4 Telecommuting Pitfalls and the way to Prevent Them

7 Mistakes to prevent like a New Remote Leader – All of a sudden being shifted right into a remote work role makes it difficult to adjust while taking care of core responsibilities – so how can we adjust?

You will find a multitude of tools open to help remote teams. They vary from email, Slack (team messaging), and Zoom (video calling) to Taskworld (work tracking) and Google Docs (document collaboration). Even without the a standardized policy, each individual would begin using the various tools that they’re acquainted with. This could simply increase the chaos.


Video advice: Remote Work Readiness Webinar


Remote Work Pro Tips, Episode 4: The Pitfalls (And How to Avoid Them!) – In the fourth and final installment of our remote work pro tips series with LogMeIn’s SVP and GM of UCC, Mark Strassman, Mark addresses the common struggles and pitfalls of remote work, and how to avoid them. Check it out!

Don’t forget to visit our new remote work resource center, with more tips and best practices on how to master the shift to working from home. We will be continuing to update this page and our social channels with educational materials from both LogMeIn staff and third party experts!

Prolonged Remote Work (in a Coronavirus World): 3 Major Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

In times of crisis, such as the current Coronavirus pandemic, large workforces have been relegated to full-time remote work. We’ll explore three pitfalls that can take a toll on employee productivity, collaboration and engagement – and how to avoid them.

Don’t get stuck in these common remote working traps. Remote work, telecommuting, work-from-home (or whatever you want to call it) isn’t a new phenomenon or trend. It’s a way of life in a world where digital/mobile devices and technologies rule our lives 24/7. Think I’m exaggerating? Think again. A study by Global Workplace Analytics revealed that the number of remote workers has grown by 140 percent since 2005. When you consider the many benefits – increased flexibility, productivity, autonomy, trust and work-life balance – it makes sense that remote work plays such an important role in shaping employee satisfaction, engagement and retention. The data supports this, with 80 percent of employees reporting they’d be more loyal if they had more flexible work options, such as working from home. Is it any wonder remote work is one of the most lucrative (and effective) benefits used by HR’s talent recruitment and retention strategies? But for all its rose-colored benefits, remote work has some pitfalls that can take a toll on employee satisfaction, productivity, collaboration and engagement.

4 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Remote Working And How To Correct Them

As remote working becomes the business-as-usual trend of the future, opportunities arise along with difficulties. New studies show what mistakes to avoid and solutions for remedy in order to make improvements.

Businessolver released findings from its fifth annual State of Workplace Empathy study highlighting several troubling themes. According to Businessolver CEO Jon Shanahan, the disconnect between CEOs and employees continues, investing in the right mix of employee benefits makes a difference and Gen Z employees expect so much more of leadership. Other key findings include:

Not sure if you’re counting, but we’re moving into the sixth month of remote working—a major boon to the 2020 pandemic, and it has brought many opportunities to the workforce. While it’s important to look for opportunities in the problem, working from home (WFH) has brought with it many challenges for remote workers and companies to address in this uncharted time in our history. While companies struggle to improve remote working conditions, it’s essential to pinpoint the mistakes as a handful of recent studies have done and cite possible solutions to make remote working more efficient, healthy and productive.

4 Productivity Pitfalls of Remote Working (And How to Avoid Them!)

Are you aware that 77% of work from home employees report being more productive? But telecommuters are not living the life of ease. There are certain productivity pitfalls employees who work from …

Make sure to spend a few hours doing something social outdoors after work. If going out and meeting people is not possible, at least call up your friends or loved ones and talk to them or video call them. Once a week, consider working at a café rather than sitting in your home office. Search for shared workspaces in your locality where other remote workers will be present.

  • Avoid overworking
  • Avoid distractions
  • Avoid isolation
  • Avoid lack of team collaboration.

Wrap-Up

Know what your priorities are and which areas need your focus. Make it a habit to decide on specific vital tasks that you will be committing. When you concentrate on the right things, you will have a greater sense of achievement at the day’s end. Consequently, you will be more ready to switch off and enjoy the evening. Set your timer to remind yourself to take short breaks. As per a study, when you take short breaks and detach from work, it increases energy levels at work while decreasing exhaustion. At the end of the day, turn off and put away your laptops and mobile phones. You should log out of every app, work, or communication tool that you use.

4 Pitfalls of Remote Work (and How to Overcome Them)

If you work from home or have a virtual team working remote, then here are the problems associated with that (and how to overcome them).

Set up reminders for breaks: When working at home, it is also quite easy to forget about taking breaks. This is because you don’t have to walk around to consult colleagues, get to meetings and so on. To deal with this, you need to set up reminders to take short breaks every couple of hours. A good way is to schedule your day using the Pomodoro technique.

  1. Working Too Much
  2. How to Avoid Working Too Much
  3. Lack of Community
  4. How to Avoid a Life of Loneliness as a Remote Worker
  5. Miscommunication
  6. How to Avoid Breakdown of Communication
  7. Loss of Productivity Due to Distractions
  8. How to Deal With Distractions at Home

IT SAVES YOU MONEY

Set appointments at the end of the work day: At the office, there will be always be something to remind you that the work day is over – other colleagues leaving the office, need to catch the bus or beat traffic, and so on. At home, without such things to remind you that the work day is over, it is easy to find yourself working past your normal work hours. A good way to prevent this is to have something scheduled for the end of the work day that forces you to stop working. This could be a daily evening walk, a daily trip to the gym, a book-reading appointment, and so on. Basically, have something that you need to do after work.

4 Reopening Mistakes Employers Must Avoid

I love the public accounting profession and want the absolute best for the people within it. I have been so proud of the quick pivot firms made to remote work and the practitioners’ ingenuity and productivity as they sought to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, as the vaccine process continues, I’m excited by the possibility of a real reopening in our workplaces.

Form a committee to discuss ways to create a truly inclusive environment that provides parity and consistency in the way you recruit, onboard, develop, and communicate with our at-home, hybrid, and in-office team members. Don’t make one better than the other. Make them all successful!

Some firm leaders think that the vaccination will solve their talent’s health and safety concerns. But as much as a quarter or more of the population may not vaccinate. The legalities around requiring the vaccine, or even inquiring about the vaccine, are unclear and evolving. There are also one-size-fits-one issues such as commute logistics, the desire of many to avoid mass transit, and personal and family health issues that mean some of your people simply won’t feel safe returning to the office.

Lack of community, miscommunication and distractions are just some of the elements you need to help your remote workers deal with.

Lack of community – Related: 6 Characteristics of Successful Remote EmployeesNot only do companies get to save money by foregoing the traditional physical office space, but employees can take advantage of the perks of working from home, too, like extra flexibility and the lack of a commute. My own company is 100 percent remote, with over 40 team members, and it works great for us. But if you’re new to remote work, you need to be aware of the common mistakes that could spell disaster for your employees and your company. Take a look at these four pitfalls of remote work and how to overcome them. Lack of communityFor introverts who thrive on solitude, working remotely might be a dream come true. But for extroverts who get a boost from interacting with others, the lack of community in remote work might take a toll. While weekly video meetings are important for remote companies, it’s still hard to create a feeling of community through a computer screen. Related: 17 Things You Need to Know About Remote WorkThose weekly meetings that are mostly strictly business will do little to comfort remote workers who are feeling disconnected from people.

Avoid These 4 Common Mistakes When Managing Remote Teams

Relying on In-Office Leadership Techniques – The rise of remote work has been accompanied by its share of problems. Many of those problems stem from one of four key mistakes made when attempting to manage teams of remote workers. These mistakes, albeit common, can be avoided. If you are responsible for managing a remote team, here are some key areas on which you should focus where workplace breakdowns frequently occur. By KEVIN DEVOTO1. Relying on In-Office Leadership TechniquesWorking remotely has an entirely different dynamic from the in-office workplace experience. Unlike the traditional workplace, remote work does not operate around the same standard of predefined schedules. As more people transition into working from home, they are finding that a more flexible schedule often benefits their overall work output under that environment rather than sticking to the traditional 9-to-5 work schedule. A common mistake when managing these remote teams is the expectation that traditional work hour logged or traditional availability is directly proportionate to the team accomplishing their goals.

How To Turn Remote Work Pitfalls Into A Formula For Success

Learn the key areas that leaders should take note of when transitioning to the future of work, and how to help organizations win at remote work.

  • Top executives must be the first to adopt a remote work mindset.
  • Develop a handbook on the new remote culture, and share it.
  • Having the right digital tools and knowing how and when to use them.
  • Trust that your employees are working.
  • Create community bonds to fight isolation.
  • You may also like to browse through our e-shop for some ‘conversation-starter’ tees when you next return to the office.
  • References

International borders are closing and reopening every few weeks as the global economy bears the brunt of a virus that is mutating quickly in various parts of the world. Perhaps just as swift as governments’ decisions to close and reopen borders, some companies are equally quick to invest in technology in order to embrace the remote work path. Other more traditional companies may find it a challenge to take up this less conventional work approach. Remote work, however, isn’t new. It’s simply accelerated by the coronavirus. The speed at how remote work further evolves will be nothing short of rapid, even after the fine particles of this pandemic settle. Upwork’s “Future Workforce Report” reports that 73% of all teams are expected to have remote workers by 2028. As we expect the trend to continue, the remote work phenomenon guarantees a bumpy transition for countless organizations. The way to win at this remote game is to anticipate potential pitfalls in order to safely step over to the other side.


Video advice: Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them


Thinking of Hiring Remote Employees? Pro, Cons, and Common Pitfalls

The workforce is on board, but is telecommuting in your company’s best interest? Let’s take a look at the pros, cons, and pitfalls of hiring remote workers.

Negative Aspects of a Remote Workforce – Working remotely may be an employee’s dream: no arduous commute, no boring watercooler chit-chat, no need to adhere to a dress code. But, while working remotely may be an employees’ dream, is it your nightmare? The telecommuting trend is on the rise — as of 2015, 37% of the US labor force is made up of remote workers and this number is on the rise. In fact, it’s anticipated that 60% of office-based employees will be working remotely by 2022. The advances of technology make it more feasible than ever for office workers to transition to telecommuting, much to the delight of workers everywhere. The workforce is on board, but is telecommuting in your company’s best interest? Let’s take a look at the pros, cons, and pitfalls of hiring remote workers. Positive Aspects of a Remote WorkforceWorker ContentmentIf you place a lot of value on your employees’ happiness, perhaps it’s time to consider implementing telecommunication. 80-90% of Americans working today would prefer to work remotely. Why?

Avoid these 5 telecommuting liability pitfalls – As telework’s popularity grows, so do legal concerns for employers. To lower your risks, devise a telecommuting policy that protects you on these fronts.

3. Privacy. If you want to have access to employees’ home-based computers, spell that out in a policy and in a telework agreement signed by the employee and a company rep. If you pay for the phones, computers and internet connections telecommuters use (and you can handle inevitable grumbling), you can forbid workers from using them for personal tasks.

If you’re concerned about wage and hour policies for telecommuting employees, here’s what you need to watch for and how to fix it.

This is a subset of Pitfall #1. A telecommuting employee may understand that they’re not supposed to work extra hours without permission. But when employees work out of their homes, they’re never really away from the workplace, and the lines between work and non-work can get blurred no matter how well they understand company policy.

How have you managed your working hours as a telecommuter (or as someone who works with one)? Share in the comments!

Think about this scenario: A non-exempt telecommuting employee wakes up at 3 a. m. and can’t get back to sleep. She walks downstairs to her home office and, more to have something to do than anything else, puts in several hours of work before her day is supposed to begin. If she works a normal 40-hour week on top of this extra session, the issue of overtime may arise. (And if it doesn’t, it’s because hours aren’t being properly tracked. See Pitfall #3.

9 Common Pitfalls of Hybrid-Remote Work and How to Avoid Them – Image Source The past year has massively affected the way we work. We’ve been focusing on navigating the new landscape of working from home, and n.

If you want your hybrid teams to be as productive as they reasonably can, you need to ensure they have the right tools for the job. Depending on your line of work, you may require a standardised way to share files, for example, as opposed to the different ways your employees are reaching for at present.

Roetzel & Andress

Companies are increasingly asking employees to work from home to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19. Among these are the country’s largest corporations, such as Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Google. Working remotely can help prevent the spread of disease; however, it also comes with legal risks of which all employers should be aware. Below are four potential legal pitfalls of employees working from home due to the coronavirus.1. CybersecurityEmployers need a telecommuting policy that addresses use of technology, regardless of whether employees are using their own devices or company equipment. Working remotely creates a higher risk of data breach. A telecommuting policy should therefore establish protocols for accessing confidential business information. Ideally, the employer should provide secure access to the internet and company resources through a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN creates an encrypted network connection that makes it safe for employees to access business resources on the internet. Technology used for business purposes should also have standardized security tools such as password protection, antivirus software, firewalls, encryption, and software that remotely wipes data from a stolen device. Allowing employees to work remotely also opens the possibility that they will use their work devices to communicate via unsecured public Wi-Fi networks. A telecommuting policy should therefore address circumstances when public Wi-Fi can be used and provide employees with a protocol follow if confidential information has been compromised. Paper documents in the employee’s possession must also be protected. Home offices should be locked when the employee is not working. Others living in the employee’s house should be prohibited from accessing or using office equipment when the employee is not home. Confidential papers should be protected in a filing cabinet or safe.2. FLSA ViolationsTelecommuting also creates a higher risk of an employer violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Remote employees’ primary communication vehicles are email and text, which can promote informality. Employers should therefore remind employees that electronic communications sent and received as part of doing business will be treated as official business documents, and they should not to use sexual innuendos or make discriminatory or off-color comments.

Employers need a telecommuting policy that addresses use of technology, regardless of whether employees are using their own devices or company equipment. Working remotely creates a higher risk of data breach. A telecommuting policy should therefore establish protocols for accessing confidential business information. Ideally, the employer should provide secure access to the internet and company resources through a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN creates an encrypted network connection that makes it safe for employees to access business resources on the internet. Technology used for business purposes should also have standardized security tools such as password protection, antivirus software, firewalls, encryption, and software that remotely wipes data from a stolen device.

7 Common pitfalls of remote work and how to avoid them – Which are the most common pitfalls when working remotely? Learn about the most common pitfalls and challenges when working working remotely and how to overcome them.

Our tip: Decide who is responsible for what, and communicate it, plus write it down. For example, whenever you list out action items in a document or in Slack, say who is responsible for each of those items. This will help make sure everyone knows what to do and who to get in touch with.

8 Ways How to Avoid the Common Remote Work Pitfalls

Remote work is on the rise and it is here to stay. Learn how to be successful at remote work, by avoiding the common pitfalls that occur in remote work environments.

As a remote worker, it’s easy to assume that everything is okay if you don’t see or meet your coworkers. However, remote work can come with mental health challenges that we need to acknowledge them openly. As remote workers typically spend their day in isolation, they often feel lonely and disconnected.

  1. Not Having a Dedicated Workspace
  2. Not Knowing Your Teammates Beyond Work
  3. Too Many Scheduled Meetings
  4. Organizing Hybrid Meetings
  5. Neglecting Physical Health
  6. Lack of Communication with Your Team
  7. Not Having the Right Tools
  8. Getting distracted

Here are the 8 common remote work pitfalls that you should avoid

As much as possible, use asynchronous communication when working remotely. If someone asks for a meeting to be scheduled, ask them if it can be a call. If someone wants to schedule a call, ask them if it can be done over chat. The easiest way to determine if a scheduled meeting is necessary is by asking yourself if you need an answer from the other person right away. If you do, then use synchronous communication. If not, you can use asynchronous communication.

4 Common Pitfalls of Remote Work

The flexibility and ability to control what goes on in the busyness of modern-day life has created a vast appeal for Remote working conditions. Through the recent years, many companies have incorporated the option of working-from-home into their work policy to allow teams to work remotely once or twice a week. However, this pandemic has essentially forced the corporate world into remote work whether their organization was ready for it or not. Although many of us working from home see the benefits of remote work, we are finding ourselves facing new and different difficulties under these same working conditions. After conducting interviews with various teams regarding their transition to remote work, we have noticed similarities in some of the pitfalls reported. But fear not, here are some ways to tackle your work-from-home hurdles! 1. Access to coworkersPitfall: Of the people surveyed, all of them agreed that not being able to walk over to a colleague’s desk whether it was to ask a work-related question or indulge in some water-cooler talk was a definite downfall to working remotely.


Video advice: 4 Plotting Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them


[FAQ]

What are 3 disadvantages of telecommuting?

6 disadvantages of teleworking for employees

  • Elimination of a good working environment. ...
  • Emotional disengagement. ...
  • Not being able to control the time and work of our employees. ...
  • Lack of collaboration between work teams. ...
  • Isolation by professionals. ...
  • Reduction of learning.

What are the pitfalls of working from home?

The Top 7 Disadvantages of Working from Home at a glance.

  1. Lack of Community and Team Work.
  2. Lack of Motivation.
  3. Unmonitored Performance and those Frequent Breaks.
  4. Lack of Office Equipment and Security Concerns.
  5. Distractions and Lack of a Good Working Environment.
  6. Burnout.
  7. Risk to Productivity.

Oct 6, 2021.

What are the challenges of telecommuting?

The Challenges of Telecommuting and How to Overcome Them

  • Lack of Telecommuting Policy. A remote work policy sets the stage for what's expected of your telecommuters. ...
  • Isolation. ...
  • Subpar Toolkit. ...
  • Unsecure Communication. ...
  • Technical Problems. ...
  • Poor Routine and Diet. ...
  • No Team Camaraderie. ...
  • Loss of Focus.

What are some of the possible problems that might happen with telecommuting and working from home?

  1. Feeling Isolated. If you work from home often—and especially if you're a full-time remote worker—you know that telecommuting can make you feel isolated. ...
  2. The Lure of the Fridge. ...
  3. Distracting Little Ones. ...
  4. Lack of Focus. ...
  5. Different Time Zones. ...
  6. Working Too Hard and Too Often.

References:

What is telecommuting?

“Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL iBT” by Bruce Stirling
from Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL iBT
by Bruce Stirling
Nova Press, 2021

Benefits and potential problems associated with telecommuting are summarized in Figure 4.6.

“Managing and Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach” by Keri E. Pearlson, Carol S. Saunders, Dennis F. Galletta
from Managing and Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach
by Keri E. Pearlson, Carol S. Saunders, Dennis F. Galletta
Wiley, 2016

Some advantages of telecommuting, according to Harpaz (2002) are:

“Applied Psychology: India Specific and Cross-cultural Perspectives” by Smarak Swain
from Applied Psychology: India Specific and Cross-cultural Perspectives
by Smarak Swain
Smarak Swain,

Give examples where telecommuting would be difficult to implement and explain why.

“Introduction to Information Systems” by R. Kelly Rainer, Brad Prince, Ingrid Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, Cristobal Sanchez-Rodriguez, Sepideh Ebrahimi
from Introduction to Information Systems
by R. Kelly Rainer, Brad Prince, et. al.
Wiley, 2020

Telecommuting can break the formerly necessary linkage between one’s location and employment, if one does the correct sort of work.

“Social Welfare Policy: Responding to a Changing World” by John G. McNutt, Richard Hoefer
from Social Welfare Policy: Responding to a Changing World
by John G. McNutt, Richard Hoefer
Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2020

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