap. Shared working sessions., regular moments to level set expectations, spaces where collaboration is not scheduled weeks in advance or buried behind asynchronous updates.

This is where tools can actually help, if we use them with purpose.

Recreating Presence Without Forcing Proximity

Some platforms are trying to bring back what we lost, not by mimicking offices, but by restoring spontaneity.

Virtual world platforms like Gather and Teamflow lean into presence. You can walk up to someone. Conversations happen organically. Spatial audio (highly underutilized) replaces endless meeting links. It feels closer to grabbing a coffee or going for a walk around the block than booking a call.

Personally, I love this approach. They remind me that collaboration used to be accidental sometimes, and that mattered.

For visual thinkers and builders, tools like Miro and FigJam give teams a shared canvas. Ideas live in the open. Thinking becomes visible.

Yes, we still need structure. (Even if I hate to admit it)

Platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Notion, and Asana keep work organized and accountable. They are essential, but they are not culture on their own.

Even simpler tools like Jamboard once worked because they lowered the barrier to participation.

The lesson isn’t about choosing the fanciest platform. It’s about choosing connection on purpose.

If you have your finger on the pulse of your workplace, you already know this.

Culture Does Not Scale Automatically

Ambitious mission statements do not preserve culture. Consistent behaviour does. Always will, too.

If the only time people interact is to exchange tasks, work becomes purely transactional. If there’s no shared space to think, react, or laugh, people disengage quietly.

We can’t expect humans to thrive in isolation just because the work is technically getting done.

Remote work needs rituals. It needs shared moments and intentional overlap.

Otherwise, we’re just building efficient systems that quietly burn people out.

We’ve already seen where that leads.

The future of work can be flexible, humane, and deeply collaborative.

But only if we stop treating connection as optional.