Ask HN: Remote workers – What are the issues you are facing?

10 points by pipipzz 7 years ago | 9 comments

Would love to hear about issues/experiences related to work and also outside works such as logistics, travel, etc.

luhego 7 years ago |

Lack of people interaction, working remotely can be lonely. I used to think that working in an office was unnecessary but sometimes I miss the unproductive conversations I used to have with my co-workers.

sircortly 7 years ago | |

Mostly this. I've been feeling the social isolation that comes with remote work pretty heavily lately. It doesn't help that I've recently moved to a new city and am finding that integrating into entirely new social circles is a slow process.

I do think that remote work is much more productive and I'm not exactly excited about the prospect of going back into an office, but if you don't have strong community / friends / family outside of work it can quickly become unhealthy.

ToFab123 7 years ago |

None, really. I have been working remote for the past 5 years. By that I mean I live in Thailand but work remotely for company in northern Europe. The only issue in if hardware VPN dongles needs replacement. The tasks I do has only few dependencies to other people and that is a requirement to succeed in what I do. What makes it hard, at times, is if you need assistance from a colleague, because they are often sleeping when I am at work. If you all are in the same time zone that is a non issue. All in all. Working remotely is amazing. You will never have to get into the office, you can sit with your feet on the table, go shopping during business hours and no commute.

macando 7 years ago |

30% of respondents said a lack of community challenges their remote happiness most.

Newbies (those who’ve been remote for under a year) were more likely to be experiencing loneliness (33%). Those who’d worked remotely for over 7 years seemed to have overcome feeling left out, but were more likely to overwork themself (33%). Creatives were more likely to cite lack of career advancement opportunities as a challenge (25% vs. 22% of engineers and 20% of marketers).

https://www.and.co/anywhere-workers

muzani 7 years ago |

Self-discipline. It's awfully hard to stay focused when there's no one to yell at you and the clients are very happy with your progress.

Down_n_Out 7 years ago |

Finding a position that will allow remote work. Problem is that I'm not a developer but an architect, over 40 and I work freelance. Apparently not a good combination for remote work according to many (possible) employers/clients.

switch007 7 years ago |

I switched to remote for a variety of reasons, but on the topic of issues, I find being one of only a few who work remotely that staying relevant and important is an insuperable challenge, especially when your boss is not remote. I find myself fading in to irrelevance. People who would swing by your desk once a week for your opinion now barely acknowledge you exist (i.e. months pass between IM messages, if at all). I find myself treated much more like a contractor compared to before. I think most of the company feel I abandoned them!

Time to move on I think. I'd give remote another go if I can find a company that has >50% remote workers.

muzani 7 years ago | |

Oh, I experienced this too. Once as the remote worker, once as the manager handling the remote workers.

IMO, it has to be a 100% commitment to remote work, where even the bosses are remote. First problem is communication - half of the team will rely on Slack, Jira, etc, while the other half rely on face to face. The tools that are used to handle remote work are abandoned by the team. The proper processes for handling remote work is never set in place.

The other big problem is that the non-remote workers get salty or distrustful. I find that they (consciously or not) try to sabotage remote workers. I find people can build even stronger relationships purely online than offline, but it has to be inclusive. They form cliques otherwise.

SirLJ 7 years ago |

No issues I can think of, doing it for many years, because I am too lazy to drive 30 minutes to my office...

I see only benefits, can exercise during the day, take a nap after lunch, which makes me much more productive in the afternoon, at the end of the day, I just walk away from my office and I am home :-)