Five Biggest Challenges of Remote Working and their Solutions

Remote working is the need of the hour in this pandemic age. But, this method is not free of challenges. A recent report from the United Nations International Labor Organization has revealed that though employees are more productive during remote working, they are more vulnerable to working for more time, interference between work and home, and even more stress. A remote work tool is helpful in addressing these challenges. But, it is necessary to understand the impact of these challenges to overcome them more effectively. 

As a remote worker, you can remain more productive by meeting these challenges. Let’s go through the major challenges of remote working and their solutions. 

Biggest Challenges of Remote Working for Your Enterprise

1. Overworking

Too much working is the reality of the remote work concept. When personal and professional lives coincide under the same roof, chances are high that your team members may find it hard to switch off. When to start and end the workday is a difficult question for remote workers. It is possible that several members forget to take breaks and stop work after a specific time. 

Remote workers can set appointments for the end of the day on their calendars or schedules. Also, it is better to set up reminders to take necessary breaks at specific intervals. Thanks to advancing technology, a team task management tool can show all the team members the status of every member’s work. 

2. Distractions

When people work from home, they get multiple interruptions including very young kids and pets. It is almost impossible to make them understand that you are not available to play, and therefore, it becomes a cumbersome task to stay away from them during working hours. All remote workers or working from home employees face such distractions all the time. 

It is better to use the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign or lock the door for avoiding such distractions. Young kids should be kept engaged by childcare. Family members should understand the importance of working from home and support persons who are working from home. Finally, a co-working space, the library, or a coffee shop can be a good place to escape from such distractions. 

3. Prioritizing Issues

In remote working or working from home approach, remote workers have flexible and free-form days, whereas their managers are seating in a different part of the country or even the continent at times. In such a situation, managing own tasks and monitoring the team’s tasks are very difficult. It leads to procrastination at times, which is responsible for unnecessary delays. 

A remote team management tool or a task management app is highly useful in such a situation. It assists remote workers and managers to prioritize their work and limit the number of tasks for every day. Eisenhower matrix can be used to avoid unnecessary time-consuming tasks and find out which tasks to do next. 

4. Communication Troubles

Cubicle wall meetings, overheard discussions, and gossips- remote workers may miss all these badly while working at home. Even project managers may feel paranoid that others will arrange a meeting without them and make important decisions. If the company has no culture of inclusion for remote workers, many remote workers may remain out of sight and mind of the company management. 

Also Read- How to Automate Work Tasks Effectively in 2021

Effective and real-time communication can remove any misunderstanding and keep remote workers proactive in expressing their thoughts or suggestions. Communication troubles can be addressed effectively using efficient online remote work tool irrespective of differences in time zone and places. Here, remote workers need to be more flexible with other team members who are working in different time zones. 

5. Loneliness

Let’s face it. Our co-workers make a social circle for us and at times, we miss their company and feel that we are isolated. Even with continuous Internet access and communication tools like Skype and Slack, many remote workers may develop cabin fever from remaining in the same place for too long. Many remote workers who often work asynchronously with their teammates may live in silos, which is not good for productivity. 

Here, social breaks remain very useful. Some remote workers prefer co-working spaces or coffee shops for this reason. Remote workers can also join local groups or organizations to stay away from loneliness.   

Concluding Lines

In a nutshell, remote working is fairly challenging and it is necessary to address them efficiently to get all the rewards of remote working. If managed properly, remote work can offer flexibility, autonomy, and higher productivity. You can use a reliable remote work tool and solutions given in this blog for these challenges. 

TaskOPad is a robust task management software to meet the business requirements of SMBs effectively. As one of the most reliable remote team management tools, TaskOPad helps companies in delegating, automating, and monitoring tasks of your remote teams. It has all features for ensuring effective task automation and higher productivity of your enterprise.