Working from home – The Pros + Cons
Imagine your office chair is your sofa. Your commute is the length of your hallway. Your snack drawer is your fridge. Think it’s a dream? Not these days. Work-from-home jobs are very much a reality. Jobs that let you work from home either full time or two/three days a week are here to stay. But is this a good thing? Whilst working from your sofa sounds great in theory, like everything else, it’s important to understand the pros and cons so you know whether it for you or not.
PROS
You are truly independent
Its much more than just the benefit to work in your pyjamas. Working from home means you can take breaks at any moment, you won’t feel you have to hang up on family members when they call and you can eat your lunch at any weird time you want.
You can customize your environment
When you work in an office you have to adapt to the environment you employer has set you. If you are home, you can set your noise level just the way you want it – it could be you like working somewhere insanely quiet or it could be you want to work in an environment similar to being in the front row of an Ed Sheeran concert. The choice will be yours.
You can wear what you like
You don’t have to dress up, you get to wear the onesie that resembles a teddy bear that your mum brought you for Christmas, or the football shirt your friends don’t even know you own. You could also wear your tracky bottoms with a hole in the rear or those leggings which are slightly obscene. Wear what you want no-one will care.
You can knock off some weekend to-do’s
When you are working 9am – 5:30pm Monday to Friday you always have a huge list of things to do at the weekend. That Mount Everest laundry pile could be done a little everyday, dinner could be prepared before the crew come home and beds could be changed. Your weekends could become your own.
You will have no distractions
You will be on your own, you will have no colleagues telling you about their weekend or relationship issues, there will be no sirens wailing outside your window or the air conditioning kicking in when you are already freezing cold. You will have peace and quite in your own home.
You will have no travelling
Zero commuting – what a dream. From bed to bed. How wonderful. No fighting the traffic on the way to work, no pushing or shuffling to get on the bus, no sweating on the tubes. What a dream, for most people no travelling means an extra couple of hours of your own.
You will save money
Lunch is very expensive if you work in Central London, its even costly if you work locally. A sandwich, bag of crisps and a coffee will cost you at least £5. At home you can save big time preparing your own food or finishing up left overs from the fridge. You may even find you eat healthier if you are at home – loosing weight could also be a bonus.
You will have more time with loved ones
As you are at home you will definitely see more of your nearest and dearest , parents or kids if you have them. So if you have one or your pack go down with the flu you will be there to act like Florence Nightingale. As well as time with loved ones you will also get some quiet time for yourself hopefully.
CONS
You need willpower
You need to get a project finished by the end of the week but you want to catch up with the Kardashian’s. It’s a hard choice, should you watch the TV first and try to catch up with them or should you get on with work. You need will power to just concentrate on work between 9am and 5:30pm. Do you have it?
You need to be able to stick to a routine
How you would work in in the office is never going to be the same as how you work at home . It can be tough to stick to a schedule , you have to be strict with yourself and get into a routine and this can be extremely hard.
You need to turn your phone off
In most offices you can’t have your phone or during working hours at home there is a temptation to leave the phone on. This is lethal, catching up with friends during working hours could be a huge temptation and take a big chunk out of your day.
You could be tempted to take power naps
You know the feeling you have overeaten at lunch time because you have free access to the breadbin and the fridge and you feel tired. You think 10 minutes on the sofa is not going to hurt but if you wake up 2 hours later you will definably kick yourself.
You may be tempted by Deliveroo or Just Eats
You think you will save money by being at home no more Costa Coffee or Pret A Manger . You’ll make your own lunches and save a bomb. But unless you plan your weekly shop to allow lunches you could find yourself ordering a takeaway a couple of times a week and spending a fortune.
You could find you are bored
It is not fun being home alone. It seems attractive , a little peace and quite is really nice sometimes , but all day every day could be boring. What about office conversations and gossip? Just how long can you go without seeing another living human being.
You could find yourself working slowly
Most offices have an energy, a buzz , lots of laughter and people work at a definite pace. Your little office at home, be it in a small room or set up on the dining room table , does not have any energy so unless you are highly self-motivated you will find yourself working slower and slower.
You could damage your career
When you are at work you always have a Manager who oversees you. This Manager not only monitors the work you do they also assess your ability to move forward. If you are not being observed how can anyone tell if you are worth developing. This is one of the most damaging elements of working at home. It seriously could affect your long-term career prospects.
So, there you go. The grass is always greener on the other side. When you’re at work nothing sounds more amazing than a toasty day indoors with your favourite blanket. When you are at home you remise about making jokes with your co-workers, either way, its important to choose the environment you’ll be most successful in.
Good Luck
Angela Burton