It’s not always easy being a remote worker. Research done by Mulki et al. (2009) listed these top 4 challenges:
✔ Work life balance
Remote workers work 4 hours/week longer than the on-site counterparts according to the 2013 State of the American Worker study conducted by Gallup. According to other research (Mulki et al. 2009) a majority of remote workers worked weekends and tended to work even when they were sick. The causes of lack of work-life balance:
- Absence of boundaries between work and home. Work is always there
- Communication is voluminous but without any contextual cues
- Self-inflicted overcompensation and wanting to prove oneself due to lack of visibility to colleagues in the office
“I find myself doing work early in the morning, all throughout the day and sometimes in the evening…There is no separation between your personal life and your work life….It is not compartmentalized for me like it used to be when I would go into the office and leave my work at the office when I came home. (Business executive, male)
✔ Work place isolation
Remote workers feel that they are isolated from the work environment and perceive an absence of support from their managers and colleagues as well as social isolation from their peers. There can be a feeling of cabin fever where they are isolated from everyone else.
“It’s all that informal communication that you missed. You are not hearing about what people did during the weekend. You also miss a lot of collaboration. We didn’t have the same kind of brainstorming.” (Sales manager, female)
✔ Lack of face-to-face communication
Although electronic communication is readily available, it can be inefficient as it needs more explanation and has potential for misinterpretation.
“Not being able to run down the hall and get a question answered is a big disadvantage…there’s a big difference in not being able to see the person’s face, cue in on their expressions and the nonverbal characteristics that really help you understand something more thoroughly and just develop a better relationship.” (Communications manager, male)
✔ Lack of visibility
Remote workers feel that they need to work harder to get recognized or be promoted. There is a sense of “out of sight, out of mind.” They feel that they miss out on potential new opportunities and are concerned about lower performance evaluations.
“There might be a great opportunity…let’s say my direct manager meets and….they’re looking for a stretch opportunity for someone, and if I don’t happen to be on the call at that time, or walking down the hall maybe someone from someone else’s team would get considered for it.” (Communications manager, female)
Eric Koester of zaarly.com shares top 3 challenges for managing remote workers
Click here for management strategies on how to address the challenges.
What other challenges do you foresee for remote workers? Or for organizations fostering remote work? Share your thoughts in a comment below!
Going Remote 