Is It Hard to Work Remotely? 4 Things Nobody Tells You

Remote work is no easier or harder than working in an office, but you will need certain personality traits to be productive and successful at remote work.

It might sound great to work from home—no office politics, fighting over the office temperature, dealing with grumpy personalities. You spend more time with work colleagues than you do with your family.

This guide will focus on answering the question, is it hard to work remotely? In short, it is not hard to work remotely, but there are some things you need to think about before leaping into the office environment.

Feeling Left Out

If your work colleagues are in the office, and you spend most of your time working from home, you may feel left out.

I especially worry about missing important communication, which leads me to the first personality trait you need.

Good communication is part of the success of working remotely. Keeping your colleagues and teams updated on where you are with your work is essential. Continuously keeping in touch through Slack and other communication channels will help avoid missing out on critical information.

Motivation Can Be Challenging

Fully distributed companies do not usually have a strict work schedule.

You are hired to work 40 hours a week, but when you work, those hours are based on meetings and deadlines. Having a work schedule is essential because there’s more flexibility, and it can lead to motivational struggles.

You are expected to be there by a specific time when working in an office. This motivates you to get out of bed and arrive for work on time.

Feeling Isolated

Working from home alone can be challenging. The best way to deal with it is to go to a coffee shop once or twice a week and spend time away from work with family and friends.

Time Tracking is Commonplace

When you’re in an office, some managers check to ensure the team is working and meeting deadlines. This is harder to do within a remote company, as many use time-tracking software.

When you complete specific work, you log the time, which allows project managers to monitor your workload.

Consider tools like Google, Jira, and Harvest, which companies often use.

So, is it hard to work remotely? There are challenges, but you will be fine, provided you have a good work ethic and personality traits that work well with remote working.

The more important lesson is that you must take time out of work and not feel that you have to be connected all day long.