2021 has brought a lot of change into the lives of people from all walks of life. Most of us have been bound to our homes until it’s deemed safe to return to our usual way of life. One of the areas that have been affected by this change is how and where we work.
Working from home has always been seen as a privilege amongst traditional employers with the exception of most modern-day startups where this is almost a given.
Fast-forward to 2021, it now seems to be the only alternative for most sectors. Businesses have been forced to think critically about the new landscape and embrace the new work from the home norm. Whilst there are advantages to it, there are also several downsides to working remotely.
You hardly switch off
Going to the office allows you to be in a space that is purposely built to be a work environment which you can leave at the end of the day. When you work remotely, it is hard to switch off completely as you are likely to pick up work or respond to emails after your working day has ended. You have to be strict on your time management and boundaries to try and overcome this.
No more free lunches
If your workplace provided free lunch for their employees, working from home will mean you have to fend for yourself and spend extra money paying for food during work hours.
Employees will have to be creative around cutting home lunch costs. The easiest way is by browsing through sites like offermate.us where you can review catalogs from more than 40 supermarkets including Costco, Kroger, and Lidl to find great quality at affordable prices.
Poor equipment
When you spend the majority of your day sitting in front of a desk whilst using a computer, it is important to have the right equipment to ensure you avoid straining yourself in any way. Most home offices will have inadequate equipment to protect themselves whilst they work. This can be detrimental to employees’ health in the long run.
Distractions
Remote working is great if you have space for a private office at home. However, you are not entirely free of distractions especially if you do not live alone and have young children at home. Distractions can also come in the form of doorbells ringing, deliveries, the post, background noise in the home such as washing machines, tv noise, or children playing.
Lack of social interaction
When you are used to interacting face-to-face with different people every day, homeworking can result in you feeling socially isolated. That human-to-human interaction that you are used to is no longer there. People need that interaction and a lack of it can affect our mental health.
Low/Poor productivity
Whilst some people fare better in terms of productivity when working remotely, it isn’t the case for everyone, unfortunately. This can come down to several factors such as lack of motivation due to the environment or distractions as previously mentioned. Some workers get their motivation and drive from being in a work environment - some homes just simply don’t offer that.
Bad internet connection
Some internet connections are like a zip code lottery. Not every town has fast and reliable internet infrastructure, which can hinder productivity and reliability. Working from an office ensures everyone has a reliable connection and there is less risk of outages and interruption to productivity.
Children or family demanding attention
One of the biggest obstacles to homeworking worldwide is children and family demanding attention. The majority of working people have families at home and this can make work-life extremely difficult. Workers are torn between tending to their family needs and the demands of their workplaces upon them. It is hard to strike a balance between the two and one would need an organization that fully understands the difficulty involved with this.
Like everything in life, remote working has its pros and cons. It comes down to how you manage it and how much support you have at hand to make it work.