Common Disadvantages of Remote Work
Publié le 23 April 2021
As people continue working from home over a year after the deadly pandemic began, it’s important to take a closer look at some of the common disadvantages of remote work so that they can be addressed and improved.
A little more than a year ago, remote work was an occasional benefit at best and a fringe hope at worst for many working professionals. Now remote work has become a way of life for millions around the world, with people in all professions and industries currently in their second year of working from home. While remote work certainly offers plenty of benefits, such as no commuting, relaxed dress code and more control of your time, it would be disingenuous to say there are no hardships. In fact, there is every indication that some people are noticing certain common disadvantages of remote work that can impact physical, emotional and mental well-being.
It’s important to note that, while it is not without flaws, the ability to work from home has helped slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent people from contracting the virus. Workplaces remain a major source of COVID-19 transmission. This is why strict safety measures and additional supports such as paid sick leave remain vitally important as the fight against the deadly virus continues. As the vaccine rollout continues, employers and workers must remain vigilant and carefully consider the very real risks of returning to the workplace when health officials indicate that certain restrictions can be eased.
Common Disadvantages of Remote Work:
- Zoom fatigue
- Isolation and loneliness
- Loss of work-life balance
- Remote work burnout
Zoom Fatigue
One of the most common disadvantages of remote work that emerged after the early days of the pandemic is the dreaded Zoom Fatigue. As millions of professionals changed to working from home, Zoom, Skype, Google Meet and other video conferencing apps saw their usage rates skyrocket. Every organization has tried to figure out remote work arrangements and processes that worked for them, and the ability to stay in communication using these tools has been an important part of the process.
As these video meetings started to become multi-hour long or even all-day affairs, it became apparent that doing so caused a lot of discomfort. Common symptoms of Zoom Fatigue include:
- Headaches and migraines
- Eye strain, soreness and double vision
- Feelings of fatigue and exhaustion
What we all quickly learned is that video meetings make our brains work in a very different way than traditional in-person meetings. Video meetings cause our eyes to attempt to focus on multiple things simultaneously, which is extremely difficult and exhausting, and also never provides us with a moment to rest and look away without appearing disinterested or unprofessional.
We now know that the best methods for effective video meetings include keeping them at a shorter length of time and include fewer participants. In times when longer meetings are necessary, it is also very important to include breaks, preferably every 20 minutes, that will allow peoples eyes to rest and recharge, hopefully avoiding the worst strain.
Isolation And Loneliness
People are social creatures. Many of us need camaraderie and companionship to feel, act and be at our best. One of the most common disadvantages of remote work is feelings of isolation and loneliness. We can’t gather around the coffee machine, chat on the walk up the stairs or grab a snack or drink with colleagues at the end of the week. While there still are ways to keep in touch and communicate while working from home, many people find that does not fill their emotional need for human interaction in the same way. When all companionship is virtual, something can feel lost along the way.
Feelings of isolation and loneliness are not just unpleasant, they can actually lead to serious problems with our mental well-being and physical health. People who have experienced long periods of isolation have experienced an increase of depression and anxiety, and loss of memory and a decrease in other cognitive functions, just to name a few of the serious consequences. With one in three Canadians reporting an increase of physiological distress during the pandemic, it is vitally important to take mental well-being seriously.
Loss of Work-Life Balance
One of the benefits of working from home is that it allows you to arrange your professional life around your personal responsibilities, it also has its drawback. One of the most trying and common disadvantages of remote work is that it is very easy to completely remove the line between work and personal life. Pre-pandemic, the ability to maintain a proper work-life balance was hugely important to professionals, with many even valuing it over a higher salary.
The pandemic has thrown many people’s goals of a proper work-life balance into turmoil. Families and parents suddenly found themselves with a huge amount of new responsibilities, including virtual schooling and all the accompanying problems faced by teachers and educators. With work time and personal time essentially overlapping one another, the result is that many people don’t feel any time of mental rest from work. This leads to increased stress and can seriously impact physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Remote Work Burnout
Employee burnout is a real and serious problem that existed in all different types of workplaces before the pandemic. It is a specific kind of physical and emotional exhaustion that can be caused by the accumulation of work-related stress and anxiety. It can have very drastic effects on physical, mental and emotional health, and has been linked to other mood disorders and related issues.
While primarily seen as workplace condition, there has been a rise of remote work burnout as people enter their second year of working from you. Working remotely has kept many people safer during the pandemic, but it still can cause a mental and emotional strain as people try to juggle their professional and personal lives.
The increase in employees feeling burnout with remote work is a logical consequence of an accumulation of stress, isolation and loneliness in the face of an unprecedented time. By putting too much strain on our brains, it lets us go and our morale falters. Employers should make extra efforts to let employees know about resources that are available to them to help with mental well-being. Employees who are feeling burnout should never be afraid or feel embarrassed to discuss the issue and seek help to address it.
Improving Remote Work For Everyone
The point here is absolutely not to call for an end of remote work — quite the opposite — but to further explore the difficulties that professionals are facing, and bring attention to these problems so that they may be addressed openly and honestly. That way employers can know that their team is still working together to move the company forward, and hopefully workers can know that their needs and concerns are being acknowledged and addressed. If the common disadvantages of remote work are openly discussed, it should make for better remote working arrangements for everyone.
