Challenges Faced by Employees in Work From Home

1. Loneliness

Employees who do not have casual social connections with their coworkers may feel isolated and can develop communication problems with the rest of the team. If an employee has the feeling of solitude then he/she may not feel close to the team and will be hesitant to ask simple queries. Employees who have been compelled to work from home for an extended period or who are permanently remote may experience greater social isolation, which can lead to burnout, lower efficiency, and higher intention to leave.

2. Overworking

Most of the managers believe that employees do not work with the same efficiency as they do in the office than in work from home. Hence the expectations of managers increase and the employees are burdened with overwork. The employees also have to manage their personal life and professional lives in the same house which makes it difficult for employees to create boundaries leading to often exhaustion, burnout, and a decrease in productivity.

3. Absence of a Sense of Community

Employees interact with their colleagues once a month on a video call, it can be challenging to establish a sense of community and bonding in the employees with much less interaction between them. The room for social interactions is very less in work from home and hence the feeling of being a part of a community is hard to establish.

Before 2020, a question arose in knowledge-based organizations about whether digital connectivity had advanced so much that everyone needed to be together at the office to do their work. We got the answer during the lockdown, where we came to know that many people didn’t need to be with their colleagues onsite to do their jobs. Individuals, teams, and the workforce can work well even in a distributed format. Now we are facing the question of whether remote or major remote work from home is here to stay.

The work-from-home model offers many benefits to companies and their employees. The organizations can reduce or eliminate their real estate costs, hire and use talent globally without immigrant issues, and enjoy productivity gains. Workers also get geographic flexibility and eliminate commutes, leading to better work-life balance. Companies have some worries regarding communication, brainstorming, problem-solving, socialization, friendship, and data security in a work-from-home setup. To understand how you can capture the upside of working from home, this article could guide you.