Salahudeen Shakirat Boluwatife

Sir: I used to think remote work was the dream. No rushing through Lagos traffic before 8 a.m. No spending hours trying to get to an office. No dressing up simply because someone expects you to dress. As a UI/UX designer, there is something liberating about being able to work from wherever I am, without having to spend hours navigating traffic just to sit behind a desk. The flexibility is valuable. The time saved from commuting can be spent learning, resting, building relationships or simply taking care of other responsibilities.

Remote work gives us something many traditional workplaces struggle to give: freedom. But I have begun to wonder whether we have been celebrating the freedom without talking enough about the price that sometimes comes with it. Because I thought about this, what happens when the place where you live becomes the place where you work, rest, eat, socialise and sometimes even attend meetings? And at what point does working from home stop feeling like freedom and start feeling like you never really left work?

This is the paradox of remote work. It gives us greater control over where we work, yet sometimes takes away our ability to separate work from the rest of our lives. I am not against remote work. In fact, I think Nigeria needs more of it. And yes, remote work has created opportunities for people who may otherwise have been restricted by location. It has allowed companies to access talent beyond their immediate environment and has given many workers greater flexibility.

However, flexibility without boundaries can become another form of pressure.

One of the biggest challenges of remote work is that home and workplace become the same place. In a conventional office, leaving work usually means physically leaving the building.You close the door. You enter a bus. You drive home. You walk through your gate. The journey home, creates a natural transition between professional and personal life. Even if the commute is stressful, it creates a psychological signal that the working day is ending. Remote workers often do not have that separation. Your workday can end at 5 p.m., but your laptop is still sitting beside you at 8 p.m. Your colleague can send a message.

Your client can request “one small adjustment.” You can tell yourself you will respond quickly, only to find yourself working for another two hours.

Before long, there is no clear distinction between I am at home and I am at work.We have gained the ability to work from anywhere, but sometimes that has quietly become the expectation that we should work everywhere and at any time. And I think that is where the conversation needs to change.

Remote work has its own physical cost as well. Office workers may not realise how much movement is built into a normal working day. Walking to meetings, getting lunch, speaking to a colleague, moving between floors or simply commuting all contribute to daily physical activity. Remote work has removed many of these movements. A person can wake up, walk a few steps to a desk and remain there for several hours. The journey from the bed to the laptop can become the longest commute of the day.

For someone whose work requires staring at a screen for hours, this can mean eye strain, poor posture, back and neck discomfort and a generally sedentary lifestyle. As a designer, I understand how easy this can happen. You tell yourself, “Let me just finish this screen.” Then another revision comes. Then another meeting. Before you know it, several hours have passed.The body keeps the score even when the deadline does not.

And then there comes loneliness. Remote has caused the issue of social connections.Workplaces are not only places where people earn salaries. They are also social environments. The conversations before meetings, the jokes during lunch, the spontaneous discussions and even the occasional complaints about work create human connections. Remote work replaces many of these moments with scheduled meetings, messages and notifications. Although, Digital communication is convenient, but convenience does not always equal connection. A video call can help us complete a task, but it does not necessarily replace the informal human interaction that happens when people share the same physical space. For some remote workers, especially those who live alone, working from home can gradually become socially isolating.

And here comes the financial side that deserves attention, particularly in Nigeria. Remote work may eliminate transport costs, but working from home is not completely free. There is electricity to pay for, internet data to purchase, devices to maintain and sometimes furniture or equipment to make the workspace comfortable. When power supply is unreliable, keeping a laptop, phone and internet connection running can become an additional expense. So, while remote work can save money in some areas, it can quietly transfer certain workplace costs to the individual.

None of this means that remote work is bad. It means we have to become better at doing it. The solution should be we need healthier systems and habits around remote works.

First, remote workers need clear working hours. If the workday ends at 6 p.m., there should be a deliberate effort to shut down work unless there is a genuine emergency. Professional notifications do not need to control our evenings.

Second, we need to create physical boundaries, even when we work from home. Not everyone can afford a separate home office, but we can still create a small area dedicated to work. When possible, the laptop should not follow us to the bed or dining table. At the end of the day, closing the laptop and physically leaving the workspace can help create a sense of closure.

Third, movement needs to become intentional. If the office no longer forces us to walk, we have to make movement part of our routine. Stand up regularly. Stretch. Walk outside. Take a short break between meetings. A fifteen-minute walk before or after work may seem insignificant, but small habits can make a difference over time.

Fourth, we must deliberately maintain our social lives. Remote work should not mean remote living. Meeting friends, attending community activities, joining professional networks, volunteering or simply spending time outside the house can provide the human interaction that a home office does not offer.

Finally, employers also have a role to play. Remote work should not become an excuse for employees to be permanently available. Organisations can help by setting reasonable communication expectations, respecting working hours and measuring productivity by results rather than constant online presence. The future of work should not be a choice between flexibility and wellbeing.

Remote work has given millions of people something incredibly valuable: control over where and, to some extent, how they work. But that freedom comes with responsibility. If we do not establish boundaries, the same technology that gives us freedom can quietly take away our rest, movement, social connection and peace of mind.

The goal, therefore, should not be to return to the office simply because remote work has its problems.The goal should be to build a healthier culture of remote work.

Salahudeen Shakirat Boluwatife is a UI/UX designer from Lagos.