- Sitting by yourself in a room working at a computer can be very isolating
- The feeling of loneliness is very strong
- For some, being alone is a blessing
- All people crave interaction of some type with others
- The solution to loneliness is to implement tools and activities that keep you in touch with others
- Personal friendships won’t replace co-workers but can allevaite the feeling of being alone
When the initial excitement of working remote work tapers off, another feeling may kick in. It is impossible to work in an office with other people around all the time, suddenly cut that off, and not go through a period of adjustment.
It can be downright lonely.
Despite the feeling of high productivity and not having to endure that stupid hours long commute, sitting alone all day is weird.
The biggest problem is going to be a transition from working full time in the office to working remotely full time. You are working with the same team members but now you are no longer staring at them. That is harder than starting a new job where you never worked with the team in the office.
Part Time Remote
This problem can be alleviated by only working some days from home and other days in the office. That does not solve the office real estate problem for an employer (e.g., reducing office space costs) but it is a nice transition. This could be a temporary solution for say six months before moving out full time.
The part-time solution may be the desired end result and you never fully make the break from the office. That is a very reasonable option.
Facing Permanent Remote Work
For some companies, they want full-time remote working due to the benefits of lower office costs, etc. It may not be an option to work remote part time or transition to a full-time remote option.
Therefore, you need to face the problem head on.
There are several methods most companies will use to stay in touch with employees:
- Phone
- Instant Messaging/Chat
- Centralized Media sites (think of social media for the business)
- Audio meetings
- Video meetings
- Project Tracking
- Wikis
- Cloud
This is the mainstay of all offices worldwide. It is a source of great information and gives us all a passion to put our fist through the computer screen. My heart sinks when I see the huge number of emails that are unread. But, it does give me good information on activities.
Do an internet search and you can find hundreds of thousands of pages of advice on how to handle email. No matter what trick you use to help with email, it is still a great source of information and sucking your time!
Phone
Yes, a little obvious. But, quite frankly, this is a method of communication that cannot be beaten. If you try to have several phone calls a day, even if they are short, that will greatly help alleviate any feelings of being alone.
Instant Messaging/Chat
This is a critical tool. There is great value in getting a question quickly to another team member through a message that pops up on their desktop. Much faster than typing an email.
An Instant Messaging/Chat tool can help alleviate the feeling of being remote as you can”talk” intermittently with your team or a group at the same time.
Centralized Media
Projects and services can benefit from having a centralized site in the business where employees communicate in a social media like format. Written comments can be very valuable in exchanging information. Employees can read it at their own schedule and it can replace some meetings.
Audio and Video Meetings
Audio conference calls have been the staple of businesses for many years. It is rare the company that does not have ongoing audio conference calls. This keeps you in touch with all of the team regardless of their location.
Video conference calls are relatively new in business. This is much tougher for most people. If you work remote unshowered, unshaven, hair all mussed up, or (horrors) in your PJs, video meetings aren’t going to help your career. If you do have video meetings, dress like you are in the office. Also, be aware of what is behind you and what everyone can see. Please, no laundry drying on a line behind you. Your prized picture of the Elvis painted on velvet may not work in a business video meeting.
Project Tracking
Rather than emailing your boss files when you have completed a task, there are many tools available that will allow a supervisor to look a the work in real time. No extra effort from you. These tools also consolidate the work of several team members into one file or location so it is easy to track what others are doing. You save the files as you work on them and they can be instantly be seen by everyone else on the team.
Wikis
Internal Wiki pages can make centralization of information easy to communicate and read. Contributing to a Wiki with your knowledge or results of research will help make you feel part of the team.
Cloud
This technology makes remote work very viable. All of the company data is stored on these massive server systems accessible from anywhere in the world. There is no concern about files located on someone’s laptop. In a Cloud environment, whether you are in the office or not, you have the same full access to company data.
For programmers, code can be stored in the cloud and all team members can easily access and check it our or in. Cloud environments also solve the problem of physical damage to a data system in an office. Let the office burn! The data will be safe.
Cloud technology keeps you up-to-date with all the team members and can remove that feeling of being out of the loop. Not being in touch with everything can increase your feeling of loneliness.
Prevent Loneliness
While it is easy to say loneliness is a state of mind, it is a real problem and must be overcome to be a successful remote worker.
Also, having personal friends that you can meet, during the week, for coffee or lunch can be a dramatic help in feeling connected. At risk of being non-politically correct, I find ladies are much better at reaching out to social friends when working remote than men are. For all of us, keep that as a goal in mind and it eases the problem of loneliness.