Being able to work in your own home can sound like a dream come true. The thought of having the freedom to choose your own rhythm, or the liberty to drink a cocktail while working on that big project can be very seducing. Still, while there are some huge advantages of working from home, it is not for everyone. There are many aspects you need to consider before opting for this – if you even have the choice, to begin with!
Before we dive into our top 10 advantages of working from home, it’s important to consider a couple of aspects: productivity and communication.
What kind of environment do you need in order to stay focused? How long does it take for you to get back on track after an interruption? What’s the best way for you to communicate?
These are essential questions that, depending on your answer, will reveal if working from home is the best thing for you. For example, if you can motivate yourself, adhere well to your own routines and hate interruptions working from home is a good choice for you. However, if you need to see your colleagues working in order to motivate yourself and don’t mind the casual interruption while working, then the best thing to do is work from the office.
Still, no matter how much we analyze this, most of us are able to adapt. Even if you need to see your colleagues working in order to find the drive to work if you hate interruptions and prefer to stick to your own routine, then working from home is do-able. After all, no matter where you are physically, you’re still doing the same thing, namely working.
In order to figure out where your effectiveness lies, you need to figure out what kind of environment you’re most effective in, both in terms of productivity and communication. Check out our list of top 10 advantages of working from home below to get a better picture!
Top 10 Advantages Of Working From Home
- 1. Flexibility. Having a flexible schedule allows you to take breaks whenever you want. There’s also no feeling of having to rush through your 5 or 15 minutes. You also don’t have to have lunch in a hurry.
- 2. Master your environment. You have full control over your environment. This means you can set up your home office wherever you want. Fancy extra light? Move your desk in front of a window! Want a silent room? Done! Want to listen to music in the background? You’re free to listen to whatever you want, however loud you want!
- 3. What dress code? Since no one’s around to see you, you can wear anything from your ugly and over-worn sweatpants to hanging out buck naked! It’s completely your choice! Your home, your rules!
- 4. Phone-calls. Since you’re working from the comfort of your own home, you don’t need to find an empty conference room to make a work-related phone call. Of course, if you have kids or pets at home, this can be problematic, though, you can always kick them out while you’re on the phone.
- 5. Get more things done. Since you’re not at the office from 9 to 5, you can free up your weekends in a heartbeat! Throw that laundry pile in the washing machine while you wait for an email response! Better still, jump on that indoor bike and get some cardio for 5 minutes while you wait for that fax to come through!
- 6. Flow. It can be terribly frustrating to be interrupted by a fellow colleague while inflow. This can disrupt your speed and affect your productivity. Well, since you’re working from home, you will no longer be interrupted by anyone, unless you want to. You get to chat and/or pick up the phone whenever you want.
- 7. What traffic? One of the most frustrating aspects of work is commuting. Luckily, that’s something you won’t lose time with!
- 8. Home food. Say goodbye to wasting $10 on a sandwich or $2 on a coffee. At home, you get to save a lot of money since the food and drinks you consume are store-bought or homemade.
- 9. Less stress. When you work from home you are experiencing lower stress levels because you have greater control over your stress levels. This is also due to the fact that you can take a break whenever you get overwhelmed or need to calm down.
- 10. More family time. Spending time with your loved ones is another great advantage of working from home. This is true especially if you have small children who are sick at home. Why take unpaid leave to take care of your kid while having a cold when you can keep a close eye on him thanks to your home office?
These were only a few of the advantages of working from home. There are certainly a lot more, but we won’t focus on them anymore. Equally important are the disadvantages. Listing them will help you get a better picture of the concept of working from home.
Top 7 Drawbacks Of Running A Home-Based Business
- 1. Distractions. While there are no more colleagues that can interrupt your work with silly questions, you have other distractions to worry about: facebook notifications, new shows on Netflix, and so on. Being out of office can let your guard down, making it more tempting to you to check out that nice picture your friend posted.
- 2. Missing out on important updates. Since your at home, far away from your work office and boss, it can be really easy to leave your phone on DND mode or simply miss a group text message letting you know the meeting moved or that you have to prioritize another task.
- 3. Boredom. While some office chatter can be really annoying, working from home, all by yourself can quickly turn boring. Pretty soon, you might start to miss the office banter!
- 4. Moving slowly. Sometimes, working from home can really slow you down, despite the numerous liberties you enjoy. In some cases, simply working alongside colleagues can keep your energy levels high.
- 5. No perks. We rarely have our home set up the same way as our work office. Say for example that you do a lot of analytics at work. This means you will miss your second monitor since all those extra tabs are essential!
- 6. Bad WiFi. Again, a huge company is able to provide its employees with state-of-the-art technologies. You home… can only provide a mediocre router. Since most jobs nowadays require an internet connection, having bad WiFi can really slow you down, or even affect your productivity at work!
- 7. Waiting after that reply. If you’re at work, you can instantly clarify something by asking a question out loud. At home, though, you will be slowed down because you will have to text the question or make a phone call. This call leave you hanging for minutes or hours!
As you can tell so far, there are a lot of advantages to working at home, just as there are some pretty serious disadvantages. This is normal since working from home is something that doesn’t fit all jobs and is not for all employees. Still, we hope our top 10 advantages of working from home will help you figure it out. Whatever you choose, it’s important to make sure that you will thrive. That’s how you’ll know you made the right decision!