
Remote Workers: What are some common problems faced by you? - gj0
The problems or pain points can be both, whose solutions exist (let me know the name of the startup which is trying to solve the pain point) as well as the unsolved one.<p>I am trying to make a small wiki of the problems and solutions in the space.<p>Some common one&#x27;s are :<p>1. What is Remote work ? How is it different from a traditional job ? (eg, https:&#x2F;&#x2F;open.buffer.com&#x2F;remote-work&#x2F;)<p>2. How to find Remote work ? (eg, https:&#x2F;&#x2F;remoteok.io)<p>3. How to Manage legal aspects of a remote job ?
   - How to get the payment converted in my local currency ?
   - How do I manage my taxes ?
   - What about medical and other health policies ?
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AlexITC
One detail that hasn't be mentioned so far is, scheduling meetings when the
team is distributed among several time zones.

We used to have weekly meetings with different timezone considerations, Latin
America, Europe, and Australia, the problem is that you can't find a good time
for everyone, I used to wake up at 6 AM to take the meeting while my
Australian peer was taking it at 11 PM, and the Europeans taking the meeting
at the meal time.

While most meetings could just leave one of those time zones out, there are
certainly meetings where having everyone present would be ideal.

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gj0
Valid problem, thanks for mentioning it.

Curious, to know how good are these scheduling apps for the same ?
[https://doodle.com](https://doodle.com) or
[https://calendly.com/](https://calendly.com/)

~~~
Hnrobert42
I use an ios app called timetape to keep track of different timezones. It’s
not great, but it is simple and effective.

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beatgammit
Mostly my wife expecting me to take an active roll in taking care of the kids
during my scheduled work hours. She does a good job of keeping the kids
occupied much of the day, but there seems to be a lot more little emergencies
that she needs input on than when I worked in an office.

I'm not sure what the solution is, and I'm not convinced it's really a problem
since I still get more done than when I was in the office (shorter
distractions compared to coworkers always asking easily answered questions).
It's definitely something interesting difference though.

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sethammons
My wife, kids, and I discussed it. If I am working from home, I'm not home. It
was a work in progress for a while, where I nicely said I'm not home right
now. Esp. hard when my "office" was in the living room. We all got it to work
and later, we got a bigger home and a dedicated office space. That helps.

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JSeymourATL
There's a persistent market bias that Remote Workers are a cybersecurity risk,
that's a Big Problem.

> [https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/08/remote-workers-the-
> bigges...](https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/08/remote-workers-the-biggest-
> cybersecurity-risk-for-your-business.html)

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slucha
I would be interested in platforms for finding a remote job. Current remote
job boards like remoteok.io or
[http://basedremote.com](http://basedremote.com) are mainly developer focused.
Is there any non tech related?

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gj0
Yeah most of the platforms are dev focused.
[https://weworkremotely.com](https://weworkremotely.com) has some other
categories, check it out.

~~~
slucha
Oh yes weworkremotely has some more non-tech jobs, thanks

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orky56
Collaboration Tools & Best Practices, Staying Productive being remote,
Avoiding isolationism/loneliness, etc., Finding coworking spaces or other
places to work remotely, ROI/TCO to show why remote work makes sense

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astawiarski
Here are the top 10 problems I faced after starting working remotely full time
and moving to another country (both the employer and myself are in the EU) and
the findings or solutions I considered or applied.

1\. Career progression, especially in management is limited. You will be much
better off career-wise in a company that supports and lives remote work than
in the one which simply allows it.

2\. Some people say it's difficult to negotiate salary increases, which is
true, but not unlike negotiating anything else without personal presence. So
make sure you negotiate during your regular on-site visits.

3\. On-site visits - those really important for many reasons. You may like
where you are, but even if the company is fully remote you still need to meet
all the folks every now and then. That's in our human nature. However, this is
a problem - you need to figure out of often, where to stay etc. Organising
getaways with your team requires extra effort from your manager.

4\. Meeting participation is difficult. You must overcome the rudeness of
interruption. With the network lag you will most likely have to interrupt
other people all the time in order to be heard. Also, since you can't just
draw on the board easily, so make sure you're well equipped with tools to run
your meetings. Take notes, close all irrelevant windows and participate fully.

5\. Most managers want an easy life. If you are remote and they aren't, they
need to put extra effort to support you. This is even worse if you are the
manager or team leader yourself. That means they would often press for
reduction in the remote work, so it's easier for them. It would require you to
not only prove your worth, as in any workplace you want to grow, but also
prove the remote work's worth. Unless there are many more people and the
company sees the benefits and opportunities of remote work, it will drain you
fast.

6\. When it comes to payment that is usually quite easy, especially in the EU
- a simple bank transfer. The taxing can be more tricky, but there are four
most common options here: A) contracting agreement / self-employment /
invoicing, B) having your employer to set up an office in your country, C)
performing the duties of the employer of their behalf by yourself in your
country, D) being sent for delegation, and regularly renewing it. If you're in
EU that may give you tax benefits, if you live in a lower tax country than
your employer is, and there is a decent agreement between those two countries
to avoid double taxation. If you're an USA citizen though you'll probably not
going to like having to pay double taxes. Please seek advice on that one.

7\. Health care / insurance - in the EU you're usually better off not taking
the company-offered insurance, but relying on the public health-care entirely
and just paying for private visits out of pocket. If you like extra treatment
you can get a private insurance, but it pays off in very few countries and
situations. For the average person the health care in the EU is not that
expensive, outside of what you're paying in taxes.

8\. Not moving much. This is a big one, especially if you're working remotely
from your home. You need to exercise a lot and go out as much as you can.

9\. Educating people around you that remote work is still work. Your partner,
children, parents, friends. Many of them will not understand at first that
even though you're at home, you're actually working. On top of that, if you're
taking a break, that is not to help out with some chores or other gardening
tasks. It's the time you take to clear your brain, relax and get back to work
afterwards - as if you were in the office. You wouldn't be asked to take the
trash out while you went for a break out the office, would you? So, just find
an agreement with your cohabitants - they will easily understand that once you
explain it.

10\. Isolation. The lack of personal contact with your peers can really hit
you. Make sure you meet with your local friends regularly. Ideally the people
you can laugh with and those you can talk to more seriously. Also, try to
inject random topics when calling your workmates, maybe when the meeting is
over early. They will appreciate that, and so will you.

There is a lot more to sort out, but the possible benefits of the remote work
are fantastic. Enjoy!

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gj0
This is Gold ! Very well listed out the problems faced while working remotely.

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astrodev
There are no problems, it's basically perfect.

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shannonmaloney5
4\. Having productive remote meetings- SoapBox, and agenda app for one-on-ones
and team meetings is tackling this challenge. soapboxhq.com

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gj0
Yeah making meetings productive is definitely one area. Looks interesting,
will check it out !

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thisissidhant
Remote.tools for finding the best remote tools out there.

