Due to technologies working from home and remotely is easier than ever. Whether you work as a programmer, writer, customer support, freelancer, blogger, teacher, and consultant you can take advantage of working from home.
But along with the advantages, there are certain disadvantages of working at home. While if you work from home it’s good for employers to reduce the infrastructure cost and increase productivity. And it was very important during the covid-19.
Still, there are various new companies and startups that are more willing to build hybrid (home and office) work environments and cultures.
If you’re working at home and bored then you need to be aware of the disadvantages so that you can make certain changes in your schedule and it’s also good for those who want to work from home.
But those working at the office or unaware of the advantages or disadvantages can find this post useful as well.
Advantages of working from home:
1. Saves time and money:
Doing office work at home will save you time. You don’t have to travel. Not you will be late and drive in a hurry! Not you will be stuck in a traffic jam. Nor do you have to participate in crowd quarrels.
All of this will save time and money. This will benefit you financially, mentally, and physically.
For example, if you have to spend 1 hour daily visiting the office and coming back from the office to home, then you can use this time for meditation, exercises, and learning something new that you never learned.
You can use or invest the money that you saved from petrol or taxi services into mutual funds or SIP. And you also contributed to the reduce the pollution.
All of these are the most practical advantages. And those who finish work very late at night can sleep 30 minutes more in the morning.
2. Able to spend time with kids:
Most of us are busy with entrepreneurship and professional life. The expectations of our family and self from us are higher. And taking family responsibility and raising kids is not that easy. Especially when prices are at their highest level. And all of this and professional competition make life like a machine. Everything has a schedule, pre-planned programs, analysis, fixed prices, processes, and patterns of input and output.
Dealing with all is a compulsion and most of the time we make or we’re programmed like that from childhood.
We want to spend time with family, we want to travel, we want to become wealthy, and we want to improve our living standards but most of us are not able to do that or we struggle. And your new struggle is important and essential to growing.
But working from home at least gives you time to play with kids. You can do breakfast, lunch, and dinner with them. And you can also help them to get sleep as well by telling stories.
Not only that, but when your kids will see that you’re working, learning, reading, and communicating they will observe, analyze and understand your work ethics and behaviors.
If you’re good at that they will get inspired. Else they will feel bad working like you.
Even while you’re working, you can make them interested to sit with you and do their homework.
This point is emotional, but what is a better time investment than investing it with kids and your spouse?
We don’t get that much time to spend in the morning and evening with family when we have to travel and work from the office. And due to that, our kids become habitual with mobile phones, social media, and many other bad habits.
And Sunday is not enough when most of us have to take rest or need to give time for relatives and various others such as plumbing, billing, cleaning, and various other weekly home works.
So, working from home have its advantages in that you can spend time with kids as well while working or on small breaks.
3. Impact on mental and physical fitness:
Working from home impacts your health positively. You will get good and proper time to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You will eat good homemade food that is healthier than canteen or office food. You will be able to spend time with family and understand their personal and professional goals. You will get a chance to understand them while at lunch or dinner. Not only that you will get a real picture of how things are going at home and with relatives and neighbors.
Else, if you spend most of your time at the office, then you will have less time and attention to listen to your family members. Not only that you can also share your doubts and insecurities with them. It will also make you relaxed.
At home, you can schedule the time for exercise and meditation. And when you do that in front of your kids then they will also get inspired from you. And you will be able to build good habits in your kids.
4. You can help with family work during breaks:
When working you can take a break from work as well. And you can use any time to work on when you are most active. You can change your body posture and sit.
While on breaks, you can help your spouse to make food. You can help with small and domestic work. It will increase the love between you and your spouse. This will create a positive environment and you will become more productive at work. And both of you can help each other.
If you’re single, then you can work at any time. You have to make progress, so you can follow a schedule or work based on your creativity.
For example, if you got the idea at 12 PM to do something, then you can implement that immediately.
5. Healthy work environment:
At the office, you have to sit for long hours in front of computers, lights, ACs, and servers. Most of the things in the office are artificial and consumption of that air, heat, and light is not good.
But at home, you can sit in the garden with natural air and sunlight. You can sit in a dark room for creativity or in natural light when feeling lazy.
You have more options to create and use natural options.
I know that we can’t do all types of work from home. Not all will be comfortable doing it. And it also varies based on the job roles. For example, freelancers have more freedom than regular employees. But employees are more stable financially than a freelancer.
So, everything is based on the choice or interest of people. Everyone has a different experience, interest, and impact.
But along with the advantages of working from home, there are also many disadvantages as well. Let’s take a look at the following disadvantages of working from home:
Disadvantages of working from home:
1. Laziness and procrastination:
If you don’t follow the balanced schedule to work at home then it’s tough to become productive. At home, you have more options to become lazy and procrastinate.
For example, when you know, you don’t have to go office then you will wake up late. Sooner it will become a habit and you will start getting up at 8 AM or 9 AM.
At home, you can be distracted when someone visits at home. For example, when relatives or neighbors know that you’re at home then there are higher chances that they will invite you to parties, travel, and events. If not, they can also come to your home.
And you can’t avoid or ignore them very easily. And it’s tough to become disciplined at work and also in studies at home.
Even if no one comes, at home you will have options for gossip, entertainment and parties, and various other luxury comforts.
So, whenever you will face little difficulty in the work you will be easily attracted by those comfortable or enjoyable options. And it will reduce your productivity and focus. It’s also because at home no one is watching you what you’re doing along with work or how you’re doing the work.
At home, you can eat more or more frequently. This will increase your weight. And it will negatively impact your work and health.
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2. You will learn less and your career growth will be slow:
I know that you can learn at home and build skills online in your spare time. You might not get that time in the office. But it’s not the same case for all.
Related: How to learn any type of IT skills online
When you’re in the office you have more chances to communicate and discuss the project ideas. At the office, you have a proper meeting time and room. Where you will not get distracted.
When you work at the office, you communicate with your coworkers and team members on a personal level as well. You will become more aware of what’s happening or what they are up to.
All of these office activities have more chances for networking and learning.
But at home, you will not find someone to share ideas. Else you can discuss it with your family. But that won’t work all the time.
I don’t mean you can’t learn at home. I mean along with learning you also need awareness and discussion on your lessons.
If you learned something then you have to test that before you finally select that idea. So, communication and networking, and meeting with people are more important for learning. If you can do that at home and online then it’s great, else do that online but also build connections with real-world people as well, especially those who are building virtual worlds.
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3. Loneliness and lack of motivation for work:
If you are single then working from home is more challenging for you. Even for married people as well.
In the beginning, when you start working at home you will be more interested. You will enjoy working at home. But sooner or within a few months, you will start getting bored. It’s because there is no one working with you. Even chatting or video calling is not enough. All of them are outside.
While many manage their work and time effectively. Such as after working for 3 hours they visit a coffee shop or take a walk with the dog.
There are various famous and successful people in history who worked from home or started working from home.
But for that, you need focus, passion, and self-discipline. Not all are able to get that especially when they failed.
So, it’s important to consider your personality and productivity style. At home, you have to guide and order yourself. But at office, your seniors or boss or team leader or company is monitoring you. So, whether you’re motivated or not you have to work.
But it’s also possible in remote works as well. That your work is monitored or you have to respond to people. Even most of the people working for clients and companies as a freelancer or employees are monitored and managed well. But working for years just from home and alone is not a suitable or best option.
4. Home is Home, not an office:
The office is a proper and professional space for work. In your profession, job, and business you have to deal and communicate with various types of people. Not all types of deals, people and communications are equal.
So many times, you will be getting distraction while chatting or working with clients or in the meeting. Especially when you’re living in 2 BHK or in a colony. Not only do you get disturbed but your loud communication on the balcony due to a low network signal can disturb others as well.
Else if you have many rooms or separate entrances for one or two rooms then you can use those as an office. But if your work is related to meeting with people then you have to compromise your privacy.
Working from home is more suitable for YouTubers, bloggers, freelancers, and IT-related remote staff. But even these professionals also need to communicate and experience the real world. So that they can communicate better or create more useful content.
Related: How to build a learning environment for your kids at home
5. Lack of creativity:
If you’re a creative person or professional then it’s important for you to experience new things, people, sceneries, events, and learnings. At home, if you can’t change or make the work environment flexible, creative, and interesting then it’s tough to come up with new ideas and excitement.
6. The market and network will forget you:
Never become out of reach from your customers. In today’s time, there is more than one seller of the same goods and services. That’s why if not you then someone else is right. Common people do not know this or your customers and clients will only understand that you are working from home because your business is ruined. That’s why they will not contact such a person.
Apart from this, customers go to the market to buy, not at home. This means that those who are your customers or clients, when you’re not in their reach then they will not even notice you, and they will get their work done by someone else. People’s memory is getting weak, they don’t remember that you are also an expert. Now they will start counting you among them.
That’s why working from home or living at home means being excluded from social networking and professional networks. And the one who is not in the network does not get calls.
So if you want to build and grow your network in the market you must keep yourself connected to and visible to your target customers. that can be online and offline. But your customer should know that you’re still alive and working.
Our professional and social networks play a big role in our business and career success. Do not ignore this especially if you’re earning money based on your talents.
Conclusion:
Whether you work from home or office the most important thing is your focus and mindset. But it is also important to choose a workplace based on the type of work and goals.
If you’re doing a job in an IT company or working as an IT professional and you think can work from home then it’s great. Do that.
But when getting bored or when you think you can’t work anymore alone then change that.
There are lots of things that we have to do each day. Many times we fail and are successful. But in failures, we question or reason it our workplace or work environment.
Yes, a good work environment and good people in the network are really important for professional growth. But if you think you can do it online or at home then do it.
If you think you can do it at the office then do that.
Don’t worry, about the rent or the cost of the office when you know you can cover it with your work.
You have to give more preferences to your work and professional goals. Rather than thinking do I work at home or at the office?
And also remember, closing a business or closing an office and only working from home looks good in the beginning, but later or after a year or two you will experience the importance of a proper office and physical work environment.
Personally, I work in both places at the office and also at home. But I found that when I work at the office, I was more productive. I also found that when I am focused and motivated then I don’t care where I am working. I just work. No matter it’s an office, garden, home, car, or parking place.
And I also found that it’s tough for you and also family members to schedule or follow each other’s time. For example, if you’re currently focused on work, but then someone is calling you for dinner or lunch or you visit then you will be distracted from that focus.
So, I think it’s more a problem of focus than a place. So, whether it’s home or office, you have to build and use the environment that will make you more focused, excited, interested, and motivated to work. Now it can be your home or office.
Exception:
During covid-19, it was or is very important and productive to work from home. Even after the post covid many companies and businesses are now more focused to work from home. There are also many people who found that working from home was great for them. While many find it very difficult and unproductive to work from home.