Remote work is making employees anxious about their job security

Remote work isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, according to Mike Brown, the communications director for online insurance broker Breeze. He says that starting a new job in the digital environment has given him a serious case of remote work anxiety — but he’s far from alone.

Forty-seven percent of employees surveyed by Breeze say they feel an overwhelming concern that they are being perceived as slacking off, along with a deep sense of loss relating to in-person team building moments that help foster a healthy working environment. Of those with remote work anxiety, 66% said it has reduced their productivity, while 54% have reported feeling exhausted, lethargic, and have had trouble sleeping. Fifty-two percent have reported feelings of depression, and 46% say they have experienced panic attacks.

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“It’s been different than my previous experience working remotely, because in my last job I had four years of building camaraderie,” Brown says. “So when that transition to full time remote happened, at first I wasn't worried about anything. But with the new job, I only met everyone face to face for a couple of days, so we didn’t do relationship building at the same level.”

Brown says his anxiety stems from a lack of social interactions that would put him at ease. For others, that anxiety comes from a pandemic-related increase in their work loads.

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Forty-one percent of employees say their remote work anxiety is caused from overwork and long hours out of concern their employer will think they don’t work hard enough, the Breeze survey found. Additionally, 17% of employees say their anxiety is because they believe they are getting passed over for other coworkers that are in the office.

“I often feel guilty for not being in the office with my coworkers,” Dan Skaggs, an employee with One Thing Marketing, said in the survey. “I have often noticed a preferential treatment toward those working in the office, as I am often being passed up for projects due to not physically being present.”

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While working from home has had a negative impact for some, it can actually boost an employee’s productivity by 13%, according to a Stanford study. In order to tap into those benefits and keep remote work anxiety to a minimum, employers can conduct regular check-ins with their digital employees, Brown says. These conversations can be casual to let them know their organization values them. Brown also recommends that managers take time to highlight the accomplishments of their team, a tactic that’s worked well at Breeze.

“We do ‘marketing stand ups' where we keep track of what everyone is doing and our wins for the week,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be related to work. It’s about making sure that we're staying in a collaborative environment.”