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Along with the trend of remote employment, the difficulty of working from home employees is increasing to create a balance between their personal and professional life.
Both employers and employees are adapting quickly to this new way of working- but there is still much left to do.
Employers must adopt inclusive strategies to foster employee engagement and reduce cybersecurity risks.
To do so, employers need to understand the challenges employees are facing.
Read the full blog to know ten biggest work-from-home challenges of employees.
Let’s dive in-
Top 10 Challenges of Working from Home
1. To Stay Connected
Working from home means that you have no immediate colleagues or supervisors. This can mean staying connected with your professional network and keeping up-to-date with industry trends and events is more challenging.
Even if you connect via social media, not having colleagues to collaborate with on projects can leave you isolated, affecting your motivation and drive.
In addition, without an office environment, it may be easy to miss out on opportunities available in a typical work environment (for example, networking opportunities).
So, it’s essential to stay alert for those working from home.
2. Maintaining Professional Boundaries
It might be challenging to maintain healthy boundaries when you work from home. You may feel like you’re always working, leading to burnout. It’s essential to set clear boundaries between your work and personal life.
Here are some tips for maintaining professional boundaries when you work from home:
- Set regular office hours and stick to them
- Create a dedicated workspace in your home
- Avoid working in your PJs
- Take breaks and disconnect from work when you’re not working
- Don’t answer work calls or emails outside of office hours
- Keep personal and work life separate as much as possible
Follow these tips to maintain professional boundaries while working from home.
3. Lack of Structure
Another biggest challenge of working from home is the lack of structure. It’s hard to stay on task when there’s no set schedule or defined space for work. This can lead to procrastination and never really being off work.
Try to create a daily routine and stick to it to combat this. Set regular hours for work and take breaks at the same time each day. Dedicate a specific area in your home to your work.
Schedule some personal time!
4. Procrastination and Overworking
The next biggest challenge of working from home is learning how to deal with procrastination and overworking. It can be easy to fall into the trap of putting things off or working too much, but finding a balance is crucial.
Here are some tips for dealing with these challenges:
- Make a schedule to stay on track and avoid getting sidetracked by other things.
- Take regular breaks. It will help you avoid burnout and keep your energy up.
- Set boundaries with friends and family. Let them know when you’re working and when not so they don’t interrupt you unnecessarily.
- Get out of the house occasionally.
- Reward yourself, it will keep you motivated and push through to finish a task you’re struggling with
- Quit multitasking. It will help you focus better on one task at a time rather than jumping around and never finishing anything.
- Stay positive. Even if you have an occasional bad day, remember that this isn’t what life is all about. Find new hobbies and ways to spend your free time that isn’t work-related.
Following these tips can easily avoid procrastination and overworking while working from home.
5. Doing Chores When You Work From Home
One challenge of working from home is that it’s hard to get work done when there are so many distractions.
One way to combat this is to set up a designated workspace separate from your living space. This way, when you sit down to work, you can focus on your task and not be distracted by things that need to be done around the house.
Try to set aside time daily for household chores so they don’t pile up and become a more significant distraction.
6. Less Accountability
Another challenge of working from home is that there’s less accountability. Let work slide when you’re not in an office environment is easy.
You might work fewer hours or take more breaks than you would if you were in an office.
Additionally, working from home can make staying focused on your work tasks harder. Getting distracted by things like housework or errands is easy without an office structure.
7. Lower Productivity
Another problem you can face while working from home is that it’s challenging to stay productive.
When you’re at home, there are a million distractions – the fridge, the TV, your bed – and it’s hard to resist them.
One way to combat this is to set up a dedicated workspace in your home, away from potential distractions.
This way, when sitting at your desk, you’re in work mode and less likely to be tempted by your comfy couch.
8. Avoiding Loneliness
Another hardest thing about working from home is avoiding loneliness. It’s easy to feel isolated when you’re not around other people.
To combat this, try to schedule some social networking and meetups related to your work.
9. Physical Health Concerns
Working from home can pose the next big challenge to your physical health.
When you’re used to going into an office daily, getting up and moving around, and having set hours, it’s easy to let your physical health slide while working from home.
It can lead to weight gain, fatigue, headaches, and other physical health concerns.
To combat this, it’s essential to make sure that you schedule time for physical activity in your day, even if it’s just a short walk around the block or some stretching in your living room.
10. Lack of Professional Role Models
Employees also face a lack of professional role models. In an office, looking up to the most senior person and learning from them is easy.
But when you’re working from home, there’s no one around to show you the ropes.
Follow-up question: Is there any way to overcome these work-from-home challenges?
Read the next section to know the answer.
Top 3 Ways to Overcome Work-From-Home Challenges
1. Prioritize Your Tasks
You can easily get bogged down with distractions when working from home, but by creating a list of priorities, you can stay on track and be productive.
Tackle the most important tasks first, and take breaks to keep your energy up.
Don’t let other things creep onto your task list without considering what you’ve already decided is important.
2. Set Aside Time For Yourself
One of the best ways to overcome work-from-home challenges is to set aside time for yourself. This cannot be easy when you have family or other obligations, but making time for yourself is essential.
Even 30 minutes daily to do something you enjoy can make a big difference.
3. Try Employee Monitoring Software
You can also use employee monitoring software tools like Workstatus to overcome work-from-home issues.
Here are its six key features that can help you successfully manage your work-from-home employees:
Time Tracking and Monitoring
Workstatus tracks time spent on each task, so you can see how much time is being worked on each project to identify any potential issues with productivity.
Key benefits:
- Provides an accurate record of time spent on tasks/projects.
- Enables effective management of billable hours.
- Helps identify and address time-wasting activities.
Employee Productivity Insights
Get valuable insights into employee productivity to see which staff members are slacking off or working too much.
Key benefits:
- Allows employers to measure and improve employee performance.
- Helps identify top performers and areas for improvement.
- Enables managers to make data-driven decisions regarding workforce allocation.
It helps you make better decisions about WFH policies and procedures.
Resource Scheduling and Management
Easy to schedule and manage WFH teams to avoid conflicts or overlap in work times.
Key benefits:
- Streamlines employee scheduling and reduces scheduling conflicts.
- Increases efficiency by ensuring resources are optimally allocated.
- Helps managers track resource usage and make informed decisions regarding resource allocation.
It helps keep projects on track and prevents unnecessary delays.
Detailed Reporting
Workstatus provides insightful productivity and time reports to see how your WFH employees perform.
Key benefits:
- Provides detailed reports on employee activity and project progress.
- Enables managers to monitor project performance and identify areas for improvement.
- Helps stakeholders make informed decisions about project timelines and resource allocation.
Get accurate and real-time information regarding time usage, project hours, working patterns, billable hours, and much more to enhance your WFH culture.
Selfie Validation
Workstatus comes with a face recognition attendance system that verifies selfies of every member during clock-in and out, minimizing inefficiencies in attendance management.
Key benefits:
- Provides a secure and reliable way to validate employee identity.
- Helps prevent time theft and identity fraud.
- Enables managers to ensure that employees are complying with company policies
Active Screenshots
A powerful way that lets managers get screenshots of the WFH team’s active screen at regular intervals to have a real-time view of what their team is up to.
Key benefits:
- Provides a detailed record of employee activity.
- Helps identify and address time-wasting activities.
- Enables managers to monitor employee productivity and make informed decisions regarding workforce allocation.
Are you now ready to get started?
Closing Thoughts
Understanding the work-from-home challenges employees face is crucial for employers to work toward resolving potential problems.
There is no one solution for solving these issues, so carefully consider what individual solutions will fit your company and culture best.
When working remotely, adapting to your environment and tools is essential.
On the one hand, there are no formalities, but on the other hand, there isn’t a set of well-established guidelines either.
You need to establish them based on what you see work or not.
Try Workstatus to end your working-from-home struggles and stay ahead of your competitors all the time.
FAQs
Ques. How can I maintain a work-life balance while working from home?
Ans. To maintain a work-life balance while working from home, set clear boundaries between work and personal time, prioritize self-care, and communicate with your employer about your needs.
Ques. How can I combat feelings of isolation while working from home?
Ans. To combat feelings of isolation while working from home, schedule regular virtual check-ins with colleagues, participate in online communities related to your work, and make time for social activities outside of work.
Ques. How can I stay motivated and focused while working from home?
Ans. To stay motivated and focused while working from home, establish a routine, break up your day into manageable chunks, and find ways to incorporate things you enjoy into your workday, such as listening to music or taking breaks for exercise.
Thanks for reading!!
