Work-related stress is very common in today’s competitive world. However, issues related to digital stress (often found with remote jobs) are different from those experienced at a physical workplace. Technostress is a term used for individuals who work online. It is the psychological response caused by an inability to cope with new and advanced digital technologies.
It’s important to be aware of these challenges. Below are some of the major challenges employers are facing due to technostress.
- Affects job satisfaction
Job satisfaction is an employee’s perspective on how far the company is able to meet his/her expectations. However, digitalization can reduce job satisfaction because of increasing work pressure, increasing fear of losing a job, and inability to balance between work and life. A study was also conducted on 196 employees of different work fields in the city of Bandung, Indonesia. The data was analyzed through a validity and reliability test. The results showed an effect of as much as 8.3% on job satisfaction due to disturbed work-life balance. Thus, it gives you a good opportunity to provide a good work environment and increase your employee’s motivation.
Managing stress in remote jobs
- Provide adequate resources and support to employees working from remote areas such as training, technology, coaching, and feedback.
- Encourage a sense of belonging amongst the employees by creating virtual communities and organizing regular check-ins.
- Set up clear and consistent policies and guidelines such as expectations, responsibilities, goals, and performance indicators.
- Anxiety and burn-out
Anxiety in employees who work remotely is the result of the popularity of hybrid work models. The anxiety can be described as the fear of missing out, imposter syndrome, or plain old burnout. Many employees also feel lonely and less motivated, leading to troubled sleep and lower levels of productivity. Some state that, in later stages, they have also gone through depression, irritability, sadness, and panic attacks as a result.
Burnout is also a common symptom and is described as the feeling of energy depletion or exhaustion. Thus, it increases mental distance from one’s job due to feelings of negativism and professional efficacy.
Giving positive feedback to your remote workers is the simplest way of combating remote work anxiety. Not feeling appreciated raises concern in the employee’s mind that his employer may assume him to be lazy. Employees should not take on extra projects to overcompensate as it may result in more anxiety and stress.
Managing stress in remote jobs
- Acknowledgment for work is one of the best ways to make your remote worker satisfied and appreciated.
- Consider rescheduling one-on-one check-ins to talk about the workload of your remote workers.
- Make sure your remote workers stay involved in the discussions and meetings happening at the workplace.
- Keep in contact with the remote team members and if they are nearby, host in-person events as often as possible.
- Blurred work-life boundaries
When one is working from home, there is a very thin line between work and personal life. So, it is the employer’s duty to respect the remote worker’s boundaries as they are already struggling to maintain the work-life balance.
Managing stress in remote jobs
- Communicate with your employees at the times of the day, they are generally available for work.
- Respect their personal space by reviewing any black-out times or dates they do not want to be contacted.
- Prioritize your employee’s personal well-being. You may offer mental health days as a normal part of your company’s culture and encourage a healthy work-life balance.
- Advanced technology-related stress
Working with computers means one must learn the latest programs as technology is always growing. Through the internet, you compete with organizations around the world and must stay current and ahead of your competitors. So, you need to upgrade your system or purchase expensive add-ons. This can cause a lot of stress in terms of learning as well as paying huge bills for new technologies. However, upgrading yourself is part of growing and needs a positive approach.
Managing stress in remote jobs
- Organizing workshops related to new and advanced technologies for your remote worker’s team.
- You can provide some latest software for advanced programming to remote workers free of cost or at minimal charges.
- Email overload
Traditional office settings allow you to communicate in several ways including walking to someone’s desk, meetings, and presentations. However, when you are a remote worker, email is the exclusive way of communicating. This leads to an influx of messages which can be stressful and irritating.
Managing stress in remote jobs
- Set aside specific time to check and send emails.
- Use other communication tools such as Google Meet, Zoom, and Trello.
- Unsubscribe from mailing lists which are not relevant.
- Use email tools like Spark to manage and prioritize your inbox, get follow-up reminders and more.
- Irrelevant meetings
There are chances you have been invited to a number of unnecessary meetings since you started working remotely. So, you can reduce your stress and save your time by avoiding many of them. Some ways to do this are:
- The employer must send meeting agendas in advance, send time limits, and invite just the right people relevant to the meeting.
- Replace non-urgent videoconferencing meetings with written updates.
- Less movement
One downside of remote work is minimal physical activity as compared to office settings. No more walking to the bus stop, downstairs to the canteen or your colleague’s desk. Working from home can result in being trapped in one place for hours and getting exposed to physical problems like obesity, heart disease, cervical spondylitis, and depression. So, get rid of this sedentary lifestyle.
- Get up and move at regular intervals.
- Set goals to increase your activity levels like walking, cycling, gymming, or swimming for at least 2 hours a day.
- Do some stretches during the break.
CONCLUSION
When working remotely, you need to be mindful of taking care of your mental health because too much time spent with technology can overwhelm any individual.
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