For those who were cast into the sea of “workhomedness” moths after the initial exuberating, the sheen is fading rapidly after what seemed like it would be a temporary reprieve turned out to be an endless marathon of balancing home and work in what used to be our sacred space called, “home.”
Especially for households that are homes to families, where either one or both parents are telecommuting and working from home, school-aged children are attending school online from home, tending house and taking care of everyday details, like laundry, housecleaning, shopping, and trying to find time for family, all vying for the same space trying to eke out some semblance of life quality.
Top 4 At-risk Telecommuters
Certainly, it is not all fun and games today, as it may have been in the beginning and nerves are wearing thin due to the ongoing challenges associated with this pandemic.
1. Families at Risk
Teenagers feel like they can manage themselves and might even prefer that parents let them fend for themselves, while younger children need more attention, and being excluded from school and daycare centers is putting more pressure on parents who are faced with trying to juggle work and children at home simultaneously.
As the pandemic restrictions linger on, productivity, which was superior (most 30% or more at the outset) in the beginning is starting to decline for remote workers who are trying to manage familial needs while teleworking. It is all a bit overwhelming.
2. Single Parents at Risk
The hardest-hit segment of the telecommuting workforce is especially single mothers working from home, trying to get by on already limited resources. In two-parent households, there are more resources to share the management requirements of a healthy family.
While women are far more qualified to handle emotional trauma than their male counterparts, men are more adaptable to extended periods of time in isolation without social interaction, in general.
The isolation element compounds the working mom from home scenario significantly. This need is easily fulfilled by brief interaction among coworkers, walking to and from breaks, around the copier, or water cooler. Men do not seem to have the need for this sense of coexistence in a troubled world.
Single parents are being forced out of the telecommuting workforce as they are faced with having to make the choice to work or serve the family.
3. Child-free at Risk
And if you think couples or singles without children have it better, it turns out they have their own issues, such as oversleeping and extended work hours without pay. It is breeding a horde of workaholics on house arrest. This opens up an entirely new can of worms to infiltrate an otherwise healthy worker’s brain chemistry.
4. Human Resources at Risk
All this is putting a tremendous amount of burden on the human resources (HR) departments of companies and organizations across the board.
Competition for remote workers is greater than before, and all companies and organizations who are fully embracing the work-from-home model are both snipers and targets. Even though your market area is greatly expanded because your remote workforce need not be limited to your locality, you are now competing nationally for the best potential employees out there.
HR departments also are aware that other companies and organizations are using their employees’ Internet connections to proselyte workers who are currently on their payrolls.
You are going along, thinking everything is going just fine, when all of a sudden, your employees are giving their two weeks’ notice and jumping ship in droves.
It is because your competitors are target marketing and offering them a better deal, right now.
HR and management are now challenged with the greater necessity to focus on employee retention to try to keep the waters shark-proof.