Are you aware that 77% of work from home employees report being more productive? But telecommuters are not living the life of ease.
There are certain productivity pitfalls employees who work from the home face. The common ones include overworking, encountering distractions, feeling isolated, and lack of team collaboration.
Let’s dig into the productivity pitfalls of remote working one by one and see how to avoid them:
- Overworking
One of the pitfalls that remote workers face is the inability to switch off from work, and thus they end up overworking. In an office environment, employees take breaks at a set time and stop work at the end of working hours.
When they work from home, most of the time, they are tempted to check their email or complete that unfinished assignment. This leads to stress which 41% of employees say negatively affects their productivity.
Avoid overworking
To avoid overworking:
- Know what your priorities are and which areas need your focus. Make it a habit to decide on specific vital tasks that you will be committing. When you concentrate on the right things, you will have a greater sense of achievement at the day’s end. Consequently, you will be more ready to switch off and enjoy the evening.
- Set your timer to remind yourself to take short breaks. As per a study, when you take short breaks and detach from work, it increases energy levels at work while decreasing exhaustion.
- At the end of the day, turn off and put away your laptops and mobile phones. You should log out of every app, work, or communication tool that you use.
- Encountering distractions
Whether you are working from home or in an office setting, there are going to be distractions. But employees at home encounter more distractions.
For instance, there is the laundry, TV, kids, phone call from a relative, or the dog wagging its tail temptingly. When you attend to all these, work takes a backseat.
Avoid distractions
To avoid distractions:
- First and foremost, set up a home office. It will train your mind to think that you are in an actual office workspace. Also, your family members will be less likely to bother you with trivial issues once you enter your home office and sit down to work.
If you don’t have room to spare, even your basement can work. Remodel the basement to create a clean, airy, and cozy space. And install rubber surfacing to eliminate dampness and moisture from the room and to add comfort.
- You can also put up a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign on your door or lock the door from the inside.
- If you have young children at home, getting childcare will help a lot.
- Feeling isolated
Feeling lonely and isolated is a common problem faced by many work-from-home employees. This happens mainly to employees who live alone, and this can affect productivity. In fact, a study found out that 63% of women with a best friend are engaged at work as opposed to only 29% who don’t have a best friend.
Men are social animals, and if they stay in isolation for long, it can have adverse health effects, as per a study. Isolated people are more prone to depression, insomnia, and impaired executive function, among others.
Avoid isolation
To avoid isolation:
- Make sure to spend a few hours doing something social outdoors after work. If going out and meeting people is not possible, at least call up your friends or loved ones and talk to them or video call them.
- Once a week, consider working at a café rather than sitting in your home office.
- Search for shared workspaces in your locality where other remote workers will be present.
- Lack of team collaboration
Nearly 75% of employees say that collaboration and teamwork are crucial for productivity at work. Working from home makes it challenging to collaborate with team members even when there are tools. Remote teams work from different corners of the world and live in different time zones. Thus, team collaboration is a big challenge.
Avoid lack of team collaboration.
To collaborate well with team members:
- Communicate effectively, making use of chat tools and video conferencing tools. See that everyone is well adapted to the tools and everyone is implementing common communication channels.
- Be articulate while communicating by using simple language, and don’t bombard team members with useless info.
- Team leaders should give out clear instructions to the members and set clear goals and objectives. The members should also know their responsibilities and possess the skills to increase team productivity.
Wrap-Up
There you have it – four productivity pitfalls of remote working and tips on how to avoid them!
If you are working remotely, it is crucial to be aware of those pitfalls that affect productivity at work and also know the tricks to tackle them. Hopefully, this article will help you tackle your demons and help boost your work productivity.
