Imagine this: you work in your home office, your couch, or even your bed – basically anywhere in your home. Your only commute is based on how long your hallway is. There’s no need to worry about a boss standing over your shoulder or about work attire.
Sounds ideal, doesn’t it? Well, these kinds of things are exactly why people choose to leave their 9-to-5 jobs and join those who work from home. In fact, the 2019 report by Owl Labs says that 34% of workers would even be willing to take a pay cut to be able to work from home. The idea of getting to work just after you rolled out of bed without any extra effort is amazing.
Since the marketplace is becoming tighter and more competitive than ever, working from home is a very viable option nowadays. Companies who seek top talent use such comforts to lure applicants to join their business.
But, no situation is without flaws. Even though working from your bed sounds amazing, it’s important to understand that there are downsides to such work, too. For some people, those downsides are irrelevant and the upsides are much more appealing. To others, remote work is not their cup of tea.
So, before you decide to pursue such a career or request this option from your employer, you should definitely learn the pros and cons of working from home.
Pros
The idea of working from home makes a great allure for those who consider it. Here are the reasons why this is so popular today.
No commute expenses or time
When you work at home, you’ll save a significant amount of money otherwise spent on commuting. And, let’s not forget about all those hours wasted in traffic or while you wait for the metro. Getting to work and back home from it takes seconds of your time when your work is located right down the hall.
Plenty of work opportunities
Working remotely gives you a much wider range of employers. Since you don’t have to go to the actual office, you can work for people located across the globe. In fact, many people nowadays choose to switch their fixed jobs with freelance careers. The Web has an enormous demand for them, especially people who are trained to complete tasks such as content writing, academic writing, web design, programming, accounting, etc.
Take for example, online writing companies. You can get employed in one and work from your home while earning a fine amount of money. As a student you can look here to get access to online essay service when they can’t handle the academic burden alone. Those writers usually work in the comfort of their homes, maybe even miles away from the headquarters of the writing service.
Independence
This is probably the thing that makes work from home most appealing. You are absolutely independent when you work from home. You can work in your pajamas and, if you find such a job, even work at your preferred hours. Since you’ll be saving a lot of time on commuting, you can even get more work done. You can even use Traqq’s time tracker to ensure that you won’t work beyond “office” hours. This way, you can create boundaries between work and life.
None of the occasional office annoyances
When you work at home on your own, you can forget about all those little things that annoyed you back in the office. There will be no interruptions, conflicts with annoying co-workers, or chatter to disturb your work. Of course, you’d have to find a quiet place to do this at home, too, but it’s definitely a plausible option.
Cons
There is hardly any job without disadvantages in this world. It’s what earns you the cash you need to support yourself and your family, so you should be prepared for some barriers whatever career path you choose. If you choose to work from home, here are the cons you might be facing.
Harder to ‘clock out’
When you leave the office to go home, you’re leaving work altogether. But, when your home is the place where you spend your free time and where you work, it’s hard to find a balance between the two. Separating the two is going to be tough at first, especially if you have the habit of spreading your work around at different times of the day.
Lack of actual contact
Yes, you’ll be in touch with your employer and other people, but this will hardly ever be face-to-face. Even if you have online chats, working from home limits you from meeting people in person. You might miss the casual communication that often happens in office, as well as the busy people around you that make you more productive. This is probably why many freelance workers choose to work in co-working spaces.
Since your home is your workplace and your leisure place, and even your sleeping place, it will become hard to find a change of scenery. You’ll often feel like you’re locked up in one place for too long, and will probably start searching for change of scenery after a short while.
Be out of the loop
This will probably not happen right away, but by working far from your office, you’ll probably miss out on the chatter that keeps you in the loop. Very often, the chatter between co-workers will tell you important things about the business or the competition.
Great responsibilities
With great independence come great responsibilities. It’s tempting not to have a boss standing behind you and asking you to do things. But, when you work from home, you need to become very organized and focused on the work in hand. You can’t allow yourself to procrastinate. This will cause you to miss deadlines and eventually make you lose your job. With great job opportunities like this one comes a great responsibility. In some way, you’ll be your own boss. This isn’t something that everyone can handle.
The bottom line
There are some amazing benefits of remote work. These are clear as day and attract more and more people all the time. However, this is far from a perfect situation. It has its flaws just as office work has. In the end, it all comes down to your personality and your preferences. Understanding the pros and cons should help you make this important decision.
