10 Biggest Challenges of Work From Home & Ways to Overcome It

Are you a remote employee, or managing a remote team? There are many challenges of working from home, from work and personal time management and getting a work-life balance to avoiding distractions and increasing productivity while working remotely away from the office.

Working from home has become the new normal since the Covid-19 pandemic, and many businesses are offering remote job, offering flexible work arrangement or hybrid work arrangement.

Remote work offers many financial and health benefits and removing the need of commuting to work. But there are also many challenges of remote work with this new work arrangement.

Without an office to go to for work, an employee needs to balance professional life and family life all taking place under the same roof, and this can lead to many challenges.

10 Common Challenges of Working From Home

The recent survey shows that 97% of people who are currently working from home wish to continue working remotely, or at least some of the week for the rest of their career.

However, working from home is not without its own unique challenges, here are the biggest common challenges you may face while working from home.

1. Burnout at home

As people begin working from home, many remote workers may experience burnout at home for the first time. This is because the lines between work and home become blurred, and there is less separation between the two.

As you are working and living under the same roof, you will find it difficult to separate your work life from your family life. Your mind won’t fully be at ease after working hours, thus you may feel stressed even after work.

Burnout can happen due to a high workload, family commitments, struggling to balance different areas of your life, not taking care of yourself, and not being able to switch off from work.

There are many ways to prevent burnout at work or unwinding yourself after work, but most remote workers are unaware that they are actually experiencing burnout until it starts to affect their health and personal relationships.

These are some of the warning signs of burnout to look out for:

• Feelings of exhaustion and being mentally and physically drained.
• Depression, anxiety, and stress.
• Sleeping issues, or insomnia.
• Not having time to eat or eating unhealthy or quick meals.
• Health issues such as headaches or stomach aches.
• Struggling to become motivated, be productive, and feel connected to and passionate about your work.
• Feel like you do not have time to yourself or time to do the things that you enjoy.

2. Difficulty switching off after office hours

When working at an office, as you leave your office and close the door behind you, you also leave that work behind as travel back home.

Yet when working from home, it is harder to make that separation when ending the workday, as you are always in your workspace and feel constantly available to do work.

When working from home, the boundaries between work and home is blurred.

• Remote workers are more likely to check emails, respond to emails, or make or take calls out of work hours.
• Remote workers are also more likely to start work earlier or work later as they do not need to leave for their commutes.
• Remote workers are also more likely to get sucked into working on weekends, whereas before they would not have traveled to the office to work on a weekend.

It is up to employers and employees to set clear boundaries around working days and times to avoid becoming overworked.

3. Isolation and loneliness

Transitioning from working in an office full of people to sitting by yourself at home every day is one of the hardest things to adjust to when working from home.

Remote workers can sit at home and work for a long time during the workday not talking to anyone at all.

Being alone at work for a long period of time can lead to feelings of isolation, and many people miss the social aspect of speaking to their colleagues and managers and having a catch-up or gossip.

There are also fewer work social events such as having lunch together or grabbing drinks after work.

These feelings of being alone can lead people to feel less connected to their job and therefore less motivated and passionate about their work.

Thus, it is important to know how to make working from home fun and enjoyable.

4. Less motivation to work

Without the structure of the office, it can be difficult to set a schedule for yourself and become motivated and productive throughout the day.

Adapting to working more independently can mean setting your own tasks and goals to work towards.

Without getting positive confirmation from your colleagues or boss, or being supervised in the office, you may have to implement your own rewards system to motivate yourself.

5. Distractions at home

The office is an ideal space for working, although you may get distracted by your colleague’s conversation, or your boss asks you to join an ad-hoc meeting, you are basically still doing work-related stuff.

But when you are working from home, without a proper home office, you can have many other types of distractions or background noise which can cause you to lose focus at work.

Examples of distractions at home:

• Children coming to look for you while you are at work.
• Pets that demand your attention while you are having an important meeting.
• Your partner or other family members ask for your attention while you are focusing on your work.
• Watching TV or catching up on the latest episode of your favorite drama.
• Doing housework while you are supposed to work on your reports or projects.

Even if you’ve created a structured working schedule, if you do not have a home office set up to shut yourself away and concentrate on your work, it can be difficult to set the boundary and prevent having distractions while you are working from home.

6. Less communication and collaboration with your coworkers

Working from home means you will not be meeting your colleagues face-to-face.

Will little to no personal interaction with your coworkers, it can be difficult to build rapport and connections virtually with colleagues within your team, or of other departments.

Work relationships between colleagues can suffer, which can impact productivity.

• You may find it difficult to collaborate on a project or know the right way to communicate with someone who you have never met.
• It can also be difficult to communicate purely through messages or calls, as the tone of messages can be misinterpreted.

Not being in the office also means that there is not much opportunity for networking or having talks with your boss to gain a better position or opportunities.

7. Less active

Working from home naturally means you spend more time sitting down at your desk or in front of your screen.

Normally, office workers have to stay active because of their commute whether this was walking or cycling. In the office you would stand up regularly to walk to the printer, to go and talk to a colleague, or go to a meeting room.

Now that everything is done in front of one screen, there are fewer reasons to get up during the day. You simply have to walk only a few steps from bed to your desk.

Despite the positives of not having to commute, the lack of activity can be bad for health. Thus, you should always stay active even when you are working from home, you can go for a simple walk or go to a yoga class and exercise after work to get your body moving and keep your mental and physical health in great condition.

8. More Screentime

Working at home means a lot more time spent sitting in front of a screen.

The average person spends around 7 hours and 4 minutes a day looking at screens.

But when you are working remotely things that would be face-to-face in the office such as meetings or catch-ups with colleagues are now all done over video calls, emails, or messages, meaning there are very few breaks from looking at the screen during the workday.

Negative effects of having too much screen time

Excess screen time can have a range of negative effects on your health.

• Poor sleep. Light emitted by the screen keeps your brain awake, and the consistent stimulation of the brain can cause you difficulty sleeping at night.
• Eye strain. Too much screen time can strain and even damage your eyes.
• Muscle aches. Sitting for a long time in front of your screen can lead to neck, back, and shoulder aches. Without a proper ergonomic chair, you may even experience pain or lasting musculoskeletal issues.

Researchers are warning that spending too much time in front of a screen can have negative consequences on our health.

9. No appropriate work environment

One of the most difficult things about working from home is finding a space to work. The office is a dedicated space created for everything work-related, while your house is a space that is designed for you to relax and spend time with your family.

If you want to have an appropriate work environment, you’ll need to transform a room or area at home to become a home office.

Unfortunately, not everyone has an appropriate area in their house that can be set up as a designated place to work.

You might be working from the kitchen table where you eat dinner with your kids, or in the spare bedroom which does not feel like a workspace at all.

Without a proper workspace, it can be hard to get into the zone and focus on your work.

Not to mention, you’ll also need to have a strong and stable internet connection to do video calls, which might not work well in certain areas of your home.

10. Higher home office operating costs

You may not have realized the costs you were saving on in the office until you began working from home.

Being at home all day every day will no doubt increase utility bills as you are using the lighting, water, and heating in the winter, while at home.

You will also be using more internet than ever before and need a strong Wi-Fi connection, so this bill is likely to increase too.

You will also likely find yourself splurging on office equipment that you would not have bought otherwise. Your employer should provide you with the necessities, but you will need to set up an office space in your home with a desk, an appropriate ergonomic office chair, and maybe a second screen or an ergonomic keyboard.

What is The Biggest Challenges of Work From Home Challenges and Solutions

According to our survey “remote employees face biggest challenges of remote work is the blurring of the lines between work time and home time.”

The big challenges of working remotely is that employees working from home are often never being able to fully switch off leading to working around the clock and working long hours at home which leads to burnout.

How to Overcome The Biggest Challenges of Working Remotely And Avoid Burnout

While there are many benefits to working remotely, such as working from home removes the need to commune to work, higher level of flexibility and better work-life balance.

As you are working remotely from home, many employee may find themselves working extra hours and find it hard to “switch off” work mode when you finished your day’s work. Here are some ways to overcome the challenge of working from home and avoid burnout.

• Take your vacation days and time off when you need it.
• Make time to do things that you enjoy such as spending time with your kids or doing a hobby that makes you happy.
• Find a way to properly shut off and end work for the day so that you can switch off for the evening or weekend – remember, work can wait until tomorrow.
• Set clear boundaries with yourself, your employer, and your family as to when you cannot be disturbed at home when you cannot be contacted outside of work, and what your working hours are.
• Regularly get up from your desk throughout the day, and make sure you go for walks and get outside when you can.
• Unwind and relax at the end of the day with self-care – take a bath, do a yoga class, read a book, cook a favorite meal.
• Ask for help if you need it to manage communication with work, your workload, or to be directed to services that can help with anxiety and depression.

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