Disadvantages of Working from Home

WORKING FROM HOME

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The Midwest Family Mutual has undergone extraordinary changes to allow employees to work from home that has ecological and economic benefits to the organization, the company has been able to save on fuel consumption and create a green environment. However, the working from home has various disadvantages to the employees as well (Pearlson & Saunders, 2012).

Disadvantages of working from home

For the employees working from home results in decreased human interactions. For the employees who live alone coming to work is a way of them extending their social fields and interacting with others (Haberman, 2010). When these employees are forced to work at home, they feel lonely and depressed since they rarely get to see other coworkers. Social interactions are a critical part of the human experience and removing this has negative consequences on mental health of the individual. The isolation limits people from interacting and sharing their problems that help most humans to cope with everyday challenges.

Working at home causes blurring of personal and work life.it is difficult for the employees to separate their work time with their personal life and vice versa. Employees find that they are involved in personal matters at times when they are supposed to be working or working when they are supposed to have finished working (Haberman, 2010).

Employees working from home sometimes find it difficult to concentrate on their work. Traditional office environment means that the employees have to work and only get breaks here and there to interact or relax which helps them to focus on their work (Haberman, 2010). Working at home comes with a lot of distractions especially if one is living with their families and the family life distract the person from working at maximum capacity as they have to take care of something once in a while.

Another disadvantage of working at home is that the employees are not adequately motivated. In some instance, employees can begin working late or have no hurry to finish their work because they know that they are not being supervised or lack the morale to do so (Haberman, 2010). It is difficult to motivate employees who are working at their homes than the one working in a traditional business setting.

Recommendations to solve the issue

To resolve the issue of limited social interactions the organization should set up an online platform communication center where employees can communicate with each other. Skype connections and other social media platforms can encourage preventing employees from feeling isolated (Haberman, 2010). The communication of employees will reduce the feelings of isolation among the population.

The organization should set clear guidelines on the times of work. An employee should undergo a three-day training to understand their duties at work. This way the employees would know that they have to do within the time allocated to them (Haberman, 2010). It would up prevent employees from continuing with work after hours and prevent the blurring of personal and professional lives.

The organization should design home offices from the employees who find it difficult to concentrate at home. This designing of the home offices must be done within the first month the employee is working at home (Haberman, 2010). The employees will, therefore, be able to concentrate with their work without distractions. The home offices will help these employees to separate work and the home environment that may distract them.