The pandemic has hailed the era of remote work and work-from-home scenarios. While this comes with various advantages and benefits to the employees, it has had some disadvantages and challenges as well. With specific reference to the fintech industry, the challenges have been unique and specific to the industry.
Remote work gives employees a lot of autonomy and has improved employee engagement and experience. Added to this, the increased benefits of flexibility, reduced overhead costs were attractive. However, it caused several obstacles that hurt fintech companies specifically. Let us examine them one by one.
Reduced human connection and collaboration
Remote and hybrid workers feel increasingly disconnected with their colleagues and workplaces. The lack of connectivity makes work suffer. This is because fintech companies rely on collaboration between team members to create and develop innovative solutions. Lack of in-person communication between team members, the difficulty in communication because of distance and time zones and the feeling of being scattered affected the output. People started working longer hours from home and lost out on interpersonal communication. Innovation, teamwork and collaborative efforts suffered making companies realize that remote work is actually not ideal for Fintech companies.
Cybersecurity risks
A lot of sensitive financial information is handled by fintech companies and working remotely puts the information at risk of a cyberattack or a data breach. A traditional office setting offers greater security which a remote working environment cannot offer. Getting more security into remote working could mean greater investment in technology and introducing higher security features when it comes to data management all of which could become cumbersome for remote workers on a daily basis.
Regulatory challenges
Added to the challenges posed by cybersecurity risks are the challenges related to regulatory and compliance issues. Fintech companies have to deal with a lot of regulatory requirements and remote working does not support many of these. For instance, somebody working in a remote environment will not have access to secure networks to prevent data theft. Also if someone is working remotely from a different country, the laws and regulations governing that place could be significantly different from those compliances required to complete certain tasks assigned to remote workers.
Less access to infrastructure
Fintech companies often need specialized infrastructure requirements to operate like high-speed internet, expensive software and specialized hardware to run their processes. Limited access to these in remote environments could easily affect productivity and their ability to innovate and solve problems that may arise daily.
Challenges with employee productivity
Ensuring that employees are working efficiently and effectively is a challenge in remote work as managers have to take a lot more effort to understand what people are doing. Monitoring progress and providing feedback becomes a difficult process. Employees feel the anxiety related to appearing online and this can affect work-life balance. Added to this, employees feel the pressure to respond to emails instantly and also be available for video calls at the drop of a hat.
Alienation and lack of learning
Learning and development is normally done through courses or through on-the-job mentoring. This is an essential part of career development, however, while courses can be done online, the benefit of learning from peers and managers by connecting and sharing knowledge with each other is not possible in a remote work environment. Remote work can prevent younger employees from getting support and guidance from seniors and more experienced colleagues which they would get in an office atmosphere. This is specially relevant concerning soft skills that cannot be taught in a classroom atmosphere. Those who meet their managers get a higher level of learning leaving remote workers out of the loop both personally and professionally.
Mental health challenges
Working remotely increases the feelings of isolation and affects mental health. Especially if you are an outgoing and social person, interacting with colleagues and seniors can bring a high level of learning and bonhomie which cannot be got when working remotely. Remote work is known to increase anxiety and other mental health challenges that affect productivity and wreak havoc in the lives of employees.
Summary
While remote work comes with its own set of advantages, the negatives far outweigh the positives as far as fintech companies are concerned. Companies will have to understand the challenges and take steps to mitigate them in order to ensure that they can work effectively in a remote environment.
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