5 Things People Don’t Tell You About Working Remotely

ENGLISH – If you’ve read about remote work, you likely know the stream of amazing promises advocates make. If only you could work remotely – you’d have no more awful commutes, you’d be a productivity wizard, your hair would be shinier, your dancing wouldn’t make people uncomfortable and your pants would fit perfectly, always! What a life you would have!

Differences In Working Remotely

If you’ve read about remote work, you likely know the stream of amazing promises advocates make. If only you could work remotely – you’d have no more awful commutes, you’d be a productivity wizard, your hair would be shinier, your dancing wouldn’t make people uncomfortable and your pants would fit perfectly, always! What a life you would have!

Development and Advancement

One important thing to distinguish when talking about remote work is the difference between fully distributed teams and individuals working remotely. There are different downsides if you’re the only one who’s working offsite. According to a Gallup report, more people are working from home. However, the majority of employees will still spend at least one day in the office.

Fitness

Remember when I said your pants would fit better if you were a remote worker? Yeah… that was, unfortunately, not quite true. In a survey done among Toggl employees, we found lack of movement was a significant concern for our staff.

1. Development and Advancement
2. Fitness
3. Mental Health
4. Taxes
5. Mentorship

These connections are more difficult to form when one or both parties are working remotely. It can be hard to develop the rapport and trust involved in a good mentor-mentee relationship. Timing can also be difficult, especially if different time zones are involved.

• Development and Advancement
• Fitness
• Mental Health

Meeting in person can make a huge difference in the development of these relationships. Even if you’re a fully remote company, making sure your staff meet and spend time together can aid in performance and development of culture. If you’ve started a mentor-mentee relationship, it’s important to create a schedule. Having a video call at a set, say time twice a month, can help ensure that bonds created stay strong.

There is good news: taxes are one of the easiest things on this list to fix.

Start doing your accounting the second you get paid, always set aside more than you think you’ll need and learn how taxes work in your are. I would also recommend hiring an accountant, especially if this is your first time filing taxes as a independent contractor or small business owner. Chances are it will save you money in the long run.

Start doing your accounting the second you get paid, always set aside more than you think you’ll need and learn how taxes work in your are. I would also recommend hiring an accountant, especially if this is your first time filing taxes as a independent contractor or small business owner. Chances are it will save you money in the long run.

Sure, it will cause some confusion and frustration at the outset – but that’s the point. Bringing people together in new ways (over time) helps them grow past their perceived boundaries, make smart mistakes, and take better risks. Consider cross-functional teams a calculated investment. You’ll see a dip in productivity at first, and a major surge as your various teams learn to work together. By understanding the various types of teams and their motivations, you can fix/reshuffle these work groups in ways that improve (not further exacerbate) your situation.