While I have found remote work does have some challenges overall it works for me. Over the last 28 years I have spent a lot of time working from home as a consultant so I am not a stranger to the demands of working on your own. Having a space you can close off from the rest of the house is critical. I am fortunate in that regard as well.

Finally, it requires a certain amount of self-motivation to remain consistently productive from home. Not everyone has that level of mental fortitude. The distractions of being home whether it is children, chores or a spouse/roommate can be a test of that focus. In my case it helps that I truly enjoy what I do but not everyone can say that.

As the articles below points out, direct interaction with your fellow employees and clients is important. Just people are different over the phone or in an email, so to are they different virtually. While you can “see” their faces that does not always tell the whole tale of how they are feeling/reacting to your conversation.

Nearly one year after the onslaught of COVID-19 forced the global shift to remote work, IT leaders are experimenting with technology-enabled initiatives aimed at boosting employee productivity. At the same time, they are creating new rules of engagement for a labor force that is unlikely to return to the work patterns of pre-pandemic days.

A recent #IDGTECHtalk Twitter discussion found employees still at fully remote work or in a hybrid model. Most were grappling with an array of challenges, from spotty bandwidth and intermittent communications to the necessity of maintaining relationships with fellow employees and customers. The inability to read body language over video, the ever-present back-channel communications, and the on-going struggle to maintain work/life balance while collaborating with colleagues in different time zones were among the many pain points voiced by chat participants.

“Remote work just can’t do everything,” said Wayne Anderson, a security and compliance architect with Microsoft’s M365 Center of Excellence. “You lose nuance and presence. There is no substitute for body language and non-verbal cues.”

The transition to remote work has also caused a huge mental shift for many leaders who had a more traditional view of what effective working looked like. “My biggest challenge as a manager was building trust with my staff and peers,” said Amelie Koran.  “While the work output [of remote staff] was no different than that of on-site employees, [managing workers] did prove challenging for organizations that were `butts in seats’ oriented.” Read On: