While remote work is becoming more and more popular (and for good reason), it would be unrealistic to only focus on the positives. The challenges of working from home are very different from those in the office, but there are definitely still some to be aware of. Let’s dive straight in with our 7 work from home problems – and solutions!
Problem #1: Staying Focused
Maintaining discipline whilst working from home is a job all on its own. No longer do you have managers or colleagues able to see what you’re doing. Suddenly, a midday shower becomes enticing, or perhaps you spontaneously decide to tidy the house or wash the dishes. Impulsive urges come over you and you are far less likely to control them because there is less accountability. Sure, you’ll still have deadlines and certain work to complete by certain times, but in the comfort of your own home, it’s a lot easier to switch off when you should be working.
After all, your home isn’t usually a workspace. It’s a living space. Your brain automatically associates home with relaxation and comfort. To suddenly introduce work into the mix can throw you off and make you feel as though you have no discipline.
Don’t fret! There is a solution to this WFH problem.
Solution: Create a Space Just for Work
The best way to combat lack of focus is to create a space in your home that you only use for work. Obviously, you may have to compromise if you’re short on space. But if possible, set up your work desk and only sit there during work hours.
There have been several interesting studies on sleep that suggest if people watch TV (or do any other mentally-stimulating activity in bed besides sleeping), then it can negatively impact your ability to sleep. If you only use your bed for sleeping, your body automatically begins to shut down when it hits the bed. Your brain associates your bed with sleep, but if you’re watching TV there every day, your brain will start to associate it with alertness. The same thing happens with work.
The reason you might be more productive in the office is because you associate it with work. You don’t hang around there afterwards and watch a movie. You don’t sleep there. You don’t eat your food there. Or maybe you do sometimes, but the point is: having one specific location for one specific action increases focus tenfold.
Which leads us rather nicely onto our second work from home problem and solution.
Problem #2: Balancing Work and Personal Life
As discussed in the point above, working from home presents the problem of trying to merge your personal space with your work space. It doesn’t just affect the physical space though. A lot of work-from-homers find that their stress levels increase during their non-working time at home. When your ‘work office’ is just next to your bed, you’ll have work problems on your mind when you should be relaxing.
If you work 9-5, you switch off when you’re finished and work stays at work. It’s not so easy when you’re working from home.
It tends to make workers less likely to socialize and, in some cases, they’re less willing to take time off to exercise! The lines between personal life and work life are not specifically outlined, causing some remote workers to err on the side of caution by making their life more work-oriented.
This is arguably even more of a problem for remote freelancers who don’t necessarily work specific hours. They can find themselves working all the time because they are constantly in their work environment.
Solution: Firm Schedules and Encouraging Time Off
The best thing to counter work-life imbalance is to create a schedule for your employees – just like if they were working from the office – and instruct them to switch off all work-related devices at a specific hour.
Encourage your employees to take breaks regularly and ensure they are aware of work-life boundaries and how to set them for themselves.
Problem #3: Digital Presenteeism
Similar to the WFH problem above, digital presenteeism is the compelling urge to be digitally present at all times. Day, night, weekend, you’ll find yourself going the extra mile to ensure you look like you’re working. The typical way of proving your worth to a company has gone out of the window, so to compensate, a lot of remote workers waste away in front of a screen at ridiculous hours to appear productive.
This can take its toll on productivity – the very thing it’s meant to demonstrate – but it can also negatively impact stress, sleep, and overall happiness. It can even lead to people working when they are ill or during a family emergency. They feel as though they can’t take the time off because they will appear lazy somehow.
This is usually a problem that stems from managerial pressure, but it can also come from within.
Solution: Establish Boundaries
Like the problem of balancing work and home life, one of the best WFH solutions to digital presenteeism is to establish boundaries. Tell your employees that you don’t expect them to work outside of hours, and even more than that, push for them to turn notifications off after hours.
In addition to this, ensure that managers aren’t messaging or notifying employees out of hours as this could come across as additional work pressure during relaxation time.
By embracing asynchronous working, you can also prevent digital presenteeism as not everybody needs to be present for every single meeting. For example, by using tl;dv, employees can catch up on meetings, skipping directly to the part that’s relevant to them by using the timestamp option for either Google Meet or Zoom. It’s a great way to save time and cut back on unnecessary meetings that employees feel obliged to attend.
Problem #4: Poor Communication
Communication for remote workers can become a big problem. It’s far more difficult to express emotion through text than it is through speech or with physical mannerisms and expressions. Often, communicating via Slack or other work messengers leads to curt messages that can come across as harsh or abrupt.
Without a face to go with the words, it can often be difficult to determine different tones too.
Solution: Use Video Calling Software and Emojis
While emojis can be a pain in the a**, they do help reveal tone. By scattering them throughout work messages, or responding with them, you can recoup some of the lost magic of non-verbal tics. However, it’s worth noting that emojis have also developed their own style. For example, a thumbs up is often considered rude, even if you want it to mean “acknowledged”. It can be a minefield.
That’s why video conferencing platforms exist. You can talk to your colleague or employee almost as if it was an in-person meeting. While we don’t suggest calling for every little thing, it can be a big help if you want to talk about something complex or serious that specifically concerns one or more other workers. If necessary, you can record meetings on Google Meet or Zoom with tl;dv and download it for free. It also comes with instant transcripts in over 20 languages. 😉
Problem #5: Not Getting Fresh Air
One of the big problems with working from home is the fact that you’re staying at home. When you have to go to a physical location to work, you must first travel to get there. Not only is this exercise (even if it’s just walking to and from your car, it’s better than not leaving at all), but it’s also being outside and getting fresh air and some much-needed vitamin D.
While it sounds like common sense to go out for a stroll and get some exercise and fresh air, it can be very tempting to stay in if you are waking up later (because you don’t need to commute) and even more so if the weather is particularly bad. You don’t have to go outside, so it’s more of an internal push that’s needed, whereas before it was a requirement that also happened to be beneficial.
Solution: Go for Regular Walks
A good piece of advice to give your work-from-home employees is to take regular breaks and go for a walk outside. Instead of using the commute time to lie in, get up at the same time and go for a walk before anybody else is outside. It’ll be quieter and more relaxing. This is obviously more enticing if you live near a park or some kind of green area, but it can be done in a city too.
It’s also nice to work from a garden (if possible) if it’s warm outside.
Problem #6: Distractions
Arguably one of the first challenges that comes to mind on the topic of working from home, distractions are a dime a dozen when you’re at home. From your smartphone to your front door, your cat to your toddler, there are far more distractions at home than in the office. Even if you have your own little hidey-hole for work-stuff, you can still get bombarded with unexpected distractions.
Solution: Deep Work
Deep Work is a philosophy made popular by Cal Newport. It suggests that we select a strategy, reduce social media time, embrace boredom, and let go of shallow obligations. This video explains the strategies in more detail:
The key to developing a work habit is to [...] add rituals to your working life designed to minimize the amount of your limited willpower necessary to transition into [...] a state of concentration.
Problem #7: Meeting Fatigue
One of the biggest problems when it comes to remote working is meeting fatigue. If your employees are attending meeting after meeting, they’re going to feel drained, bored, and likely questioning the meaning of life. Because meetings certainly aren’t it.
This usually occurs when colleagues are told (or requested) to attend meetings even when there is only a small part that is relevant to them. While it’s a good idea to be able to chat with your colleagues face-to-face every now and then, you don’t want to burn them out by making them attend every single meeting.
Solution: tl;dv
There is no need for meeting fatigue at all. Unlike all of the other work from home problems and solutions, which often rely on variables, this WFH solution is rock solid.
tl;dv was specifically designed to end meeting fatigue. It’s an online meeting recorder that lets you record, download, transcribe, edit and timestamp your Google Meets or Zoom calls. If you can’t make the meeting, it’s not a worry. You can send the tl;dv bot in your place and watch it back later.
The timestamp feature is the most important for resolving meeting fatigue. With this, you can tag an employee or colleague at the moment that’s relevant to them, and let them get on with being productive and doing their job, rather than listening to a bunch of other people discuss something that has no relation to their work whatsoever.
You can get the tl;dv recorder for Google Meet or Zoom (or both!). It’s completely free to record and transcribe your calls, but the paid plan is certainly worth looking into if you were considering a G Suite subscription to record your meetings.
