What are the challenges and issues of teleworking in 2022?

The issues and obstacles of teleworking are among the main challenges for HR managers in 2022.

Indeed, according to an APEC study conducted in France, nearly 47% of executives make remote work a fundamental condition in choosing their next employer.

However, according to the same study, only 41% of companies are willing to recruit remote employees. Employers still prefer face-to-face work, probably because of the management difficulties associated with nomadic work.

So what are the major problems with remote work? How can the company deal with it? What are the actions to be taken to better manage the problems of teleworking in companies?

The issues of teleworking and their impact on employees’ lives

The health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of remote work in many companies. However, this adaptation process, which has now lasted for 3 years, disrupts the social balance of employees and the life of the company.

The psychosocial risks of telework

Various studies conducted in France during the health crisis have made it possible to understand the extent of current HR issues, particularly those related to the challenges and risks of teleworking.

One of them reveals that 80% of HR managers have noticed considerable changes in the attitude of their employees. Many employees show demotivation, weariness and sometimes even aggressiveness.

This makes it harder for HR managers to bond a work team together and achieve their performance goals.

Still on the issue of teleworking, 66% of HR decision-makers have observed an increase in health problems within their teams. Essentially:

• Headaches;
• Depression;
• Musculoskeletal disorders;
• Burnout.

The^4th wave of the study entitled “barometer of the psychological health of French employees in times of crisis” confirms that employees are doing worse and worse, 50% of them being in psychological distress.

Even more alarming, a third of the executives surveyed are emotionally exhausted, and 5% of them are burnt out.

The challenges for companies

From a distance, it is not easy for managers to notice the symptoms of psychological difficulties that appear in employees. This is one of the biases related to the problem of teleworking. Communication is essentially limited to professional matters.

Employees are also isolated, confined and have less contact with the outside world or their colleagues, which is not necessarily positive for their emotional balance.

It is therefore up to managers to be more vigilant in order to detect early warning signs of psychological problems. It will then be a question of finding a way to get the employees concerned to express themselves.

How to maintain the harmony and cohesion of a teleworking team?

Maintaining employee motivation and a good remote working atmosphere is not as easy as in face-to-face.

However, simple strategies can counter this problem of teleworking, reassure employees and maintain a good image of the company with each of them.

Developing employees’ skills

The introduction of teleworking has brought significant changes to working life. Whether in Paris or throughout France, the implementation of teleworking has required the mass adoption of ICTs.

New technologies have taken a prominent place in the professional life of employees who, because of the diversity of their profiles, do not have the same mastery of these new work tools.

For companies, the challenge is to promote the adaptability of their human resources. This problem of teleworking can be solved in particular by developing employees’ personal skills.

Beyond stress management, working time management and maintaining their quality of life, they must be trained in remote communication.

EDI issues at the heart of current HR issues

In a remote work context, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies can be difficult to implement. And yet, within organizations, they stand out as a necessity.

On this issue, the opinions of employees are unequivocal. For them, it is essential that the company develops programs and strategies to create and maintain a fair, diverse and inclusive work culture.

The development or implementation of teleworking imposed by the health crisis must not stem the effectiveness of EDI policies within the organization.

This issue related to teleworking occupies a prominent place among the challenges to be met by companies during the year 2022.

The challenge of effective teleworking management

When working from home, many managers indulge in unbridled control of their employees. Generally, this control comes in a variety of forms:

• Meetings spread over the whole day;
• Unwanted emails and calls;
• The use of monitoring software such as remote clocking, mouse movement control, screen time analysis, etc.

Wrongly considered useful to get employees to work, such processes ultimately only have the effect of accentuating the problems of teleworking, in particular by creating stress among employees.

In 2022 in France, the challenge for managers is to find and implement new management processes adapted to remote work.

The right to disconnect

Working from home makes it difficult for many employees to work fixed hours and breaks. 80% of HR decision-makers say that their employees struggle to establish a balance between their private and professional lives.

In its guide on the issue of telework, the government specifies that the employer must precisely define the employee’s free time slots.

The same guide on teleworking issues adds that the available time slots must be flexible. The employee therefore has the choice to organize them as they wishe, as long as they respects their commitments vis-à-vis their employer.

Respect for privacy

This issue of teleworking must be treated very carefully, because it is a sensitive aspect. Indeed, the competent authorities, including the CNIL, closely monitor the practices of companies.

For example, the CNIL recommends that employers not impose the activation of the camera on employees during online meetings. Managers must therefore comply with this new data in their management policies.

The challenge of reconciling the interests of the company and employees

For young employees, remote work seems to have become a norm. The teleworking barometer sufficiently shows the enthusiasm of some employees for working from home.

However, companies, at more than 81%, would have liked a return to traditional working conditions, which is unlikely.

To attract and retain talent, it is preferable to collect the opinions of employees on the issue, and to discuss with them the issues related to this form of work.

This will allow HR to better understand their needs and collaboratively develop a way of working that satisfies everyone. Already, the mixed formula of “working 2 or 3 days at the office and the rest of the week at home” seems to be approved by all.

Second, the employee must be made more responsible and given some autonomy, without depriving oneself of traditional evaluation tools. Reports, minutes and implementation reviews will therefore always be required to monitor productivity.

The issue of teleworking in 2022: What to remember?

In short, it must be remembered that the problems of teleworking represent a major challenge for companies. Remote work presents several communication, monitoring and supervision challenges that HR may not be equipped to manage.

Then there is the impact of teleworking on the mental health of managers and employees. Motivation and attachment to the company deteriorates quickly, unless HR managers react quickly and do what is necessary to effectively support their teams.

What is needed is always to favor dialogue and not to reject the option of remote work, nor impose it on everyone in order to circumvent the problem of telework.

Depending on the objectives of each employee, we can define the working method that suits them and adapt their employment contract.

Surveillance tools should not be banned entirely. The employer must be able to ensure the performance of their employees. However, they must remain discreet, in order to respect the privacy and emotional balance of the employee.

It is therefore essential to seek to know the opinions of employees on the issue, preferably anonymously, thanks to a dedicated platform. It is also necessary to collect their suggestions and learn about their training needs on telework tools.

All these elements together should make it possible to develop an effective policy for managing the challenges and problems of teleworking within companies.

Do you want to know your employees’s opinions about the management of teleworking by your company in order to tackle the issues and problems?

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Knowing what your employees think about teleworking in your company will give you a clear idea of which aspects need to be preserved and which need to be changed. Good telecommuting management will also be useful to attract new talent and thus contribute to the prosperity of your business. Click here to learn more about this offer now.