6 Risks of Remote Working

Remote working has opened up a new range of possibilities for both the employees and the businesses. It has started bringing a new work structure altogether. 

With the recent pandemic situation, the world has seen a boom in remote working opportunities. But is it worth it to join the flow of remote working?

If you are skeptical about remote working and are trying to analyze its risks or disadvantages, then keep reading.  

Top Risks of Remote Working

Many organizations are still not on-board with the idea of remote work. Here are the major risks involved in the remote working model.   

1. The risk of staff and office team feeling isolated

Individuals working from home might feel distant or disconnected from the team. This is only natural as you can rarely meet your team anymore.

Scheduling meetings over video platforms is not enough. It would not make you feel involved with your office companions. Moreover, you counteract feelings of isolation!

2. Monitoring the performance of employees becomes difficult

It is difficult to manage and monitor the office staff working from different locations. You could set goals and targets for your employees or team. But, it is a tedious task to check their performance. This leads to a delay in identifying issues or targets that aren’t met.

Usually, in offices, you can identify such issues quickly and come up with a solution in time. As a result, monitoring the performance becomes more convenient. 

3. Remote working causes a huge information security risk for companies

This kind of issue is more likely to occur in remote working scenarios. As the employees need to access company servers, they are usually given a passcode or company laptops to keep at home. This increases the information security risk. It becomes challenging to keep company files and private data secure yet accessible to your staff working from home.

Companies will have to install encryption software to the equipment provided to the remote work employees. This will drop the risk to some extent.

4. The comfortable line between work life and home life is blurred

Working in an office provides a clear distinction between professional and home life. Remote working can cause staff to forget to maintain a balance between work life and home life. Further, it results in feeling exhausted or burned out.

You may find it difficult to decide when to end your work for the day and switch off company equipment. This indecisiveness could lead to longer working hours and inevitable mental stress. Employers should encourage their employees to take timely breaks. This will ensure they do not lose their work and home life balance.

5. Inadequate staff development

Not having close physical proximity with your team can lead to problems in upgrading and further developing their skills. It is because you may find it difficult to thoroughly convey your criticism to your employees. You may think that the feedback given online can cause feelings of confusion and hurt.

In such cases, conducting online events and courses becomes the key.  Online events and courses might upgrade your team’s skills even when they are working remotely. Other such entertaining and informative sessions are also great for team and staff development and bonding.

6. Poor broadband speeds and lack of suitable equipment for WFH employees

This is one of the most important factors to keep in mind. Depending on the employee’s remote working location, they may even have slow broadband speed. For example, imagine one of your employees lives in a rural area. In this case, their broadband speed would be slow. This might affect your business as the employee might take longer or even might not be able to complete their task.

Also, the lack of suitable equipment might be another hindrance. To curb this issue, the company might need to bear expenses. They should provide employees with necessary equipment such as laptops, mobiles, etc.

Long Term Effects of Remote Working

There are several long-term effects of working from home on you as an employee. These long-term effects are unique to every individual and can impact you either positively or negatively. 

Let us look at some of these effects here: 

Loneliness:

Companies should foster a healthy online work culture and environment. If not, then employees might be affected by social isolation and loneliness in the long term. This affects their performance and even their health.

Anxiety:

You probably realize that working from home or remote locations comes with a lot of uncertainty. And, this uncertainty is a major stimulus of anxiety. Remote working for an indefinite time is risky. That is to say, it slowly develops a feeling of discomfort and helplessness within us which triggers anxiety.

Flexibility:

On the bright side, working from home is more flexible than working from the office. A lot of workers are reportedly feeling less congested and more comfortable working from their home environment.

Stress generated due to a big change:

People who have never worked remotely in their lives feel a lot of pressure. They feel stressed from this new work from the home trend. It is a very big change for them as they are forced to switch their lifestyle. It is prone to induce stress in employees who are unfamiliar with or dislike the idea of remote working.

Is remote working the future?
Is it here to stay, or is it just a trend that will fade over time?

As the pandemic has almost ended, employees want more certainty about their working patterns. It is safe to assume that more and more people and companies will be readily accepting remote work.

Well, no system is perfect. Every system has its own sets of pros and cons. Grass always seems greener on the other side. Though remote working is not a substitute for physical interaction, it is not going to fade anytime soon.  The world will be witnessing a blend of remote working and regular office as a new trend. It will bring about a change to all the working stereotypes forever.