The nature of remote work is causing elevated levels of social loafing and it’s one of the challenges of managing remote employees. In fact, remote-first and remote-friendly companies are gearing up to manage social loafing proactively so that its effects don’t hamper their business success.   

What is social loafing?

Social loafing is the concept where workers work more efficiently and diligently on their own than working collectively in a team or group.  

This phenomenon is driven by an individual’s work benefits rather than meeting organizational goals and adhering to the organization’s collective work culture. For example, if you perform a task with extra effort and dynamism because you have a reputation to maintain or you are looking to get promoted but take a laidback attitude during teamwork, you’re immersing yourself in social loafing. 

Social loafing exists in the remote work world as well, albeit different from the causal factors at the on-site workplace. Since the reasons for social loafing aren’t the same for remote workers and on-site workers, measures to assuage it also require different approaches. 

What causes remote social loafing and how can you mitigate and control it? 

The solutions to mitigate and control social loafing in remote teams are contained within the issues that translate as social loafing. Let’s look at a range of factors that contribute to social loafing and learn how to manage them. 

1. Remote work’s nature of isolation tends to set in deeply

As a remote worker, you’re physically alone – your colleagues aren’t physically present with you. While this maximizes self-efficiency, it can cause reduced efficacy when working on a project with your team or department which are only accessible through your computer screen. 

Solution: Create a vibrant workplace camaraderie to ‘connect’ better with your colleagues.  

Make it a point to say good morning in your MS Teams team or department group chat and have brief virtual water cooler conversations. This will temper feelings of extreme isolation and open ways to better teamwork and collaborative engagements. 

2. Presenteeism contends with performance. 

Remote work is considerably lessening the necessity of being present. If your productivity is high, your absence should not be a concern for the company. However, this advantage can manifest as a double-edged sword as it may become challenging for you to be available whenever your team needs you. This inevitably causes the whole collaboration to collapse, and teamwork will suffer. 

Thomas Ng, the Founder and CEO of Genashtim Pte Ltd, a 100% remote company, quipped that if an employee brings client deals worth millions, he wouldn’t mind if the employee works for only an hour a week. He then added that it’s provided that the employee collaborates well and functions as an effective teammate.  

Solution: Make your online availability and work progress known to your teammates.  

Double check the tasks that have been assigned to you – this is especially necessary for proper project work and workflow coordination.  

Issuing reminders if teammates fail to respond or deliver what is expected within a certain timeframe keeps social loafing in check. If you are on the receiving end of these reminders, take it as an opportunity to be more careful and receptive. 

3. Asynchronous communication is the preferred mode of telework communication. 

One of the major differences between remote work and on-site work is overcommunication that’s done asynchronously. When you communicate asynchronously, there’s always a risk of missing something and that’s where collaborative teams risk falling apart. 

Since you have more time to reply to your coworkers through asynchronous communication, it’s easy to miss out on replying which can cause delays in relaying crucial information. This will take a toll on the collective team efforts exerted on a project.  

Solution: Schedule specific times to check and reply to all messages on your online collaboration platforms and track your tasks’ progression in a project or workflow. Always ensure transparency and keep your teammates in the loop. 

It’s okay to leave a message about a task or an important piece of information after work hours/on weekends. If an expected response fails to arrive, you can always issue reminders. 

Genashtim has a remote work culture that is best described as “incomplete detachment from work.” Genashtim’s employees reply to clients even when they’re out of the office. They manage their time and tasks better by working after work hours or when they’re on leave. The company’s flexible remote work arrangements support this remote work culture that revolves around the employees’ incomplete detachment from work.   

4. You’re a “soloist.” 

The soloist is the fifth type of imposter syndrome. Characterized by the propensity to work alone and without any help from colleagues, remote work can exacerbate this trait. As a result, remote collaborative efforts, especially those within uncharted territory can run down as the soloist remote worker refrains from engaging in the team, posing leveled-up remote collaboration challenges. 

Solution: Accept that rewards from teamwork are of the same value as rewards for your individual accomplishments. 

Look at the bigger picture – if a project is successful, the whole organization will benefit. As a part of the organization, you will receive benefits as well.  

Virtual coffee sessions can also water down the traits of a soloist. Through sustained interactions with remote colleagues, soloists can discard their idiosyncrasy of being most effective when working alone. The formation of friendships and fostering of trust will also help soloists become more efficient in remote collaborations, projects, and remote teams’ workflows. 

5. You’re an introvert. 

Remote work is providing jobs for introverts. Unfortunately, social awkwardness can get stronger with remote work due to fewer opportunities for social interaction.  

Genashtim hires people with disabilities (PWDs). Some of them may even be introverts due to their disabilities. This isn’t a problem if their inhibitions don’t hinder teamwork communication and execution.  

Solution: Understand that remote work requires coordination between people, active interactions, and cooperation.  

Find similarities between yourself and your coworkers and learn from the differences.  

How you perform at work is important, especially in projects and tasks that require team efforts. Your disability or anti-social traits don’t matter, especially when they don’t affect your work performance. 

Work is a professional realm and while remote work allows you to evade unconscious biases at the workplace, it’s your responsibility to further prove those biases wrong. Think of collaborating in teams as an opportunity to show that you’re an asset to the company and are willing to go above and beyond for the good of your team, department, and ultimately your company. 

6. You’re “invisible and anonymous” as a remote worker. 

Accountability and active participation are highly facilitated in an on-site office, but this is not the case with remote work. It’s easy to fade into the background as a remote worker, specifically during virtual meetings and other synchronous/asynchronous communication endeavors. 

Solution: Turn on your camera during virtual meetings. Use GIFs, stickers, and emojis when collaborating with remote teams to create a semblance of your vibrant presence. 

Own your mistakes, correct them, and be careful that you don’t repeat the mistakes in the future. When you don’t own up to your mistakes but make it a habit to hide behind the screen, it can seriously damage remote team coordination, waste precious time, and necessitate tedious going back and forth. 

Honesty is the best policy. You will be appreciated when you accept your mistakes, especially during the initial stages as it can save a whole lot of effort and salvage the entire work process and the outcomes of remote project collaborations. 

Remote employees and remote management must do their part to tone social loafing down. 

Social loafing in remote work is one of the remote working problems. Realizing your own loafing and working to consign it is as important as organizational efforts to water down social loafing. Recall the circumstances where you succumbed to being a loafer – if you didn’t pull your weight in remote collaboration, introspect on your own behavior. Develop empathy for your teammates and be extra-conscious about your tendencies to loaf when working together with others. 

On an organizational level, remote management can jettison social loafing by denying the remote workers reasons to rationalize their loafing.  Remote employers must understand the uniqueness of remote work and assume that their employees have good intentions from the outset. Provide employees with the required and proper tools, clear-cut directions, and appropriate financial rewards so that they’ll be motivated to excel. This is one of the remote leadership challenges that must be dealt with proactively. 

Although social loafing is one of the pressing remote working challenges, with the right support and encouragement, remote employees, in most cases, will rise to the occasion. Remote employees face various difficulties in working from home. Hence companies should be sensitive to their particular situations and help them to overcome the problems of remote working. 

Currently, 70% of Genashtim Pte Ltd employees are people with disabilities (PWDs), most of whom are living with medical conditions and special needs. Through the Total Flexibility Initiative, Genashtim encourages its employees to take as many breaks as they need. Although not immediately obvious, this remote work policy cuts out social loafing among employees and makes them efficient and prompt in action. 

Final words… 

The challenges of working from home, which include social loafing, cannot be overcome in a day – it’s a process that takes time. Minimizing social loafing involves the synchronization between both remote workers’ conscientiousness and remote employers’ ongoing efforts. 

Remote employees must be proficient communicators who effectively communicate transparency. As a remote employee, it’s imperative that you neither rationalize your social loafing nor let yourself fall into the fundamental attribution error trap.   

No two remote companies are the same. Thus, companies’ social loafing mitigation models cannot be identical. Identify the causes of social loafing and create a personalized, evolving, and befitting remote company culture and remote work policy to keep social loafing at bay.  

In conclusion, through individual and organizational synchronized affirmative actions, beating remote work social loafing is doable.