7 Min. Read

8 Biggest Challenges of Working from Home

August 3, 2021

When considering the challenges of working from home, the focus is usually on how employees solve these problems. But it is important to understand that employers also face many challenges that they must find solutions to.

Such issues include things like ensuring that productivity remains high. Others include making sure collaboration is still possible. And yet, you also need to ensure that your employees feel connected to the organization.

Below, you will find our top 8 examples of challenges employers run into when working from home. But we’re not going to leave you high and dry. We’re also presenting solutions for you to consider. If you need help managing your home-based team, be sure to check out FreshBooks.

This powerful suite of tools puts you in control of essentials like time tracking, payments, mileage tracking, and more. And with that, let’s proceed to our top 8 challenges when working from home.

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

Isolation

Discomfort

Decrease in Productivity

Isolation

One of the main advantages of office work is the social element built into the arrangement. Employers do not want any such social activities in the workplace to affect productivity. But it is clear that daily interaction with other people is good for employees’ mental health and morale.

Consider this solution:

Communication technology can help solve isolation. It provides similar support to typical work-based social interactions. Solutions such as FreshBooks, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams can at least limit the negative impact.

Management should strive to create a specific company culture. One that allows employees to use online communication tools as much as possible. And not just business-related conversations.

Creating personal sharing channels can encourage employees to discuss things outside work. It may also be wise to provide a certain degree of flexibility. In doing so, employees can join the workplace from time to time if they think it will be helpful to them.

Discomfort

When buying chairs and tables, many employers prioritize ergonomics. Doing so can help limit problems related to physical discomfort. This can lead to decreased productivity and increased absenteeism.

However, remote workers may not be able to obtain good equipment, which may cause physical discomfort in the long run.

Consider this solution:

Taking the time to educate your employees on issues related to physical discomfort. This includes:

How to sit comfortably for long periods of time
Where to place their screen
The importance of light

If you’re an employer, you may need to bite the bullet and buy office furniture and equipment for your team to use when working remotely.

Decrease in Productivity

Although research shows that remote workers are often very productive, this is not the case for every remote worker.

For employers, a key challenge is to ensure that employees maintain the same productivity as in the workplace. This applies to even if they stay away from any face-to-face supervision at work.

Consider this solution:

Regular contact with employees helps maintain productivity levels. This is especially true when combined with clear goal-setting.

When further action is required, performance and activity monitoring software may be able to help. How? You can identify remote employees who are not working hard enough. However, this needs to be weighed against privacy issues.

In addition, make sure that employees have proper monitor settings to increase productivity. This is because working with laptops can be slow and inefficient. As such, you may need to invest in monitors to overcome this concern.

Software Issues

It is easy to control access to the software in an office environment. In doing so, you can ensure that all employees can use the tools they need to get their jobs done.

When managing remote teams, potential problems may arise. Some employees cannot access the correct software. And other employees use different versions, causing compatibility issues.

Consider this solution:

Consider cloud-based software solutions such as FreshBooks and Google Workspace. These help with consistency in the software that employees can access.

Platforms such as these provide a comprehensive solution for centralized communication. They also assist in information-sharing strategies, which are critical to the success of remote teams.

Collaboration

Physical isolation of employees and reliance on remote teams can cause collaboration problems. At the same time, employees also miss opportunities that often inspire new ideas. These issues can have a negative impact on creativity and innovation within your organization.

Consider this solution:

FreshBooks and software like Microsoft Teams play a crucial role in remote collaboration. Management also needs to pay careful attention to discussions to encourage widespread participation.

Digital collaboration software develops fast. Yet it is also essential to equip employees with the proper hardware. The display they use for video conferencing is important. It will help with more effective online collaboration between teams.

Security Concerns

Allowing a group of employees to remotely access your network from their own devices may expose you to a range of security threats.

These include malware, viruses, ransomware, phishing, and other forms of social engineering. Therefore, minimizing any related risks needs to be a top priority.

Consider this solution:

All computers used for remote work should have the latest virus software installed. You can use remote access VPN to encrypt the connection between employee devices and the company network.

You should also provide network security awareness training on a regular basis. Furthermore, encourage strong password policies among your team. In some cases, it is better to invest in dedicated work computers for employees rather than let them use their own equipment.

Lack of Motivation

Worries about an unmotivated team are common in the office, but they also apply to remote work, as well. When dealing with remote teams, it’s more difficult to enforce breaks. And a lack of commuting may reduce daily exercise.

Consider this solution:

The organization should clearly communicate the importance of arranging lunch breaks and breaks. If you hear that employees are failing to do so, please discuss and repeat the relevant issues with them.

It may also be worth arranging a team meeting to discuss the importance of exercise, and a sit-stand desk is also helpful.

Work/Life Balance

A healthy work/life balance is one of the greatest difficulties of remote work. Moreover, it can have a negative impact on employers. The problem here may involve overworking employees.

Spending too much time on work or thinking about work can actually result in too little work, especially when there is interference at home. Interestingly, studies show that a healthy work/life balance is more important to workers than health benefits.

Consider this solution:

Monitor the time your employees actually spend at work. Although over time can play an important role in some companies, there is a need to strike a balance between ensuring proper work/life balance.

If possible, provide the opportunity to enter the physical workplace. Doing so allows your employees to get rid of the interference at home. This serves as a breath of fresh air from time to time.

Key Takeaways

Do you see any of the above examples in your workplace? Does your team exhibit communication or productivity concerns?

Thanks to the power of FreshBooks, you can effectively restore order in your projects. And you can more easily track time and payments. If you’d like more small business support, be sure to explore our Resource Hub for valuable information.