ALT-1 Communication Challenges when Working at Home
Working from home has a certain romanticism to it as people picture the ideal office setting. Some people imagine that they will get up, work in their pajamas, and have a lot of free time to get other things done. There are some individuals that have this particular situation, but other people find that working from home can be just as grueling as being in an office. When people work from home, they are generally isolated from the rest of the world and they rely on particular methodologies and technology in order to do their business. Therefore, if something goes wrong with the communications infrastructure, the work-at-home person can be in trouble. Here are a few communication challenges when working at home.
Face-to-face?
Despite the wonders of advanced technology, people still enjoy human contact. Email, fax, and telephone are great, but there is still something about the face-to-face meeting that keeps people flying from place to place and stopping by an office in the building. When people work from home they may miss out on this type of interaction, which can have a negative effect on their business. Granted, there are certainly some positives to being isolated, as working with a group of colleagues can also be very distracting. However, the person who works at home can never quite replace that human element.
Technical difficulties
Sometimes people who work at home have problems because their technology fails them. If phone lines go down, the Internet provide has technical issues, or there are power outages, the at-home worker may be left without a lot of tools. Granted, these are also issues that can plague a standard office, but oftentimes there are systems in place that keep communication systems backed up in case of a problem. In addition, the office setting has other things that can be done when communication technology is unavailable. The home office person may be able to work without technology for a time, but they will likely need their communication tools available quickly if they are going to carry on with normal business.
Always on
Finally, one challenge with at-home office communications is that they are always available. Some people who work from home are unable to establish boundaries between their work and the rest of their life. Granted, this can also plague the standard office worker who can check their work email at home or receive updates on their smart home. However, the work-at-home person is theoretically always at home, which means that they may never feel like they can escape their office. This can nice when they need the convenience of access, but overall it can one of the negative factors of working from home.
