Work-from-home or work anywhere used to be the dream. People dream of escaping their 9 to 5 jobs and have the flexibility to work anywhere they want, following no one’s rules other than theirs.
No one saw the pandemic coming. Companies were forced to send their workforce to work at home. Return to the office was indefinite and as the months passed by, people were still working at home. Fast forward to the present, companies have started talking about and/or implementing a hybrid work setup. Some departments work at the office on the days where other departments work at home. Some have fewer days to work. No matter the setup, the fact remains that working from home is here to stay.
Of course, since employees are now more used to working at home, they have already identified the challenges of working in such a set-up. These problems are also a cause of concern for the companies they work for, given that an employee’s efficiency and job satisfaction affects the company’s operations and profit as a whole. Below is a list of challenges that companies have been facing when they began to shift to a work-from-home setup.
1. Isolation of workers
Even though some are introverts and others are extroverts, it doesn’t change the fact that humans are social beings. When you work at home by yourself every day, your mental health will in one way or another be negatively impacted. We are fortunate to live in an age of technology so the isolation can be solved through virtual meet-ups and social media interaction. Workplaces usually make use of Teams, Slack, or Zoom. These said work channels are used to emulate the office environment for employees to feel as if they are working with others around them.
You may use FlexiSpot’s standing desk converters or its single monitor mount to put your desktop at a height or at eye level to achieve a pleasurable screening experience.
2. Low productivity and too many distractions
Let’s face it. The house is our place of comfort which is why it’s harder to stay productive while you’re at home. There’s a television set in your living room. You could add another tab in Google Chrome anytime. The bed is just available for you to sleep on at any time. You have kids to take care of if you’re a working mom. There are more hats that you wear when you work from home so it’s hard to manage your time and energy. It’s also easy to give in to temptation, aka distractions when there are no extra supervisor eyes.
You may resolve this when you have an area at home that is dedicated to working. Don’t hesitate to invest in ergonomic furniture because it will help boost productivity and increase efficiency. FlexiSpot has height adjustable standing desks that will help you shift from standing to sitting positions anytime. These pieces of furniture will help keep your mind focused and alert. The said company also carries desk bikes designed to inject movement into your otherwise sedentary work.
3. Physical pain while working
When you were sent to work at home, your chairs and desks weren’t designed for prolonged sitting. It’s natural that you would encounter neck and back pain especially if you are just starting to work from home. Request for ergonomic furniture from your employer or you could invest in it yourself. FlexiSpot has ergonomic chairs that prioritize your comfort.
4. Separation of Personal and Work Life
It’s harder to delineate the lines that separate home and office when you work at your house. This means the setup might cause the line between your personal and work lives to blur. Your mind is not able to separate work and home, from the moment you wake up and freshen up because you won’t be commuting to work anymore. You also don’t make the commute back home when you log out from work. Your place of relaxation is also your place of work. There’s nothing you can do regarding physical distance, but you could still incorporate small practices to address this concern.
One practice you could do is to meditate in the morning or take a walk before you start working. This gives you a clear transition between home and work. After you log out in the evening, take a walk again or meditate so that you could transfer from the workspace to your place of comfort, the home. And even if you are working at home, don’t forget to dress up so that you would feel as if you’re working at the office even though you’re just at home. It’s important that you have an area for work at your house. Pick an area that will be your dedicated workstation. Use a FlexiSpot electric height adjustable standing desk so that you won’t move around as much while you’re working and your mind will set that area as your place of work. Make everyone in your household know when you are working on a task with a deadline.
5. More sedentary office job
You lessen your walking time when you start working at home. You are not forced to get up and buy lunch and the commutes to and fro are gone. You are going to sit longer and have just made your office job even more sedentary.
FlexiSpot has an answer to that in the form of a desk bike. You could automatically inject movement in your sedentary office desk job. The FlexiSpot bike has a whisper-quiet pedaling system, customizable resistance levels, calorie tracker, and a height-adjustable seat.
6. Unclear performance metrics
If your work is not output-based, it’s harder to measure your performance now that you are working at home. You should communicate to your manager how your performance will be evaluated from now on.
It’s one way to check your output of course to determine the quality of your performance. There are other things that you could do in the workplace that also deserve recognition. Evaluate your own performance every now and then. Reward yourself with a FlexiSpot ergonomic furniture when you do a good job.
