5 Disadvantages of Working From Home
Identify What’s Stopping You From Being At Your Very Best
Stresses That Come With Working From Home
The 2020 crisis urged everyone to make several adjustments to cope with the new norm. One of them was adapting to the work from home life and coming to terms with the benefits and drawbacks of working from home. Since this significant change, many employees have high praise for working remotely and on their own schedules, among all the other advantages of working from home. However, it didn’t take long for most of us to realize that there are still quite a few drawbacks to working from home. That said, let us take a look at a few of the downsides to working from home and the stresses that come with it.
5 Disadvantages of Working From Home
Lack of Motivation
You’d be surprised how easy it can be to lose motivation. Working in a professional setting with colleagues with common goals and campaigns are excellent sources of motivation. Whereas working from home presents another kind of environment altogether – one that doesn’t always support productivity. Loss of encouragement and inspiration can make an employee’s life stressful and adversely affect their overall productivity.
Unsupervised Performance and Frequent Breaks
Working independently is not for the faint of mind. The new organization requires employees to keep track of their performance. Self-regulation is an intricate task, and it gets even more complex when the field of work you’re in doesn’t pair well with that work from home life. Employees may be tempted to take breaks more frequently, resulting in less work time. Whereas, in the office, one is constantly reminded to be on point and perform efficiently, which is impossible with remote work.
Lack of Office Equipment and Security Concerns
Some remote-working employees embraced the change perfectly. But, everything has two sides to it, and a home office has its own set of drawbacks. First, setting up a home office with a high-performing desktop, high-speed internet, and other equipment can be pretty expensive, which is inconvenient for everyone. Furthermore, working over your home internet might be an issue when accessing sensitive company records, which otherwise can be easily accessed when at work.
Compromised Productivity
Before the pandemic hit, many claimed that working remotely brought about increased productivity. But, unfortunately, it took all of us in this real-life scenario to realize that that’s simply not true. All the alluring distractions of mid-day naps, the TV series, spending time with family downstairs, etc., make it incredibly difficult to focus and be motivated to work for long. Moreover, working from home can make one feel isolated and not motivated enough to work effectively.
Burnout
Flexible hours are one of the advantages of working from home. It allows employees to structure their days according to their availability. But, this can be a disadvantage for some employees, as some may tend to work longer than they should, resulting in employee burnout and sustained stress. Working in an office helps to draw a clear line on productivity and time usage.
Working From Home Isn’t for You?
In our opinion, working remotely has plenty of advantages that can contribute to increased productivity; however, no system in this world is absolute. Everything in life has its advantages and disadvantages, and it’s up to us to make the best out of our circumstances. Some employees absolutely love working from home, and some can’t wait to go back to the office, sit on their precious office chairs, chit-chat with their co-workers, and get work done.
The disadvantages that we discussed are why some organizations are still not entirely on board with remote operations. Some businesses can’t afford dips in productivity from their employees. Fortunately, there are many ways employees working remotely can get past these obstacles. But we’ll get to that in another post. Make sure to check out our post on the various solutions to increase productivity at home.
