Combating the "20 Brutal Realities of Remote Work"

Richard van der Blom recently shared 12 stats and 20 pitfalls of remote work.

While the stats were certainly interesting, I thought responding to the 20 pitfalls would be an even more fun exercise. So here it goes!

1. Isolation: I got married/started a family and became more involved in my church. This drastically reduced my feelings of isolation. If you are already married and part of a church, there are lots of community-ran events you can join, or charitable organizations who are always looking for volunteers. Also - not everyone is called to be married!

2. Overworking: Set up clear boundaries. I keep a simple record of how many hours I'm spending on work each week.

3. Distractions: I close the door. Thankfully have my own home office room.

4. Communication: After meetings, I write a brief summary and next steps in text. When I share decks, I also record a quick video to skim through. If there are any additional questions, they can be Slacked to me or we can setup a 15 minute meeting.

5. Tech issues: I invest in high speed internet, always use Ethernet (never WiFi), and rely on a custom built PC with multiple monitors to get work done efficiently.

6. Lack of collaboration: Nothing a quick Slack huddle or shared document can't fix.

7. Disconnecting: I close out of everything or go on a walk. This was also a problem for me before I worked remotely pre-2018. Not exclusive to remote work.

8. Timezone: Asynchronous work is underrated. Not everything needs to be a meeting - as a west coaster I schedule my meetings in the morning and pack my afternoons with deep work.

9. Visibility: I list my monthly wildly important goals and subgoals and update it every day and share it in a document anyone can see. Visibility isn't a challenge, but condensing it down to concise updates people care about can be. :)

10. Boundaries: This is true only because many of hobbies involve my computer also. I solve this by using two separate web browsers (one for personal use and one for work), and closing out of it when I'm not working. Also communication platform segmentation is pretty straightforward: Discord = personal, Slack = work.

11. Social: All-hands team meetings and small group breakout sessions can help. As well as biweekly "meet someone new" activities. But more than that, I don't rely on work to fulfill my social needs - instead I rely on my family, friends, and church.

12. Motivation: The same scoreboard I mentioned in #9 keeps me in check and motivated to get things done each week. Having regular check-ins with my manager does as well.

13. Ergonomics: In the past 6 years I have invested in a Herman Miller chair, an adjustable/standing desk, monitor arm mounts, a split keyboard, and a vertically-shaped mouse which has vastly improved ergonomics significantly more than most traditional offices could ever hope to (current PC specs and desktop setup can be viewed here).

14. Security: Lots of orgs have mandatory minimum security checks to ensure home setups are up to spec. Plus, if anyone has ever used their mobile phone to do work, the liability has been there well before remote work become more common.

15. Reduced Resource Access: Not applicable. Everything I need is cloud-based.

16. Culture: When the entire company is remote, everyone's on the same footing. I don't feel disconnected from the rest of my team, especially with what I mentioned in #11 with occasional all-hands meetings and breakout groups.

17. Management Trust: With #4, #9, and #11 already solved, this should not be an issue. Complete alignment on communicating priorities, total visibility into what I'm doing, and the motivation to keep executing on goals builds trust automatically.

18: Professional Development: I don't believe training and development is diminished with remote work.

19: Team Building: This is actually tremendously enhanced with remote work, not diminished. You aren't arbitrarily bound by your physical location, you have access to talent from anywhere around the globe.

20. Job Security: With remote work employers simply have more options with a wider talent pool for the same reason as #19 above. While it might seem scary that your employer has more options - the truth is, you also have more options, too, in your selection of employers.

What work-from-home challenges are you experiencing? Or even better, what tips have you found to be useful when working from home? Please share in the comments!