Even before the coronavirus crisis forced non-essential employees to stay home, remote work had grown increasingly popular. According a fairly recent Gallup poll, about 43% of Americans say they perform at least some of their jobs remotely. Of course, remote work can refer to working at home, at client sites, or other business locations. In any case, many businesses have already turned to smart information management solutions to ease concerns over giving employees the chance to work from anywhere. In this article, we take a moment to share some of the tech challenges that less-prepared businesses and employees might need to overcome during these times when many workers must stay home.
Tech Challenges of Having Everybody Work from Home
Right now, millions more have suddenly been forced to participate in what The Atlantic calls The Coronavirus Experiment — a huge and stressful test of working at home. Nobody thinks testing the blades while the helicopter is already in flight provides the best opportunity for a successful outcome. Still, that’s exactly the challenge faced by millions of employees and their employers.
These are some of the biggest technical challenges that companies without a good remote-work structure face:
- Shadow IT: Shadow IT refers to apps or other tech tools that employees might use but the IT department knows nothing about. Common examples include Slack, Dropbox, and Skype. These may violate governance policies and pose risks for security.
- Disconnected data repositories: When employees start sharing Google Drive documents or emailing each other attachments, it can create a decentralized nightmare without version tracking, ownership, or even a good way to find the current information. If the team member with the latest version of a document or spreadsheet in his email gets sick, there’s no way for other team members to access or it or even possibly know it exists.
- Lack of overall strategy: Quick fixes for team communication can provide quick fixes, but without a company policy, they won’t provide a long-term strategic solution. Stakeholders may get fragmented by using different ad-hoc solutions. They can miss important information, find the information they do receive fragmented, or even feel left out.
Employee Challenges of Working from Home
Besides business issues with the technology needed for remote work, most employees will have to adjust to their new working conditions as well.
At-Home Tech Problems
Most employees probably have at-home internet connections, but they may not enjoy the business-grade performance they were used to. In addition, lots of folks have reported slower connections lately, perhaps because so many people have gotten online more during seclusion. Besides good internet connections, employees may also struggle accessing the software they require to do their jobs or find that home versions don’t supply them with features they used to rely upon at work. Without the right training and tools, employees may also struggle to keep up with governance and security.
Naturally, companies that already had systems in place for remote work should not face such big problems. If not, it’s important to ensure that employees have access to a help desk that can help them with some technical problems. It’s also not too late to explore better technology.
Time Management and Work-Life Balance
Not only have many businesses closed, so have schools. Even without having children as an additional distraction, it’s easy to lose focus when social media and streaming video services are only a couple of clicks away. Very likely, employees will have more personal calls and messages at home as they strive to keep up with scattered friends and family. It’s always prudent to develop a workable schedule, even if it’s not the same sort of 9 to 5 schedule you may have had before.
Of course, sometimes time management issues can work another way. Without a physical separation between home and office, some people will spend too much time working. Rebecca Safier, the founder of Remote Bliss, said that some employees might even try to overcompensate by getting more done because they know that their boss can’t keep such close tabs on them. It’s also important for people to spend time taking care of themselves and their families while they’re adjusting to a work-at-home routine.
Feeling the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
Lots of employees count their workmates as good friends. They rely upon work lunches, after-work happy hours, and even just chatting in the coffee room for important socialization. Even though most people say that they’re happy to skip a long commute or even dressing up, many do feel isolated after a while. Some companies have online meetings with Zoom or other chat services or at least, maintain a forum where employees can share stories, advice, or even just funny pictures of their cats.
Working at Home Delivers Great Benefits Too
Of course, working from a home office can provide employees and businesses with lots of benefits. According to a study by James Bloom, a Stanford economist, having the chance to work from home can make employees happier, more productive, and more loyal. In turn, this option can help companies reduce costs and improve profits. About half of employees did choose to return to their workplace at the end of the study, so the full-time, work-at-home lifestyle does not suit everybody. Still, most of the workers appreciated having the option available, at least sometimes.
During times like these, when working from home becomes a necessity, it pays for companies to prepare themselves and their employees with the right education and technology to manage their new lifestyles. Smart software solutions that have built-in, remote-work features can solve most of the tech problems. As for distractions, like streaming video, social media, and even the fridge, employees may need to work that out on their own.
