5 WFH Issues During COVID and Tackling Them

Unable to see ahead, and seemingly no end in sight. It covers up a dangerous obstacle with its own lack of clarity. One would think what is being described is a fog.  But the current lockdown situation due to the pandemic applies just as well. In fact, the struggle to juggle professional and personal lives within the same roof has certainly  become apparent to everyone. In the process, the resulting 24/7 work culture is not working well for anyone; and it creates its own issues. Like other issues, however, these can be tackled with the right measures and approaches to counter them. On that note, 5 commonplace issues due to Working From Home, and how to individually deal with them.

 

Collaboration during Remote Working

 

With the 24/7 work culture comes a practically 24/7 level of remote communication. And on account of multiple aspects, this has proven to be an issue under remote working.

“I’m signing off..”

Prior to the lockdown, this would have been relatively to say and execute; all one had to do was make sure their deliverables were complete, and then had to log off, pack up and leave from the office. But what happens when the office also is brought under our roofs? Undefined protocols for after-hours communications have been one of the major contributors to the 24/7 working culture. And given the inability to interact face-to-face, the increased frequency of communication potentially creates a level of perceived micromanagement.

“Sorry, what was that? You’re breaking…”

Have there been meetings where you might have felt someone was taking the cover of poor communication signal to not pay attention, even though the problem actually might have been genuine? Perhaps the worst part of said culture would be the rise of uncertainty of members’ active participation to the job at hand.

The solution to this particular problem warrants an approach with multiple measures involved. First, managers would do well to differentiate brief communications and clear communications, not combine them. What are we talking about?

In a time like this we try to be as efficient as possible, sometimes using fewer words to communicate in the process. But the problem of keeping it short can mean that the rest of the team loses useful time in trying to understand your messages, or worse, misunderstand. Not everyone knows each person’s signals and shorthand writing. So regardless of the medium utilized, you’re better off using the time needed to communicate and make your team’s understanding of something crystal-clear.

At the same time, haven’t you noticed the tendency you have to follow up on a task by email, text or phone? Maybe even asking individuals if they had seen the message you previously sent? Communicating clearly is important. Yet at the same time, don’t send excess of messages to the team.  Abuse of media in said manner can be a form of dominating in the team.

This can in the process become a relentless and uncomfortable form of harassment. Different media of communication demands different levels of time from the person receiving it. Using all just to deliver the same message not only is ineffective but can also be perceived as micromanaging too. Bearing this in mind, be sure to set clear communication norms.

 

Productivity – The Imposter Syndrome

 

Have you at times felt guilty that you may not be doing enough? It turns out that not only are you not alone in this, but this tendency also has a name. Known as impostor syndrome, this basically is a feeling of inadequacy that most high achievers tend to experience, usually after a noteworthy achievement.

From said feeling of inadequacy come the aspects of increased stress, work tension, and lack of sleep. All these ultimately culminate in a loss of productivity. Lesser productivity means lesser output, costing companies thousands of dollars per employee each year in the process .

This is exacerbated during times of crisis such as the present one, where the prolonged remote working, and relatively less physical interactions can lead one to doubt oneself. But this too, has countermeasures that it can be approached with.

The first countermeasure is to build a personal network of mentors and advisors whom you trust. Self-talk where you invalidate yourself is hardly productive. Creating ongoing conversations with others can help counteract this. And the first step here is to start by growing and maintaining a broad professional network.

This can be done with aspects that include but are not limited to asking questions, learning about others, about their work, and interests. Following the building of such a network comes the maintenance of the same, wherein you interact with the members involved, be it individually or in group meetings. One such solution that helps here is MultiCall, which not only lets you rely on your personal contact network, but lets you categorize them into groups and favourites as well.

It’s one thing to walk the talk. But it’s also another to have catalogued it all. And therein comes the next step; to compile evidence of your successes. This could be anything; a box containing all the mementos and awards you received, or a folder containing all your best work. In case of any self-doubt, look at it, reminding yourself in the process just exactly how far you have come.

 

Work-Life (Im)Balance

 

Telecommunication and teleconferencing respectively have evolved to such a point that at present we live in an era of hyper-communication. While this ensures a greater effectiveness, a major drawback of this, is that it created an “always-on” culture. In a time of crisis such as the present one, you’d have noticed by now that for work, you’re always seeming to be at the ready and reachable by phone.

This is exemplified with constant meetings, both organized and impromptu. While this may be great for companies, but the question looming at large; How can Employees manage a Work-Life Balance in these present circumstances? The approach to handling this takes two steps. A rule-of-thumb in being a good manager is to ensure proper allocation of tasks . But this doesn’t apply just as a manager of employees, it also is equally applicable to being a good manager of your own time and life too.

Things in your life take precedent too; a family member who is ailing, or a child demanding your attention. Work will always happen. But so does the life outside of it too. And the latter may not wait as long. Plan out your time, and delegate the flow of your work to other team members during off hours.

The second step comes down to three words; Body, Mind and Spirit. Stress on your mind can affect the rest of your body too. In its own right this can be good news. Incorporating aspects to mind your physical and mental health, such as exercise and meditation respectively help lower the stress levels you face. In a difficult time like this, these aspects are also key to helping level your moods, and improve your sleep quality. Of course, a healthy diet is equally important, especially in a time like this where one needs to fortify their immunity.

 

Video Conference Fatigue

Haven’t you felt exhaustion from staring at your screen all day? Maybe you feel burnt out and demotivated by the excessive use of technology too. While technology has been key to helping employees and teams to maintain contact and ensure completion of work, the situation’s lack of precedence can lead to this being overwhelming on a long-term basis. This is a phenomenon known quite simply, as video conference fatigue.

Virtual interactions can be extremely tiring. Interestingly enough though, the main reasons as to why comes down to three parts.  The first involves the physical challenge. Let’s face it; a regular workday requires long hours on a chair. In a lockdown like this, the experience of sitting has practically intensified while working at home. Worsening this is the fact of staring at a screen for prolonged periods, which would result in conditions such as dry eyes.

Then comes the mental challenge. When a lot of people are talking to you all at once, don’t you feel frustrated and ask to have them talk to you one at a time? The same goes for your brain with the prolonged screen time. The extended use of computers and phones means that our brains are demanded to process information differently.

With so many stimuli appearing all at once, dealing all of that at great efficiency and minimal error can be a very enervating and draining process. Guess what happens then after the call, when instead of wrapping up, more tasks appear on the to-do list?

Last but not least, comes the socio-emotional challenge. There’s a famous study known as the Mehrabian study. This suggested that 93% of our communication (including elements like facial expressions, tone, body language, etc.) is non-verbal.

So imagine what happens when this body language is limited to just a few heads, talking on a screen. Not to mention issues like connectivity or frozen screens which worsen this problem. We lose out on a good portion of what makes our social interaction so rich. Communicating or making decisions without this, can prove to be more tiresome.

One of the main steps to counter these problems would be to reduce the stimuli involved (video conferencing) and even move around freely to reduce the stress from prolonged sitting. And MultiCall is one such solution that can help you with this. A calling app that allows group collaboration, MultiCall lets you call your entire team in one go without the hassle of entering PINs or awaiting moderators.

An instant solution for calling many, the participants of the call do not need to be connected with data or even have the app installed. MultiCall requires data only to initiate the call. This is helpful while you want to be part of a group conversation while on the move. Thus in this manner you can address the issues pertaining to virtual interactions.

 

Work Procedures and Processes

 

At present with the increased working hours; norms remain unclear. And we’ve been increasingly disrupted; be it the tumult of the daily household; or the still-unfolding chaos of the pandemic. As the situation remains ever fluid, it’s necessary to adapt work procedures and processes to the disruption.

First, we need to rethink meetings. This is especially in scaling them back by number and length. Studies executed by Bloomberg and Harvard have indicated that the pandemic workday has become 48 minutes longer as opposed to the real one, with number of meetings increasing by 13%.

MultiCall proves to be most useful here with its call scheduling feature. Not only can the date and time of the MultiCall be set, you can customize the length of the MultiCall too, with a maximum duration of 120 minutes on a 5-minute basis. That’s a full two hours at your discretion!

Next, we also need to start thinking based on outcomes, rather than by monitoring activities. The ability to do so is dependent on calling in the right people. Whether an Instant Call or Scheduled, You can choose directly from your contacts, or add the same from existing groups, or via manual entry of their number.

The situation of the pandemic, as constantly iterated, is unprecedented. So accepting the resulting potential productivity loss is also significant. This is bearing in mind the situation of playing the balancing act of household and work activities under the same roof. Of course, managers can try and motivate them on call.

The Covid-19 crisis has created unprecedented levels of remote working around the globe.  While we have learned a lot from COVID-19, the routine it brings certainly isn’t perfect. As the lockdown to counter the pandemic continues to prolong, employers and employees alike still have uncharted roads ahead toward effectively and efficiently managing remote working. More problems or issues may present themselves. But the ability to start anew and address the issues at present is what would help people and companies alike to achieve and reach more, now.

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