Problems Faced With Teleworking- Lately

Though teleworking initially looked like a treasure to the employees, with all its hidden perks like no long commutes to the office, no more manager taunts from behind the chair, and no more everyday schedule management, it has shown it’s ugly face soon enough. People have started suffering as they are gradually realizing a whole lot of hidden disadvantages of this work culture, forced upon them due to the pandemic

PROBLEMS FACED IN EVERYDAY ACTIVITY:

The first and foremost problem being faced by all kinds and levels of employees is the disturbed and shattered boundary lines between personal and work life. With the household chores on one side and office work on the other, it has become more or less a circus, especially hard for the married ones to maintain a work-life balance.

Often they start jumping between their personal and professional life, resulting in a lack of concentration, distraction, and there comes stress building up as the deadlines approach. This effect of this is more adversely seen in middle-class families with small houses and no separate workspaces. Employee finds himself in the middle of a meeting, unable to immerse himself completely in it due to the surrounding noises of toaster running on one side, with his/her kid attending an online classroom session just beside. Sometimes a conflict in meetings between himself and his spouse, forcing him to go out to the porch to avoid each other’s background noises.

TECHNICAL DISRUPTIONS:

Not everyone can afford a power backup in case of failures or weather conditions and this stops their work progress. Adding to this kind of technical issue, there are poor internet connectivity and pc hardware or software issues which in turn becomes the headache of oneself to solve. The employees who are unable to manage their composure when further crushed by technological failures, thereby losing interest in their work altogether and  gradually developing this ‘escape work’ mentality

EFFECTS ON HEALTH:

People even started slipping into bad habits like overeating causing them obesity, irregular sleep cycles, and very less physical activity raising their chances of anxiety and depression.

PRODUCTIVITY IMPACT:

Resolving conflicts in work with discussions and teamwork has always been a prime responsibility for tech-leads and senior levels and this has taken a new shape altogether with meeting rooms replaced by group chats or video conferences. This model is resulting in a lot of wastage in terms of time and effort, further building up stress in employees as they confront their deadlines

WHAT DOES STATISTICS SHOW?

According to the statistics taken by ‘Global Workspace  Analytics’, 71% of the companies do not compensate for the arrangement of co-working spaces for employees and 75% will not compensate for the internet. About 22% of the employees report that logging out from the work is becoming a bigger problem during work from home. About 19% of the remote employees report that they are feeling lonely and observing a growing distance with their co-workers. About 88% of the workforce prefers solitude while working, for them to achieve their maximum productivity. On a whole 35% of the workforce is suffering from this work culture

Though the researchers are looking out for methods to overcome these difficulties and improve this work culture, there is never a straight forward approach as the number and nature of people’s personal lives widely outnumbers the strategies one can think of.