7 Remote Work Challenges And How To Beat ‘Em

I want to talk about the 7 worst remote work challenges. 

Yes, nearly 44% of UK workers are remote. Yet, we all face some common remote work problems.

Join me as I discuss issues ranging from poor collaboration to a lack of trust. I’ll even offer some easy-to-implement solutions.

Ready? Let’s roll.

7 Challenges Of Remote Work (And My Easy Solutions)

While there are many benefits of remote work you’ll always face these 7 issues with remote work. I’ve ranked them from the worst to least difficult to deal with.

1. Poor collaboration and communication
2. Struggling to maintain productivity
3. Facing burnout
4. Being lonely
5. Lacking trust
6. Dealing with time zone differences
7. IT issues

Ready to find solutions to these common remote work problems? Let’s start with the biggest problem with remote work.

1. Poor Collaboration And Communication

Remote work is impossible without proper communication and collaboration. With limited face-to-face collaboration, remote work requires more effort.

Don’t believe me?

Fierce Inc found that 86% of employees agree that ineffective collaboration and communication causes workplace failures.

Forbes took their study one step further. They found that poor communication affects the trust of up to 45% of employees.

We all know that once communication breaks down, no work gets done, and no one makes any money.

So, what’s the solution?

The solution to poor collaboration and communication requires three things.

1. Build a culture of trust: A solid remote work culture ensures that everyone works towards the same goals. Think of it as team spirit. The more you have, the better.
2. Create an excellent onboarding experience: Joining a new company is daunting. Double if it’s a remote company. Make onboarding fun, easy, and stress-free.
3. Invest in digital communication tools: Use remote work tools, like Slack and Zoom, to keep your team connected.

Here’s my bonus pro tip: It’s tricky getting people to collaborate. Your first task is to remove as many barriers as possible. Once you’ve removed those barriers, you can focus on the next challenge of remote work.

2. Struggling To Maintain Productivity

Productivity is the lifeblood of any business. It’s simple math. The more productive the company, the healthier it is and the more money it makes.

While there are many excellent guides on remote work productivity, maintaining that productivity can be tricky.

Luckily, there’s a simple solution.

Make the shift from hours worked to projects and goals.

Mark, CEO of Sauce Remote, did that while hiring remote employees to build multiple six-figure businesses.

But what does this look like? And better yet, how do you implement it?

Evaluate your productivity on tasks completed or goals achieved. In my case, it may be something simple and measurable, like “Write 2 articles for Sauce Remote on Tuesday.”

An outcomes-based approach also has some extra benefits:

• Employees take ownership of their tasks,
• It gives employees the freedom to do their work when they feel more energetic and focused,
• It minimises the need for remote work monitoring software,
• It eliminates micromanagement.

Sadly, this boost in productivity brings up another big issue with remote work.

3. Facing Burnout

I’ve been there, and I’m not alone.

A Monster poll revealed that 69% of remote employees experience burnout at least once. I’m not surprised to learn this. After all, Bloomberg found that remote workers are more likely to overwork than their office-bound coworkers.

I’ve been a remote worker for years, and I agree. It’s easy to pick up my laptop, read one more email, catch up on a Slack message, or research.

The thing is, once you start, you never end. 

Hannah Herman from Zapier, one of the best remote companies to work for, had this to say about burnout:

"When you work from home, work can feel infinite. There's always something to do. It can feel inescapable because your office is where you live. Sometimes, I catch myself falling down a rabbit hole of Slack threads when I should really be spending time with my husband."

As for the solution? I’ve found that the following helps:

• Set your office hours and share it with your team. For example, I set my Slack status to “On Lunch” when grabbing a bite. If I call it for the day, I set my status to “Away.”
• Build a boundary between your office and your home. I close my home office door when I’m done for the day. This way, I create space between myself and work. If you can’t do this, you can always hide your laptop away for the day.
• Turn off notifications. At the end of the work day, I switch off all those notifications. Doing so prevents me from getting pulled back into work.

Here's an excellent video that motivated me to overcome my burnout.

Now, let’s talk about another horrible remote work challenge. 

4. Being Lonely

I was lucky enough to work from the same home office as my partner for years.

We could remind each other about taking frequent breaks. We would share interesting news and gossip. We could also go out together and work from different restauarants!

The result?

My productivity and morale were never higher. And it appears I wasn’t imagining things. The National Institutes of Health found that being social can significantly increase productivity while lowering stress levels.

Nowadays, my partner does hybrid remote work. So, there are days and days when I work alone in my office. And I’ve noticed this feeling of isolation can hurt my productivity and wellbeing.

In fact, a Promoleaf survey found that more than a third of female remote workers (39%) feel lonely working from home. And men? They experienced loneliness more often, with roughly 53% of men feeling lonely while working remotely.

And here’s the thing: You don’t want to be lonely while working.

Made of Millions found that lonely workers report feeling less productive and engaged. They are five times more likely to miss work due to stress.

Do I have a cure for loneliness? I’m a remote worker, of course I do.

Here’s what I suggest:

• Shake things up and try working from new locations. I’ve shared my 9 best places to work remote. Choose one and try it. This variety will leave you feeling inspired and motivated.
• Include a social break in your day. I spend at least 20 minutes daily phoning a friend or family member. It’s the perfect time to quickly catch up on some random banter.
• Invest in a hobby. I’ve joined a local Warhammer club, and every two weeks, we get together to play a few games, have a beer, and just relax.

I make it sound like fun and games, don’t I? Are you ready to learn about the next challenge of remote work?

5. Lacking Trust

If you’ve read my blog post about building a remote work culture or even Mark’s post about hiring remote employees, you’ll notice one recurring theme: trust is everything, especially in remote work environments.

So, how do you build trust in a remote company? It starts with:

• Leadership: Leaders should be visible and easy to approach. This includes all platforms, like Slack. Leaders should also take the initiative. For instance, they can take some paid time off to show team members that doing so is okay.
• Openness: Remember I was talking about goals and tasks earlier? Remote work companies should share these metrics with everyone. This fosters a spirit of collaboration where everyone involved can celebrate their hard work and see the impact that they make.
• Communication: Frequent communication leads to trust. Hold regular check-in meetings and host virtual team-building exercises.

No remote company can succeed without trust. So, make it a priority to resolve this remote work issue. Now, let’s move on to some of the easier remote work challenges to deal with.

6. Dealing With Time Zone Differences

Time zone differences can be a major issue if you work with remote teams worldwide. It gets even more complicated if you offer flexible or rotating shifts.

Luckily, this is also one of the easiest problems with remote work to solve.

During my years, I’ve found the following 2 solutions:

1. Adopt an asynchronous work model: Remember to pick an official company time zone if asynchronous work sounds ideal. Share it with all of your remote workers. That way, everyone can quickly and easily schedule meetings. 
2. Use proper remote work tools: Remote work tools like Every Time Zone make managing teams in different time zones easy. Even Google Calendar and Google Meet can help deal with time zone differences.

And now, we’ve reached the final remote work challenge.

7. IT Issues

Nothing grinds my gears more than technical issues. Things can go wrong even when working with the best laptops for remote work.

From internet outages to forced software updates, buffering videos, and even cameras not working…shit happens.

Here’s my hard-earned solution: Always have a backup plan, whether a second laptop,  mobile phone, or tablet. 

These extra devices can be a lifesaver when something horrible happens to your primary device.

My Final Thoughts

And there you have it: I listed the 7 worst challenges of remote work and shared ways to overcome them. If you ask me, the benefits far outweigh the cons. What do you think?