{"id":712,"date":"2022-03-08T11:32:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T11:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abhrsolutions.co.uk\/?p=712"},"modified":"2022-03-08T11:32:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T11:32:41","slug":"downsides-of-remote-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abhrsolutions.co.uk\/downsides-of-remote-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Downsides of Remote Working"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remote working \u2013 the downsides<\/h2>\n

Everyone is spending so much time extolling the virtues of \u00a0remote\/home working and let\u2019s be clear – it is great and has massive advantages.\u00a0<\/em>But, the debate must be balanced \u2013 there are downsides to remote working. What are some of the possible drawbacks of remote\/home working?<\/em><\/p>\n

Learning and development challenges<\/h2>\n

Years ago, there was an expression to describe on the job training \u2013 \u201csitting next to Nellie\u201d and the message was that whilst you could send employees away on training courses, so called \u201con the job\u201d training was invaluable.<\/p>\n

Granted, we can train \u201con line\u201d and through webinars, but as more and more people work remotely, \u201con the job\u201d learning, mentoring, development and coaching are possibly going to suffer. People learn so much by being in the same environment as their peers\/colleagues or listening to how they deal with situations and they also learn from their mistakes. When you work from home, it\u2019s easier to cover up your mistakes\u2026<\/p>\n

We also talk to-day about the ability to give constructive feedback \u2013 this is an under-valued management skill \u2013 much like listening. Giving feedback to an employee on either their performance or the manner in which they dealt with a particular situation can be done remotely but is less effective because it relies on being able to gauge how the person is reacting and responding to the feedback.<\/p>\n

On-boarding\/Induction challenges<\/h2>\n

The on-boarding process is vital and increased remote working impacts on the effectiveness of the process and there is a direct correlation between poor on-boarding and employee turnover especially amongst leavers with less than 12 months service.<\/p>\n

We hear stories of people who have joined a new business and been there for 6 months and not yet met \u201cin person\u201d their line manager or even been to any Company premises. They were \u201con-boarded\u201d remotely and their lap top and mobile was delivered to their home address.<\/p>\n

If this becomes the \u201cnew norm\u201d, an \u201con line\u201d induction process will become very sterile, clinical, transactional and impersonal and over time, employee turnover will increase which is a hit to the bottom line.<\/p>\n

On-boarding is a people process but with more remote working it will become more about process than people.<\/p>\n

Creative thinking challenges<\/h2>\n

Business thrives on people who can think differently, creatively or \u201coutside the box\u201d. People used to talk about \u201cbrainstorming\u201d sessions \u2013 where people had ideas (sometimes quite crazy), discuss them and from a fairly crazy idea, someone finds a way forward. You would sense the energy in the room.<\/p>\n

You can have a \u201cbrainstorming\u201d session on line but they are not the same because they rely on a group of people in a room, bouncing ideas around and discussing them and you can gauge reactions by body language.<\/p>\n

Apologies to anyone who is offended by the word \u201cbrainstorming\u201d because of the mental health connotations but it used to be an acceptable business term \u2013 hence the use of inverted commas.<\/p>\n

The ability to communicate at all levels<\/h2>\n

This wonderful expression is often referred to in person specifications as an essential attribute for a candidate for a job. It refers to the ability of an individual to communicate effectively with anyone in the business regardless of their level, job title or status. If people work from home or remotely, there will be less people inter-action and less opportunity to mix with people at different levels because typically, when people are in an office environment, they strike up conversations with people at all levels in communal areas like the kitchen, the vending machine \u2013 not to mention the smoking shelter!<\/p>\n

Communication skills will suffer because people communicate differently \u201con line\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, this is a generation issue because we now have a generation of people who are more comfortable and at ease with \u201con line\u201d communication. They would rather talk to a spreadsheet than a person.<\/p>\n

The challenge of building relationships<\/h2>\n

People always say that we do business with people we like \u2013 we buy from people we like and as a relationship becomes stronger, we feel more comfortable doing business with that person because we have invested time in getting to know them.<\/p>\n

It is possible to build and develop relationships with people in means other than \u201cface to face\u201d but \u00a0in a business setting, we get results through people and people invest time in building a relationship with a customer or a supplier. Over time, the relationship gets stronger, the bond gets greater and customers\/clients are less inclined to take their business elsewhere. Yes, price, quality and service also feature but we still do business with people we like.<\/p>\n

Mental health challenges<\/h2>\n

People who work from home and live alone are likely to miss inter-action with others and crave seeing people in the workplace and a bit of banter. Loneliness is a factor and not seeing people in a \u201cface to face\u201c situation will affect mental health leading to further issues but there will also be thousands of people whose mental health suffers because of going into the office and they prefer to work from home all the time. Can\u2019t please everyone all the time.<\/p>\n

Some employee don\u2019t have the WFH option but many employers have used the Covid experience to make the decision that the business can operate more remotely or through hybrid working so either don\u2019t need premises or need smaller \u2013 either way, saving costs.<\/p>\n

One solution doesn\u2019t fit all \u2013 and the pandemic has changed the way we look at how we work and technology has enabled this but remote working is not without its downsides so let\u2019s ensure that the downsides of remote working are not overlooked.<\/p>\n

If you want advice on any of the issues raised, Adrian Berwick gives practical advice and support \u2013 either call 07885 714771 or e-mail\u00a0adrian@abhrsolutions.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit the About Us page to find out more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remote working \u2013 the downsides Everyone is spending so much time extolling the virtues of \u00a0remote\/home working and let\u2019s be clear – it is great and has massive advantages.\u00a0But, the debate must be balanced \u2013 there are downsides to remote working. What are some of the possible drawbacks of remote\/home working? Learning and development challenges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[12,21,30,31,36,80,81,32],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDownsides and challenges of remote working<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As working from home becomes more of the norm amongst employers we look at the downsides and challenges of remote working.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abhrsolutions.co.uk\/downsides-of-remote-working\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Downsides and challenges of remote working\" \/>\n<meta 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