1. Working remotely makes you feel lonely
No doubt that it has been observed that the absence of personal contact during the pandemic has made people realize the value of their teammates and co-workers. But this cannot be interpreted to say that the work from home culture makes the employees lonely. The biggest thing that might make an employee feel lonely is usually FOMO- the fear of missing out. They might feel isolated when they are working from home, but their teammates are visiting the office. This isolation relates to the fear of not being involved in the office gossip, missing out on office events, and not being a part of the usual office banter. But as and when the organizations have been forced to make more people go remote, this feeling of being left out also started to fade away since when everyone is working remotely, no one would feel like they are missing out on anything, while sitting at home. Technology has played the biggest and most important role in eradicating the isolated feeling by allowing virtual communication between the employees. Using platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc. can help bring the employees together on formal and informal grounds.
2. Remote working reduces the productivity of the employees
It is believed by some companies that if the employee is not working under the direct supervision and monitoring of the managers, their productivity suffers. This is the reason they prefer the traditional in-office work environment. However, it has been seen that many people have proved to be more productive while working from home since they have more time to devote to work as they do not need to travel to the office, and the fact that they can work from the comfort of their homes makes remote working processes successful. With the increasing demand and need for remote working software, there are several platforms available on the web that allow employers to track and keep a check on the progress of their employees. Their work is managed remotely and monitored so make sure that their productivity is not affected and their problems are addressed. These platforms also help the employers have a close view of the fact that their employees take accountability for their work and make sure they are not overburdened.
3. Remote working wages are less than the in-office wages
This is one of the most prevalent myths in the minds of the people. Before concluding, consider this fact: if your company is working remote and does not need to rent a place for the employees, do not spend on daily utility items like electricity, cleaning, parking and maintenance, then it would help them reduce their finances. Since the expenses of the organizations have been substantially reduced, they can easily offer better compensation and packages to the employees who are working remotely. This is why it has been seen that companies hire remote employees at a better pay scale. Also, let us not forget the fact that eve employees save a substantial part of their salaries that used to go into commuting to and from the office. This can be considered as an added bonus for the remote working employees.
4. There exists a problem of connectivity between employers and the employees while working remotely
Since the remote working employees are physically present in the office premises, it doesn’t imply that they are having a great time at home, or are on a get-away or unwinding in a bar with their companions and having the best time of their lives.
The fact that someone there can be multiple reasons why your employee is not reachable should not be forgiven. As a result of an issue that can occur with anybody, individuals frequently see that if their employees are not reachable, then they are surely chipping away at some different option from the errand given to them, without any consideration for the person who may be having some serious issues at home.
5. The safety and integrity are unsafe in the hands of a remote workforce
Organizational data being unsafe in the hands of remote employees is like a fantasy with no decisive or actual proof. However, this might be seen in a few cases where the organizational sensitive data might have been encrypted or stolen. But this is sort of like a price we have to pay to remain in business despite the pandemic has hit it. Since they are not utilizing the VPN or the most recent form of the Antivirus makes them helpless against information burglaries is certainly not a normal explanation. The new Ransomware “Wanna Cry” and other pernicious virtual products can sidestep a few layers of safety or be ready to discover a weakness in the working frameworks. So, it’s a legend that a telecommuter is bound to endure information burglary more than a worker working at the workplace.
6. Cost increase with an increase in remote working employees
Telecommuters don’t bring about additional expenses when contrasted with ordinary representatives. This is another confusion since individuals feel that sending representatives to a far-off area or work at home bears an additional expense of the organization looking like giving those workers additional advantages like travel stipends and much more. On the contrary, since the employees are not working in the office physically, there are no setup costs like office furniture and the need for edibles like snacks and tea or coffee is no longer needed. This way a major chunk of finances is saved thereby declining the overhead expenses substantially.
7. Remote work puts the company culture at risk
A company’s culture is rooted in its functioning and the way it operates; it does not merely depend on the physical working conditions of the employees. The facts confirm that the workplace brotherhood will not be similar when the employees are working from different geographical areas. Be that as it may, the actual presence of representatives isn’t what makes an organization extraordinary. It’s how you treat and value your workers which makes an organization’s way of life solid. Organizations with distant groups can in any case construct more grounded working environment bonds through quality corporations. Utilizing a few apparatuses that are accessible on the web, the distant groups can without much of a stretch impart, oversee assignments adequately and work together, as a team no matter where they are located.
8. The privacy of data suffers in the remote working scenario
Privacy of the data is no doubt one of the biggest concerns of organizations when they are operating remotely due to the fact that there weren’t many tools that could protect the privacy of data. The data theft was one of the major concerns while shifting to the remote working model. The news that keeps coming up now and then about these platforms such as Zoom puts the organizations in inherent caution about their sensitive data being stolen.
Understanding the need for remote working, many new tools and platforms have gained importance and relevance in the market for the same. These have made remote working a safe place by allowing extra layers of protection as a majority of the companies have adopted and employed enhance measures, especially the tech companies who practically have their whole world online! One of the most commonly referred solutions, the SaaS tool can be used to enable 2FA, along with cross-regional backup security options to be on the safer side.
9. The difficulty of employing an effective remote workforce
The problem of recruiting and hiring new employees may be a much more serious concern than it seems to be. In the traditional office working days, you can easily call the employees for interviews and judge them by the way they conduct themselves, which can be difficult while hiring remote working employees. This problem can also be solved with some solutions that have been successful these days- a former employee can be recruited for the work, or virtual networking websites and platforms can be of great help for the companies to discover new talent. The various websites offer different types of services to meet the need of the recruiter, for example, LinkedIn can help you create a pool of prospective candidates out of the millions of users that be reached. Many websites act as a link or mediator between companies and freelancers who can be recruited on project-based work, and they may even join the organization as a permanent employee later on their work suits the need. All you need to do is be actively involved in the recruitment process and it would not be any difficult than it used to be during the pre-pandemic times.
10. Working remote obstructs the growth of your career
It cannot be argued that remote work might affect your morale up to some levels and make you feel secluded as your desire for human interaction might decrease when you get into the habit of remote working. But this may not be true for everyone and all types of jobs. Remote working might just be greatly beneficial for some people. For instance, if you are a software developer, with the help of the various online tools that help you to work efficiently and collaborate with others, you can now land a great job or project without worrying about the prevalent geographical barriers.
11. Working remotely might make you an isolated person
One can easily argue that it is quite opposite of this. The majority of people who are operating remotely are working from their homes. This may even cause a lot of distractions sometimes, as you would need to watch your kids, pet your dog and attend to the doorbells. If you are living with your flat mates, then the ‘house chores’ would never make you feel lonely and isolated. Yes of course you cannot meet your employees or teammates when you are working remotely, but the distress at home usually makes up for it. Long story short, remote working can never make you feel isolated, it is just the feeling of being away from the office that might make you miss that office banter sometimes.
12. Remote working is only feasible for small-sized organizations
It is believed by some employers that the art of remote working is limited to only small-sized organizations and it is not feasible to operate a larger organization with more employees working remotely. However, many large companies, like Tata, AT&T, Dell, and many more have been operating remotely, and might just be working more smoothly as compared to the office environment. Remote working reduces a large sum of finances that was being spent on rent, food supplies and maintenance of the office premises. With the various online tools and platforms, companies can easily operate without having to worry about being in physical conference rooms.
13. Remote working is a ‘SCAM’
Work from home was considered a scam and was said to be part of pyramid schemes that no one used to believe in. But the technology that we have today has made it feasible for the companies to allow work from home to their employees without having to worry about their productivity. The pandemic gets the majority of the credit for making remote working jobs more reliable than ever. However, it cannot be denied that there are many scams out there waiting for a client to get entangled in their schemes. You need to be a little careful while checking the listings and make sure to have a thorough background check of the company before moving forward.
14. Only techno-savvy people can survive in the remote working environment
We have saved the best for the last. This is the commonly seen mentality that people believe that since they are not so technology-wise advanced, they cannot be successful in remote jobs. With the availability of tutorials and user-friendly interface of the remote working tools, anyone who even has an average knowledge of technology can easily work online and collaborate with their teammates. Many organizations also have a support team available for you to contact in case of any discrepancies that might just happen.
Keep your mind clear by busting these common myths about remote working. Remote working might be a new concept for many people who may have millions of speculations about it, which is obvious. But the world today has been able to survive the pandemic, thanks to the remote working option.
