Nowadays, many companies offer their employees the chance to work from home. Working remotely can be advanteous, as it can make you feel more independent and increase your productivity.
A 2017 survey showed that over 15,000 respondents spent time working from home. It’s become so popular these days, that survey results showed that 31% worked from home up to four to five days a week.
However, working from home isn’t a total dream (despite the idea of your office being your own couch), as a staggering 81% of the workers in the survey admit there are some downsides too.
If you’re thinking about working from home, here are some points on the pros and cons to consider.
Pros of working from home
1) Increased independency and productivity
Working from home increases your independency, as you’ll be relying on your own concentration, discipline and motivation. It can also be advanteous to your productivity, as you won’t have the distractions of the office such as interruption or chatter from work colleagues.
2) Saves time on commuting
Commuting isn’t always a walk in the park, especially when you find yourself stuck in the morning traffic or your train is delayed. Well, by working from home you can simply cut out this hassle and the dread of possibly being late to work. Also, as you won’t have to leave the house at a certain time or catch a particular train, you don’t have to get up as early so you can just that bit of extra time in bed.
No commuting will also help you money-wise too, as you’ll be saving on petrol prices and the cost of train tickets.
3) Home comforts
Who says you can’t spend the day in your pyjamas? (just be sure to avoid conference calls!) Also, your office can be from the comfort from your own sofa or even your bed if you really didn’t want to leave it today.
Also, another benefit here is you can catch up on any domestic chores, rather than coming home to dirty dishes, laundry and hoovering after a long day at the office.
Cons of working from home
1) Distractions
While the idea of working from home without distractions from the office may sound like a good one, there’s always the possibility of your own distractions getting in the way of your productivity.
For example, the urge to check your Facebook or other social media pages every few minutes (since your boss isn’t watching) or giving attention to your pet constantly (if you have one). Also, other distractions can the large volume of cold callers constantly ringing your landline during working hours.
2) IT issues
While cloud technology has made it extremely easy for remote workers to work from anywhere, other technology-related problems can arise. As a result, this can result in wasting valuable time by attempting to fix the problem.
3) Social isolation
While it’s great to have a day to yourself without the hassle of a commute or chaos in the office, you may sometimes find that working all day without communicating with colleagues (excluding phone/video calls) can become socially isolating.
While talking to them via the phone or Skype has a level of social communication, it’s never quite the same as face-to-face interaction.
Working from home has both its upsides and downsides, so think about how well you work in your own home environment and the upsides and downsides that come with it, before making that decision.