Working from home is a lifestyle that many believe they’d enjoy as they choose to think only of the benefits: flexibility, comfort, no commuting time. But once they get the opportunity to try remote working, many find it challenging. So today I will cover some of the biggest challenges I have encountered while working from home and what I’ve done to overcome these.
1. LONELINESS
I wanted to start with this one as it seems to be, at least in my experience so far, THE biggest, yet somehow unexpected, challenge many encounter. Although obvious that one is moving from working in an office surrounded by co-workers, to being alone in their home office, this is one aspect that many seem to be blindsided by. Or at least its impact is somewhat underestimated by many. And, regardless whether you are on introvert or an extravert, you will find this to be a challenge as well at some point in time.
In my case, I am quite comfortable being alone as I find it easier to focus and that helps me be more effective. Nonetheless, I do feel lonely at times. And so, recently I have made a few changes to my working routine that seem to be really helping:
- I work every Friday from a different cafe. Sometimes I choose the same one if I lack inspiration 😉 What this does, is it allows me to be surrounded by and interract with others, I meet new people and it also forces me to get ready and presentable 🙂
- I do all my conference calls on Teams with the video on. Again, this not only allows me to see my team and my co-workers and makes the interraction more personal, but it also requires some getting ready and puts me in a proper “working mode”.
- Thirdly, and this is something I have not tried yet but I am planning to try it out really soon, you could use a co-working space. Nowadays there are more and more of these spaces made available to remore workers and digital nomads. Selina is the one I’ve heard most about, but here in Zurich we have one dedicated to women called Birdhaus which offers a great environment for women of all backgrounds to meet.
2. WORK LIFE BALANCE
As mentioned in my previous blog about My Top 3 Tips about working from home balance is key if you want to myke this lifestyle an enjoyable experience. Taking care of yourself, and consciously deciding ony our start and end working times is crucial. This allows you to spend more quality time with your friends and family, as well as to take time for yourself.
A few other things that work for me:I set up reminders to take breaks, in my Outlook calendar.f
All of my team members and co-workers know I stop work officially at 5:30pm so I don’t take any calls or join any meetings after this time. I have blocked my time in my calendar too so people cannot cheat ;). If you don’t believe you are disciplined enough, I suggest you schedule activities or personal appointments around the time you want to stop working, so you don’t get to cheat either. It’s all about seld-discipline and intention.
3. DISTRACTIONS
This is such an obvious yet annoying one. And it’s not just the distractions around you: your phone, the TV – in case you still watch it, the pot on the stove, the washing machine having finished the load, the door bell, but it’s the work distractions too. Since you are not there in person, many tend to assume you are always available and thus feel fine calling or “pinging” you any time. I will come back to remote working etiquette in another post soon as it is a topic that I find fascinating and think more people should understand these things 😀
4. PERSONAL WELLNESS
Don’t forget to eat and drink enough water. Coffee does not give you more than a short energy boost. And trust me, I am guilty of living on caffeine till late hours in the afternoon when I realize I need to eat otherwise I cannot keep focusing. So I am not one to follow here, but nourishing your body is just as, if not more, important while working from home as it is when you are in an office. And this is because when working from home you have no one else to remind you it’s lunchtime than your own body – so don’t ignore it to finish “just this one more task”.
5. COMMUNICATION
Last, but not least, another aspect that many find challenging when working from home is communication. Ability to bring clarity in your communication and ask quoestions when needed is crucial to being successful here. Otherwise, either you or your co-workers will need to redo a lot of work – and trust me, I’ve been there ;).
“When the bulk of your communication happens via email and the like, it doesn’t take much for bad blood to develop unless everyone is making their best effort to the contrary. Small misunderstandings that could have been nipped in the bud with the wink of an eye or a certain tone of voice can quickly snowball into drama.” –
Basecamp founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier
Again, I’ll come back to this topic in a separate post as, over the years I’ve learned a few skills that come in handy here.
All in all, remote working is not easy and it is certainly not for everyone. But as long as you understand the pros and the cons, and the positives compensate for the compromises, then I suggest you give it a try. You might enjoy it afterall.
Until next time,
Laura