Seventy-six percent of C-suite executives plan to provide a stipend to employees to enable them to work from home or from a co-working space, per WeWork, and companies such as Truant and Capital Business Media have already been funding co-working spaces for employees. Truant's Georgina Shipp says employees cite advantages such as "just having a break from being at home, enjoying seeing other co-workers in the spaces, and of the mental health benefits."

A survey by Superhuman highlights the dislike remote employees have for excessive email and other forms of virtual communication: 49% said they would rather clean the bathroom or go back to commuting than deal with 10 days of unopened emails. Video calls are also causing stress among remote workers, with 29% of respondents saying they made them want to leave their jobs.

Employees who feel significant stress over their finances aren't likely to speak up, but it could be affecting their productivity, mental wellness and morale. A survey by Salary Finance showed that financially stressed workers tend to lose about a month of productivity per year and are twice as likely as others to look for a new position, so employers should prioritize financial wellness initiatives that meet their needs.

Dollar General will use a microlearning platform provided by Axonify to streamline and improve on-the-job training for 20,000 newly hired workers and the rest of its 150,000 employees. The program allows training through existing systems and on mobile devices, and "fits within the flow of work, engages employees and supports the business while reducing time to train," said Dollar General's Lori Bremer.

Employees should be able to quickly grasp organizational mission, values, policies, strategies, culture and performance ratings, but resist making these things so simplistic that they lose their meaning, writes TalentTelligent co-founder Bob Eichinger. "Consider being parsimonious -- meaning, to be as short and simple as needed to get the intention of the message across," he writes.

I’ve been working from home -- at least part time -- since my daughter was in diapers (she’s now a sophomore in college). The early years were clunky. I lugged a desktop tower and file box between the office and home (a one-hour commute). I had to work in the garage, amid boxes and the washer and dryer. The kids had to get used to Mom being at home but not able to play or referee fights (“Mom, Kawai’s throwing oranges at me again.”)

It was an adjustment. But it smoothed itself out. The kids became accustomed to me being around but not available. The company finally issued me a laptop. I moved into a condo, which had a room for a home office.

Today’s Recruitment and Retention story talks about the challenges some folks are having with remote work. I get it. But hang in there -- it gets better. You establish new routines. You find ways to become more efficient. The things that plague you now get much, much easier to manage.

Because working from home should never be lower than cleaning toilets on your “I hate this!” list.

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