Over the past two years, millions of people have tried (voluntarily or out of necessity) remote work for the first time. Such changes have affected many office workers in particular.

However, the opinion on remote work from home has been divided from the very start. Some people love the self-sufficiency and flexibility that remote work has provided, while others find it difficult to transition into a home office.

And while we all know the benefits of working from home, not many talk about the difficulties. Changing work habits is never easy. Here are 4 disadvantages to a home office and what you can do to solve them.

Distractions

Let’s start with the number one disadvantage of working from home, which is the abundance of distractions. They are everywhere! Your pet, TV screens, dirty dishes in the kitchen, children, even your partners can suddenly become an obstacle to your work. It’s hard to adjust to having so many distractions around you while working, yet it is necessary.

Of course, your home environment will be difficult to work in at first. Yet, who said you are never distracted at work, too? Of course, there were gossiping colleagues and frequent tea breaks. So, finding a way around this distraction is nothing new to office workers.

Lack of motivation

Most people suffer from procrastination quite a bit during the first weeks of working from home. Why? Well, it’s just like when you were a student and used to scroll sites like scamfighter.net in search of writing help instead of doing it yourself. You were lacking motivation back then, just as you are now. It’s because our houses are not built for work but for resting. Hence, it is a place where we can relax, forget about the outside world and focus on our personal life instead of work. Now, all those things are a luxury and a skill when you work from home.

So, first of all, creating a proper productive environment at home takes time and effort. You need to take active steps in increasing your motivation at home. Setting certain rules and boundaries can help. For example, you can stick to a strict schedule or redecorate one area of your home for an office. Overall, think of things that can motivate you and set you in the right mood for work.

Secondly, one needs a good understanding of boundaries to work from home. For example, you need to have areas where you work and where you rest, and those areas should not be violated. Having specific hours for rest and work also helps. With time, such rules will help you form new working habits which will not interfere with your motivation.

Burnout

Jumping on the last paragraph, it’s worth mentioning the danger of burning out when working from home. Many will be surprised, but remote work can also lead to severe burnout. It happens when people are not careful with their workload and can’t set good boundaries and limits. For example, when working in an office, (ideally) you can leave your work there when you go home. However, with remote work, people feel the constant pressure to keep on working until everything is complete. Such a tendency makes people take ridiculous over time without even realizing it.

Moreover, relaxing after a difficult day ‘at work’ is much harder when you don’t switch an actual physical location. Returning to a peaceful state of mind after work is a challenge for many. However, usually, you have a commute time or other transitional period to give your brain a release and rest from work. It may get harder once you are already at home. However, shutting down your computer and notifications once your working hours are over is a good start.

Lack of communication

Socialization is a big part of office culture. A sudden transition to a home-based position can negatively affect extroverts who need daily interaction. In fact, even strong introverts may suffer a little without a daily portion of communication. Just being around people and engaging in some socialization regularly is always a good thing. No one likes to feel alone or isolated. In fact, the lack of social life that offices can provide may lead to a range of mental health disorders like depression and self-esteem issues. Thus, it’s best to balance the lack of communication at work with other social activities.

However, there is also an issue of teamwork and cooperation that needs to be addressed. Working on a project together with several people in the office and at home are two different experiences. The former is much easier than the latter, as you may guess. So, the lack of communication can stall work processes and decrease efficiency and productivity.