Prior to the pandemic, I was on an amazing remote team. We made time to hang out and talk twice per week. We often let our standups turn into water cooler sessi

Prior to the pandemic, I was on an amazing remote team. We made time to hang out and talk twice per week. We often let our standups turn into water cooler sessions. Generally, we understood that we had to “waste” some time in order to create the social interactions that would come naturally in person. Then I got promoted. I reported into the CEO. Everyone is so busy and has their own priorities that it’s extremely hard to get people to spend time on anything that isn’t strictly business. It’s isolating. It can make people feel out of touch. After a while, it just seems to wear on people. I also suspect that the types of personalities that thrive at leadership/executive levels don’t do super well with stepping back to socialize.