The Advantages of Remote Working: The Pros and Cons in it
By gabriel in Education on 30 de outubro de 2020
Now let’s deep dive into some of the main pros and cons of remote work and what to do to overcome the latter. It simply means employees can choose, again within limits set by management, where they will perform their work. Plus, even when things go perfectly, even a relatively short commute of 20 minutes will take 40 minutes out of your day—that’s more than three hours a week.
Since you’re reading this article, you might also be considering remote work for your company’s employees or even yourself. Below you can find the full list of pros and cons of remote work, so you can more easily make the decision on whether remote work is beneficial in your case. WFH is here to stay and provides new levels of work-life balance and flexibility for more people. But the pros for some people are cons for others, and vice versa. If you imagine your ideal work environment and pursue (or advocate for) conditions that come closest—you’ll set yourself up for success no matter where you work.
What Employees Want: Overlooked Insights in Employee Engagement
And we have forgotten what it is to make eye contact with somebody in a meeting, what it feels like, to give somebody a pat on the shoulder, what it feels like to finish each other’s sentences in a meeting. Now there’s no question that working remotely has made us more efficient. While newer businesses with modern infrastructure can cope with a remote workforce, traditional offices might not function remotely simply because they may not have the infrastructure to support them. Organizing group video calls and virtual team-building exercises can be an excellent way to learn more about each other and keep employee interaction high. Now that we’ve discussed the pros and cons of remote working, let’s look at how you can maintain a thriving remote working environment. A home office or a remote setting with reduced interaction can lead to boredom and feelings of loneliness.
Perhaps it’s occasional in-person meetings with your team, if that’s feasible. Possibly back-to-back meetings or meetings without a clear objective. Make a list and consider talking with your manager to try to build a better remote collaboration strategy. The boundaries between your job and your life can become blurred when you work from home. According to research from NordLayer, remote employees in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada put in an average of two extra hours of work per day in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As you may know firsthand, when work expands and seeps into your free time like this, it can throw off your work-life balance and accelerate burnout.
Collaboration
It also concluded that face-to-face interactions increase interpersonal contact, connectedness, and trust. Tietze in 2012 revealed that 54 percent of teleworkers felt that they lost out on social interaction, and 52.5 percent felt they lost out on professional https://remotemode.net/ interaction due to their remote work arrangements. Video conferencing services and applications such as Zoom Cloud Meetings, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams have made virtual meetings not only possible but also more productive and collaborative.
Try and block out Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram when you’re at work — or at least switch off the notifications. Transitioning to remote work can pose significant challenges how companies benefit when employees work remotely for anyone — from veterans to remote work newbies. In this way you can more easily lead, inform, connect, give feedback, and orchestrate teamwork in your company.
Effective Communication and Collaboration in a Remote Work Environment
This way, you will not lose anything while still gaining the necessary experience. As you can see, the list of disadvantages of remote work from home is entirely predictable. Although for some people these are not disadvantages and are unlikely to be of great importance to them. In any case, for specialists in many professions, career growth practically stops when switching to remote work.
- But its widespread adoption due to the pandemic became a benefit of the modern job.
- These include savings from not having to buy meals and coffees in commercial establishments.
- There are also some other important advantages and
disadvantages of remote work, which we will look at closely in this article.
On the other hand, if there are deadlines or something needs to be done urgently, your coworkers may try to get you out of bed, and you will not be able to even rest your eyes for a few moments. This is sometimes a plus because the issue is really that urgent. If you spend almost two hours a day commuting (not to mention preparing for it), in a month, you’ll have spent 44 hours just going to work and back home. And when you add in lunch breaks, smoke breaks, and chatting with not-particularly-busy colleagues, it becomes alarming how much time is wasted.
Feelings of isolation
If there are no supplemental distractions at home, like personal calls, pets, household chores etc. (more about that later), work productivity can be dramatically increased with remote work. In a hybrid work environment, there can be bias against those who go fully remote. For instance, your bosses may not notice and appreciate your accomplishments as much or you may not be pulled into meetings that impact your work. You also miss out on spontaneous chats that can deepen workplace relationships, build trust, and lead to promotions. If you usually hit an afternoon lull at 2 PM, for example, you can take a quick power nap or go for a walk to refresh yourself for the remainder of the workday.
