Although working from home trends were beginning to grow before the Covid-19 pandemic, there’s no doubt the pandemic accelerated its growth. For most companies, work-from-home became a necessity instead of an option.
The pandemic changed the way people work forever, and there’s a likelihood there’s no turning back. While working from home offers numerous benefits to employers and employees, it has its share of issues. Below are five common work-from-home problems and how you can solve them:
Collaboration Challenges
Despite numerous innovations to facilitate communication between people, remote collaboration remains a challenge for most teams that work remotely. Naturally, people experience hardships communicating face-to-face, necessitating reliance on non-verbal cues. The challenge gets amplified in remote work environments.
If you work from home, you can solve this challenge by using the best collaboration technology in the market. This means leveraging communication and collaboration platforms like Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. However, you’ll need to work with credible cable and internet providers to get a strong internet connection to support video conferencing.
Meeting regularly with your team members also helps bring everyone to the same page. Further, embrace an open-door policy to allow your team members to raise concerns about their work.
Limited Social Interactions
The other common issue in work-from-home scenarios is the feeling of loneliness. Working from limits social interactions, which causes people to feel lonely and isolated. Loneliness affects people’s physical and mental well-being, resulting in low performance.
To solve this challenge, employers should find ways to empower employees who work from home to overcome challenges associated with loneliness. One way of doing this is to hold virtual sessions for employees to interact and catch up on social issues other than work.
Employees can also have social interactions outside their work hours by scheduling time to engage in social activities in their localities. They can regularly organize video calls with family and friends or find ways to work from public libraries or co-working spaces.
Distractions In The House
A common issue that most people experience working from home is distractions. This challenge affects even the most organized and disciplined staff. For instance, people who live with roommates or family experience interruptions that affect their concentration regularly.
Those who don’t share their living spaces with others also get distracted by situations in their home. For instance, dusty bookshelves or piles of dirty clothes or dishes can affect their concentration levels.
To solve this issue, find a quiet spot in your home to work from and get rid of anything that can distract you. Where possible, keep the door shut and ask the people in the house not to interrupt you unless there’s an emergency.
Different Time Zones
For remote personnel, the time zone difference is a big concern. Many organizations are increasingly employing employees from many nations, posing the difficulty of organizing cross-national teams. Employers also have difficulty determining real-time work. These problems can be overcome by utilizing technology.
For instance, companies can maximize project management software, file sharing, and instant messaging to collaborate with employees in different time zones. Further, employers can invest in good project management software to manage employee time and establish the actual time worked.
Taking Time Off Work
Taking time off is vital for mental and physical rejuvenation. Spending time relaxing can boost your team’s cognitive ability, productivity, and efficiency. When working from home, most people forget to take breaks and rest.
If you have a team working remotely, be intentional in organizing their time off. This ensures they take breaks off work to rest well.
Unreliable Internet
The majority of remote employees have internet connectivity issues from time to time. For some, the issue is due to outdated technology. Every person on your team is irritated by the unreliable internet. When working with a remote team, make sure everyone has the tools they need to work from home, including the most up-to-date software and programs.
A great way to encourage people to invest in reliable internet connections is to reimburse them the costs they incur. Further, advise your team members to find locations with stable internet close to their homes. This enables them to have a workplace if there’s an emergency.
Final Thoughts
Working from home offers people the flexibility to work while caring for their families. Although this boosts their productivity, working from home has its challenges. If you run a remote team or are part of such a team, you may have experienced one or several of the problems discussed above. Apply the solutions provided to keep your remote team productive in the long run.
