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Working from home shouldn’t be a chore, but sometimes it can feel that way. Staring at the same four walls day after day soon gets boring.

In this post, we take a look at some of the factors that make working from home a drag and what you can do about them.

Lack Of Work-Life Boundaries

The lack of work-life boundaries when working from home is one of the most annoying aspects of having a career in 2022. Family starts intruding on your workspace, and because you are WFH, your boss is constantly harassing you, asking you to carry on working well into the evening, even though that’s usually family time.

At first, these blurred boundaries seem novel. But over time, they just start to grate. You wish you could go back to the way things always were.

The trick here is to negotiate new rules of the game. Bosses have no problem with people clocking out of the office at 5 pm, but they seem to have an issue with the concept now that people are in their homes.

The trick here is to point out the issue and insist on working hours. If communications are outside working hours, they don’t require a response until the next day.

Lack Of Equipment

Doing work from a home office is okay if you have all the right equipment, but that’s rare. Desks, proper seating, and printing equipment tend to be in short supply when in the domestic environment.

One option is to simply go out and buy all the equipment you need yourself, but that hardly seems fair. The other option is to lobby your company to provide it for you, just as they provide regular equipment in the office as a business expense. If your company offices have closed, you may be able to ask to use desks, chairs and so on until it opens again.

Virtual Time-Keeping

You would think that with people working from home, they would have more independence and autonomy. But in some businesses, that hasn’t happened. Digital technology is making the problem even worse. Companies are using web-based tools to make it easier to monitor precisely what their colleagues are doing in real-time.

Naturally, you want some accountability when working from home, but you don’t want your Big Brother boss breathing down your neck while you are trying to concentrate on your work. The solution is to suggest to your employer that they move towards goal-oriented performance supervision if they are worried about staff slacking off. This way, nobody needs to monitor anyone else. Employers simply collect the data they need and then use it to measure worker performance.

Isolation

Isolation is a big issue when working from home. People are alone all the time, unable to interact face-to-face with their colleagues. For extraverts, it’s a disaster. Slack and other messaging tools just don’t cut it.

The problems go beyond one’s mood as well. Social isolation isn’t good for personal well-being and can, in many cases lead to real breakdowns.

One option is to insist on video calls for the morning meeting. Another is to suggest team building exercises every month for everyone in the office. The more cohesion you can build, the less it will feel like you’re working solo.

Solving Technical Problems

When there’s a technical problem in the office, IT support staff quickly descend to resolve the problem. If they’re not there straight away, it’s unusual.

However, when you’re working from home, things are different. Mostly, you have to solve problems yourself.

The trick here is to read more about the problems you’re likely to encounter and how to solve them. You can also ask your firm to continue hiring IT staff remotely and provide them with digital tools that let them take control of your PC if there is a problem.

Problematic Performance

When you work from home, the temptation to procrastinate is extreme. It’s hard to knuckle down and work when there are so many distractions and other things that you could be doing.

The trick here is to find ways to make yourself more conscientious. Think about the negative emotions you experience when you don’t put the effort into your work that you know you should. Usually, it is better to just get on with it.

Difficulty Loving Your Company

It’s easy to love your company while you are there, but when you work from home, it feels like you are in a long-distance relationship. Again, encourage more engagement with your team.