Top ten challenges of working remotely

Just under a third state missing social interaction as the top challenge to remote working.

This comes from connectivity experts 99&One, who found that 27 per cent see missing out on social interaction as the top pitfall of working from home.

They were able to collate the top ten challenges workers face whilst working from home, they are:

  • Missing social interaction (27 per cent)
  • Feeling the need to prove productivity (24 per cent)
  • Colleagues taking longer to respond (18 per cent)
  • Connectivity issues (17 per cent)
  • Feeling disconnected from colleagues (16 per cent)
  • Feeling out of sight, out of mind (16 per cent)
  • Feeling out the loop with what is going on across the business (15 per cent)
  • Getting distracted even more than being in the office (15 per cent)
  • Relying on technology too heavily (14 per cent)
  • Feeling isolated (12 per cent)

 

Technology can feed in to the problem of remote working as employees have to use the technology they have never used before, such as instant messaging, shared documents, cloud-based collaboration tools, video conferencing and audio conferencing.

Research shows that training can ease the sudden shift to remote work as employees who gets sufficient training on remote working technologies are five times happier (56 per cent) at work than those who are not offered any support (11 per cent).

Steve Haworth, CEO, 99&One, said:

Since Covid-19 hit, everything has changed. Companies have had to adapt fast to get the most basic technology in place. The priority has been getting enough functioning devices, headsets and chargers to minimise tech frustrations and keep workers productive.

It’s clear now that we’re in this for the long haul, and many organisations will never revert back to old ways of working. Forward thinking leaders will start to shift their attention to optimising home technology to provide better connectivity, collaboration and productivity. Helping employees to overcome some of the biggest barriers to successful remote working – ensuring continued productivity and profitability.

This information was gathered by asking 2,016 flexible workers.

 

 

 

 

Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.