As the quest to curtail COVID-19 continues, it has become imperative for lots of individuals to work from home. While the work-from-home schedule has a wide range of benefits, its numerous challenges cannot be overemphasized.
Given this, we will check out some of the challenges of working from home during this global pandemic as well as how you can deal with them.
Distraction
Children, pets, and technologies are major sources of distractions when you are working from home. Over time, these distractions will affect your productivity. Therefore, you need to devise ways to deal with distractions at home.
How to deal with it: Foremost, you need to create a simple yet functional workstation. Make sure the workstation is placed where your pets, kids, etc. cannot access easily. Also, you should let your household understand that no one should come around the place as long as you are working there. In addition, you must turn off TVs and other technologies that may affect your concentration while working.
Lack of work-life balance
Since you are working from home, you may find it hard to determine when you should be working or relaxing with your friends and family. As a consequence, you may be unmotivated to work or spend more time on your work.
How to deal with it: To ensure a healthy work-life balance, you must have a routine. You should schedule times for starting and ending your daily work. Also, set time for breaks and snacks. If possible, make sure you work during the same period every workday. However, you should be flexible to communicate with your workmates and deal with personal or family needs.
Poor communications
By working from home, you may not see your co-workers for a long period. Unfortunately, this can make it difficult for you to communicate with them.
How to deal with it: Firstly, you need to be intentional about communicating with your workmates, employers, supervisors, and/or partners. Additionally, you should take advantage of GoToMeeting, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other online collaboration tools. These tools allow you to communicate seamlessly with others without exposing yourself to the risk of contracting COVID-19.
Isolation
Due to the mode of spread of COVID-19, social interaction has reduced drastically in the past few months. Therefore, working from home can amplify the feeling of isolation and disconnection from other individuals. Sadly, this can harm your mental health.
How to deal with it: You must strive to stay connected with your family, colleagues, employees/employers virtually. Use social media channels, video calls, and other means to communicate with people that matter to you. If you are overwhelmed with isolation, don’t hesitate to contact a mental health therapist.
Poor health behaviours
When working at home, you may be tempted to engage in some unhealthy behaviour. These include not sleeping at the right time, living a sedentary lifestyle, not taking care of your body, etc. These unhealthy behaviours can have significant impacts on your overall wellbeing.
How to deal with it: You need to always bear in mind that your wellbeing is more important than any work. Therefore, you must put in the effort to stay healthy while working from home during this coronavirus pandemic. So, dedicate some periods to performing exercises daily, bathe at the right time, eat healthy meals, sleep and nap regularly, etc.
