Time to reflect on working remotely and now that’s coming to a close. Let’s look at all the ways working from home is bad for your long-term health and happiness.

We brainstormed 22 reasons why working from home can be harmful:

  1. Colleagues and teams are siloed, making collaboration difficult.
  2. Feelings of isolation, loneliness, and lack of inclusion start to creep in. 
  3. Enthusiasm about building and growing is more difficult to foster.
  4. Employee’s home-work life becomes unbalanced.
  5. Cabin fever sets in.
  6. No ability to separate workspace from home space.
  7. Ergonomics may be compromised.
  8. Miscommunication is far more likely.
  9. Fewer breaks and more extended workdays become normal.
  10. Diminished creativity.
  11. Random discussions and spontaneous brainstorming are limited.
  12. Supervision begins to suffer.
  13. Productivity diminishes.
  14. Information gleaned from overheard conversations ceases to exist.
  15. Home network security creates extra headaches for the company.
  16. Slow home internet speeds reduce productivity.
  17. Limited access to necessary tools such as printers and scanners.
  18. Supervisors may become suspicious that employees aren’t working, leading to greater levels of distrust.
  19. Remote work is unfair to those who are required to work from the office.
  20. Repetitive tasks such as data entry become more difficult with the distractions of home.
  21. Motivation begins to slip.
  22. MS Teams fatigue!

There’s likely more reasons, but this is a long list to consider!