Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of employees worldwide begin work from home for the first time. Only a few know what to expect. They know only the picture peddled by all the “Work from home!” ads that clutter the Internet. Managers and executives should not bring “tiresome” workplace rules such as dress codes and regular work hours because they like to vex their employees. Instead, these policies help staff work effectively and keep businesses profitable. This work-from-home discourse generates myths about what it is about. The misconceptions lead to a high business failure rate among entrepreneurs and lower performance among many employees. If you’re working from home for the first time or thinking about starting, beware of the WFH job problems. The better you recognize them, the easier it is to mitigate them and succeed as a remote worker or small-business owner.
WFH Jobs Problems and How to Overcome Them
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Control your own Schedule & Time
Sounds alluring, right? No more setting the alarm in the early morning. No more waiting all day in the cubicle. Your only way out for lunch is a measly hour of freedom. When you feel like it, you will set your own hours and work. Yours is independence! The idea of “normal business hours” remains in use worldwide because it is an essential tool for time management. You know when you’re going to work and when you are free to follow other interests or spend time with your family when you have set hours. Days, weeks, or months in advance, you can make arrangements, so you know where you will be busy. Many at-home employees find themselves in excellent trouble without the arrangement. Some typical jobs disagree about the structure of a daily schedule. But it suits them much better, really than they know.
How to Prevent Failure in Time Management
Set and stick to your workdays and hours. In most situations, it either means having daily business hours or relying on the schedule maintained by your spouse or children for your work hours. A traditional routine not only makes you more efficient, but it also helps you to spend time with the people you care about. But if you plan to stick with the 9-to-5 tried-and-true, you can reap significant benefits from work-at-home. You don’t have to drive to work, so later on, you can relax. Besides, you do not have to seek permission to run any crucial errands such as doctor’s appointments.
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Blurred Line Between Personal & Professional Life
On the other side of the coin, you no longer have a simple geographic distinction between workspace and personal space when you work from home. Ideally, a place of comfort, safety, and protection in your house. It’s a place where you fall into a relaxed, easygoing state of mind subconsciously, putting behind you the workday pressures. Right across the clean mental separation, working from home punches a hole. Most remote workers complain that they never feel like they are off work, which is a significant WFH job problems.
How to Stop the Doom of Blurred Work-Life
A physical space for work must be set aside, apart from the rest of your house. That means a home office for many. If you have a spare bedroom, library, or other space in your home that sees infrequent usage consider converting it to a home office. Close the doors as you work, if possible, and hang a Do Not Disturb” note.
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Distractions
If you work from home, actually being productive during your working hours will prove difficult. Even if you settle on a fixed schedule and have a dedicated place to work. It’s difficult to concentrate, surrounded by your possessions and reminders of chores. Distractions such as your television, books, and laundry are beginning to call you. You find an excuse to break early, despite intending to work until 12:30 before breaking for lunch.
How to keep away from Distraction Doom
Removing yourself physically from a home office helps. But make sure that you eliminate distractions from your field of work as well. You succumb to them less quickly with no TV or books around. Auditory distractions can be minimized by noise-canceling headphones, which lessens WFH job problems. When working at home, learn ways to minimize distraction because it presents a much more significant obstacle than most office employees expect.
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Reduced Supervision & Direction
People love to complain about their own managers. Yet managers, providing guidance and oversight, serve a vital role. Not only can they tell you what you need to do, but they also provide you with input on your progress on it. You seem to get less supervision and direction when you work from home. Usually, the manager doesn’t give you as much advice, guidance that many employees urgently need to keep on track.
How to Avoid Directionless Doom
Remain in good contact with your boss if you work with an employer. Tell them which tasks you should prioritize and when they expect each milestone to be reached by you. Talk with them at least once a week to address your success, your challenges, and any suggestions to overcome those challenges. Keep them in the loop so that they can have more guidance and feedback. Start with setting broad weekly goals if you work for yourself.
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Communication & Coordination Challenges
It’s challenging enough to conduct meaningful in-person meetings to coordinate multiple team members’ efforts to stay aligned. It becomes all the harder to be on the same page when everyone works from home. When they talk, human beings rely on nonverbal communication. However, emails, phone calls, and even video calls strip all of the ambiguity from the way we connect. For a quick example, think back to the last time someone misinterpreted an email or text message you sent. In virtual companies, this question is so inevitable that an entire industry has arisen to solve it. To make it easier for businesses to remain in touch and stay coordinated, team communication tools such as Slack specifically exist.
How to Avoid Communication Doom
Schedule weekly phone sessions with the most critical teams, whether you’re a manager or supervisor, to avoid WFH job problems. Check the progress of each team member against their previously agreed-upon deliverables and objectives. Set new deliverables and goals for each person at the end of each session. Ask each member of the responsible team to repeat these returns to make sure they understand them entirely. Before setting out to complete them, team members can confirm their goals and assignments with their manager and colleagues. Digital contact leaves so much space for uncertainty, so at the end of every call, meeting, or email, review assignments. For self-employed employees dealing with consumers and suppliers, the same policy applies.
