According to Small Business portal the number of employees who work from home in the UK has increased by 25% in the last 5 years. This figure takes into account all those that either work one day a week or more from home so the true figure of those working from home full time might be even higher. The trend shows no signs of slowing down and the figure will most likely increase over the next few years. The terms such as freelancer, remote team member, digital nomad or working from home have become a standard of business vocabulary. However, the number of negative factors surrounding the terminology still exist and the negative effects of working from home will remain an issue in the future.
So, what are the negative effects of working from home:
Lack of mentoring
Due to the lack of belonging, mentoring and support there seems to be a huge disconnect from workers and management. For example, if you only see work colleagues or hear them through a conference call this will become an issue in management, development and camaraderie that you would usually associate with effective teams.
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Laptop Only
Working only with your laptop in quiet environment of the home is good for some but you do need to have the usual bustle and noise of a shared office. Being able to stop by someoneās desk to ask for advice or to see how the project is going is essential part of every workplace.
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Growing your business
Building and growing business is harder through remote work due to the fact that encouragement and enthusiasm are just harder to maintain with remote working. Again, this brings us back to the hassle and bustle of office or just having busy people around. At the end of the day you want team members or workers to be passionate about the work that they do, and it is quite hard to maintain that passion with remote workers.
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Lack of passion
The passion will always be lacking without enthusiasm and motivation about a product or service and this is something that only comes through social engagement and interaction, it is very hard to express or maintain the spirit of your workers digitally.
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Managing home workers
It is hard to manage home workers and in turn it is one of the negative effects on businesses, furthermore, it is proved that home workers get overlooked in a number of situations.
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Mental Health
Working from home will make life easier at first as you will save time and money on travelling to and from work, but it can be very bad for individualās mental health. We as humans are social creatures and as such working and not seeing anyone can make us feel cut off.Ā
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The obvious solution to the above lies in the use of co-working and shared office spaces that encourage greater interaction between its members. Going to events or attending workshops, coffee mornings or simply talking to a fellow co-working member about the current project that you are working on and sharing your ideas with them will do you a lot of good. This not only creates positive mental attitude and improves well-being but also makes you feel more connected and a part of wider community of remote workers who would have shared the same experiences.
