3 Ways Technology is Killing Remote Work Productivity and Increasing Your Stress?

Holy shades of Elvis Batman, what went wrong here!? Your superhero team of amazing employees are all using different applications for different remote work needs. We're gonna need a superhero huddle....

THE REMOTE WORK has a new kryptonite: Suddenly technology designed to make our lives easier, better, and more stress free is actually creating the opposite for our remote work environments.

How Technology is Killing Remote Work Productivity:

Problem #1. Microsoft Teams, MS Outlook, Skype, Zoom, Jira, Trello, MS Project, Asana, Notes, Basecamp, Slack, Facebook At Work, Sharepoint: It's ironic but, we actually now have too much tech and not enough structure on which apps to use and when to use them at work.

Solution: Survey your coworkers, and if you're aligned, tell your boss you're drowning with too many apps. Ask for confirmation of which apps you really need to be using daily. Delete the rest.

Problem #2. Apps Cross Functionality Misuse: Employees aren't getting the proper training on WHEN to use which app, and why. Or they don't have clear direction on what the benefits of some of the apps.

Solution: Survey your coworkers, and determine what best practices you've each adopted. Share your best practices. And, or, speak to your manager on confirming what apps should be used. A tech strategy alignment might be required.

Problem #3. Big Secret Revealed: Remote Workers You're Being Tracked - Unless you're a manager or higher, and you're new to all these great online productivity tools, you may actually not be aware that they are tracking every single keystroke, who you interact with, if you show up at meetings on time, and even how much time you're spending talking to certain resources via messenger. If you know this already, this likely is causing you some anxiety, and increasing your need to be 'online' and to at least appear productive.

Solution Part 1: Ask your boss directly if he's watching how many hours you have your 'presence' apps open like MS Teams, or Skype, and if they are really tracking this. If yes, or maybe, then ask for some level of agreement on how much time your manager is expecting you to be on these apps, and if you can agree to only be within those apps for only a few hours per day.

Benefits to all solutions above: If you know you'll receive some resistance from your manager or team suggesting any of the above, be honest with your manager. Explain the anxiety, stress, confusion, or burnout you feel from all those different apps. End of day, a great manager and leader will be empathetic to your needs as long as in return you're delivering in what ever it is you do, be it operations, project work, or other.

Thanks again for reading, and I hope this helped someone out there. For more great articles don't forget to subscribe to the-inspired.com. And if there's someone you know who's close to burnout, share this article with them, or reach out and see how you can give a helping hand.

Until next time, stay inspired...