4 Scenarios Where Working From Home Is Ineffective (And How To Tweak Them)

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Working from home is now a rite of passage, not a privilege. Whether you prefer employees to be office-based or not, there isn’t a choice considering you have to make ends meet during the Coronavirus pandemic.

However, doing it out of necessity doesn’t mean that this practice will guarantee success. In reality, there are situations when home-based activities are ineffective and unproductive. If you continue to let this happen, the business will suffer regardless of whether employees are working remotely.

With that in mind, you’ll find four scenarios where working from home is problematic and their solutions underneath.

1. No Trust

You may well have recruited new employees to get through the pandemic unscathed. In that case, there is the issue of trust. Many companies view working from home as a privilege, which means you may not be sure if they’ll maintain high standards without a boss looking over their shoulder. Unfortunately, part of the solution is to take a leap of faith. Of course, you can invest in home-based technologies such as VoIP software that tracks when they log on and off. Learn more here.

Alternatively, you should arrange regular virtual meetings via Skype, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams. That way, you can keep tabs on their workloads.

2. Inconsistent Execution

If you’ve told most of your team that they have to work from home, it’s unfair to ask a select few employees to come into the office. Apart from being dangerous, it’s a clear case of one rule for them and another rule for the rest of the business. This is bound to cause resentment, and it will boil over at some point. The key is to explain why you think a specific group must be based in the office and gauge their feedback.

If the majority are happy, you should be fine to implement a split strategy. If you encounter resistance, you should consider giving them the option to work remotely.

3. Repetitive Tasks

Something workers won’t stand for is having to complete the same jobs daily. Even during a lockdown, the process gets tedious to the point where their output will drop. If anything, boredom is more of a factor now, considering it’s hard to mix up the day when self-isolating. Therefore, you must vary their workload so that there are challenging and rewarding jobs to finish regularly. Find more information here.

Sometimes, this means splitting up the monotonous tasks and spreading them equally between the entire team.

4. Differing Shift Patterns

Are you taking the opportunity to increase your opening hours so that customers and clients can contact you more often? Lots of businesses are because it’s an excellent chance to enhance their experience and raise awareness of the brand. But, remember that it involves getting employees to change their shift patterns. When nobody wants to work nights, you’re going to find it tough to cover the gaps. That’s why it’s essential to inquire about shift patterns preferences.

You’ll be amazed at how many people like to start and finish their workload later.

How are you dealing with the roadblocks that remote working throws up?