Disadvantages of remote working
As we've seen, remote working offers several valuable benefits. However, it also comes with a few potential drawbacks for both employer and employee.
The disadvantages of remote working include:
1. Poor communication
When working in the same building as everyone else, it is very easy to communicate and collaborate with your fellow team members. When working outside of the office, this can become extremely challenging, especially if your colleagues take a long time to respond to messages. In this case, a simple task that would have taken a short amount of time to complete in the office can become exasperatingly long-winded at home.
This can be a real stumbling block for effective team collaboration, and is one of the most common issues with remote working.
2. Increased distractions
Whilst working from home, you are generally more likely to get distracted. Whether it's your partner, children, pets, the TV or the front door, there are far more distractions in our homes than in an office or other communal workplace, where the atmosphere is focused on productivity.
With all of these distractions, it can sometimes be difficult to get into 'work mode' and fully focus on the task at hand, again preventing effective team collaboration if colleagues are relying on you to communicate with them or complete a certain task ASAP.
3. Reduced social interaction
Despite all the advantages of working from home, many people still enjoy travelling to the office and seeing their colleagues in person as this gives them a nice break from their home life and a chance to socialise. This is especially true for workers who live alone.
The workplace is a crucial source of social interaction for a lot of people. Many end up making good friends among their co-workers and communicating even when they're not at work. When forced to work from home, this social interaction is lost, which can have a real negative effect on people and their mental health.
How We Support Our Employees' Mental Health
For these reasons, it's important that employers establish positive remote team-building exercises that keep employees engaged and social, despite having to follow safety measures.
4. Cybersecurity issues
When you are working from an office, you will most likely be working on your company's networks - which are (hopefully) highly secure, protecting much of the sensitive data that you use on a day-to-day basis. Whilst working from home, however, you are required to use your own home network, which may not be as secure.
As a result, there is an increased risk of a cyber attack, where personal and company information can be breached and potentially stolen. This poses a great risk for companies, as sensitive information can be compromised, potentially leading to a mountain of GDPR issues that will need to be addressed and dealt with.
5. Career advancement
The final disadvantage of working remotely is related to career advancement. When you're not in the office and continuously in the presence of your boss or manager, it can be easy for them to miss or not take notice of the hard work that you're still putting in. Instead, they have to rely on communication from another member of staff or yourself to gauge your performance.
This can become a real issue for employees who are striving to progress within their role or company, but struggling to climb the ladder because management are forgetting to carry out performance reviews and other important processes while everyone is working from home.
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These are just some of the advantages and advantages that come with remote working. With many businesses opening up as lockdown restrictions ease, business owners may now face a tough decision: ask staff members to return to the office, encourage them to continue working from home, or introduce a blended form of working that blends remote working with traditional office-based work?
Working from Home Jobs
Further Reading
