The Problems With Remote Working and Solutions

Many studies have established that remote workers seem healthier, more productive, and have a more positive work-life balance than people who work from the office. Actually, remote workers take fewer days off sick, have more motivation, and remain in their jobs for a longer time. Although remote working may seem like the business revolution all employees need, it has its ups and downs. Here is a look at the problems with remote working and how to overcome them.

1. Mental Health Challenges

When a person works from their own homes, they're in isolation, which is different from the office environment. While this arrangement works for introverts, it's discouraging for extroverts who enjoy the company of their colleagues.

Moreover, there's no teamwork because workers perform tasks alone. Therefore, the workers suffer from loneliness. Finally, numerous virtual meetings lack human connection. All these issues present mental health challenges to the work from home employees.

Solutions: Consider hosting fun and relaxing video meetings and activities with your coworkers. Invest in video tools that enable employees to interact on screens. Also, it's good to encourage your remote team members to connect via Zoom and open up about their problems.

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2. Employees Feel Pressurized

Another problem with remote working is pressure. In fact, many remote workers are afraid of failure and suffer from burnout to meet their employers’ goals. A finding by Achievers Workforce Institute’s 2021 Engagement and Retention Report established that up to half of remote employees are afraid their manager will find them less productive than other workers. As a result, these employees start work earlier or close work later. Others skip lunch or compromise on their private life to show their dedication.

Solutions: The best way to address this problem is to focus on output instead of input. Moreover, productivity changes because of personal motivation, interest, experience, and distractions. Managers and employees should set specific deadlines and goals.

What's more, check-in regularly with your remote workforce and chat with them to get their feedback and monitor their progress. Insist on a state of remote work report, which is more important than focusing on specific working hours.

3. Interruptions at Home

One of the assumptions is that working from home enables you to avoid co-workers engaging you with informal conversations and other office interruptions. However, you're likely to encounter other distractions at home. It could be the kids or pets that require your attention or laundry.

Solutions: The challenge remote workers face is to address interruptions before working. Ensure everything is in order and your child or pet is comfortable before you get to work. You may also want to set ground rules to avoid your family or neighbors interrupting you when you're at work.

4. Trouble Managing In-House Devices

Office technology is superior to what you may install in your home. For example, you may experience problems with your remote internet signal. Another problem with remote working is insufficient collaboration tools.

Solutions: Investing in products you can manage from home. Start by having the right technology for remote internet connectivity. For instance, an employer can invest in powerful routers for home workers. Similarly, if teammates work on documents or projects, ensure they can access a file hosting service to work together on projects.

What's more, investing in digital signage that workers can manage from home. For example, consider a web-based content management system for signage. This allows co-workers to collaborate from anywhere by logging into a URL. Additionally, you can invest in digital signage that supports instant messaging from tablets and smartphones through a publisher.

5. Taking Vacation Time

Vacations are important for your mental and physical well-being. A well-rested worker is more productive and efficient. Unfortunately, one problem with remote working is that the workers tend to forget to take breaks.

Solutions: To overcome this problem, organize your team's vacations by ensuring they're well-rested and take sufficient breaks. Also, encourage workers to engage in social interaction and yoga for relaxation.

6. Time Management

One of the biggest challenges when working from home is time management. Although the remote working hours seem flexible, it requires a lot of discipline to manage your time properly. A lack of discipline means you'll end up procrastinating and falling behind on deadlines. One of the other challenges of remote working is operating in different time zones.

Solutions: Pick business hours that work for you and the time zone of your superior. What's more, muster the discipline to work during these hours. You may consider sticking to conventional working hours and lunch breaks. You could also create a schedule based on the time you plan on spending time with your family.

To Wind Up

Working from home is the latest trend since the COVID-19 pandemic. While employers and employees have found adjusting to this working formula difficult, it has turned out well for many organizations.

However, many managers and workers have faced numerous challenges working remotely. To be more productive and efficient come 2022, businesses need to embrace the problem with remote working and device-appropriate solutions.