As the pandemic fades away and more companies are bringing workers back into offices, people are thinking about how being away from colleagues has affected their mental state.Some say they missed out on bonding and friendships. Other say they are more productive and feel less stress working from home.Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 spoke with an organizational psychologist to take a deeper look.Some people love working out of an office gaining that face-to-face interaction and making new friendships with colleagues."There's actual research that shows that people who have a close friend at their organization are more likely to be committed to that organization," said Dr. Victoria Mattingly, CEO and founder of Mattingly Solutions. When the pandemic hit, companies had to find alternative ways for workers to get the job done. And that led to more people working from home.“There is definitely a mental toll that happens when we don't have those daily interactions, those meaningful connections with others in the workplace," she said.According to a study by Civic Science, fully remote workers were 50% more likely, than in-person workers to have lost friends since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Future Forum's Remote Employee Experience Index measures satisfaction with remote work compared to the office.It shows 63% of knowledge workers favor the flexibility of a hybrid remote office model. Twenty percent want to work remotely full-time, and 17% want to completely return to full-time office work.Those numbers can change based on a lot of factors, like whether or not you're a working parent, gender, age and race.For example, only 3% of Black knowledge workers want to return to full-time collocated work. That's compared to 21% of white knowledge workers in the U.S.Mattingly also specializes in diversity, equity and inclusion. She says there are a lot of reasons why that number is so low, including workers dealing with microaggressions and being micromanaged based on bias.“Things that are offensive, things that are disrespectful, they don't have to experience that by not having to go into the office every day,” Mattingly said. “The flip side of that is that people who aren't going into the office might not be around for those water cooler conversations and the workplace politics that often result in things like promotion."Mattingly says making an effort to include people working from home makes a difference in creating relationships and a positive working environment. She adds that this can result in more productivity for companies.“How can one be an ally to those who aren't coming in, to make sure that they're not being left behind because they're not physically there?" she said.Not being physically at work could be the new norm for many industries.Editor's Note: CivicScience provides the survey seen at the bottom of digital articles on WTAE.com