There literally so many benefits of working from home.
Let me ask you something,Â
Do you dread the everyday ritual of getting ready for the long commute to work?
Well, the age of telecommuting, crowdsourcing and working online is upon us. Why do you need to put on those heavy suits, when you can work in your PJs.
Working from home might sound very comforting and flexible for those who cannot have the luxury because of their positions and job nature.
But, nevertheless, it’s more engrossing and requires a lot more self-discipline when working from home. Let’s do a comparison of work at home and work at office:
Work at Office
- Commuting
- Working under pressure
- Less time to unwind
- Feeling more tensed in performing situations
Work from Home
-
- No commuting which in turn means more time to work
- No direct pressure
- As the time is saved because of not commuting, can take time to have a break
I am an avid believer in working from home as it gives me the independence to work on my schedule and around my family.
But working from home does come with some issues like having to juggle family and work at the same time and in the same place. Most importantly, the biggest factor which would count is the Productivity.
I want to elaborate or point out the ways you can increase your productivity while working from home, against the belief that home workers or telecommuters are not as productive as folks who work at offices.
Here is a small case study by a Chinese travel website, by giving half of their call center employees a chance to work from home for nine months. The results were clearly more productivity in the home workers group than the office workers.
Here are some amazing benefits of working from home,
No Commute
This is the mostly the biggest reason people prefer to work from home. Commuting to work becomes stressful as the cities are becoming bigger and people have to travel more.
There was a European court ruling last year which stated that commuting to work should also be considered as work. A long commute to work can already make a person tired even before starting his day at work. There is a lot of emphasis on telecommuting now, as it reduces the polluting, saves time, less traffic.
Working from home can be a boon in this case as the whole time of commuting is cut down and the time is used more productively for work.
Self-Discipline
Apart from loving the work we do, why does it get more stressful at work?
Pressure from the manager or the person above you in the corporate ladder for the deadlines to be met. When working from home this system is slightly changed as you do not have the pressure.
On the contrary, a person develops stronger self-discipline for the work. Setting a target to work for by yourself is more achievable than being pressured to work on something.
Having the boundaries to work also makes one more organized and more productive. Working from home would require a person to create a good working environment at home, away from the family.
This might be hard to do at first but it comes with good benefits. This set up makes a person more responsible towards his work.
More Time
This again talks about the no commuting, as the time spent traveling to work is saved, it can mean more working hours in the comfort of your home.
This also means as you have more time on hand, more tasks or projects can be completed which you would otherwise do later, which increases productivity massively. And, translates to more job satisfaction.
Being more Creative
People who are in the more creative business would get this, but nevertheless, this point is for all. As humans, we tend to be more creative when we are under less pressure or being less forced. We tend to react more freely when we have the freedom of space. A person would think more “out of the box” when he gets out of usual set up or gets some time away.
This happens more for workers at home as they have the flexibility to have breaks and spend time with family or a pet or just have some time for themselves.
This process makes a person get in touch with themselves, be more creative and in turn more productive at what they do.
The tiny breaks or the tiny rest periods give the workers more productivity boost and makes them more creative, this is evident because of the “nap time” culture at the big giants like Google and NASA. Companies are now realizing that if the employee has to be more productive and healthy, they need their “me” time at work as well.
What better way to do that than working at home?
No Politics
It’s a known fact that in an office apart from the work there is always the bigger room for the politics.
Whether it is coming from a manager or a higher personnel or from a co-worker, work politics are always a part of office culture. The effect this has on workers is debatable, but sometimes it does go to a point where the underlying politics affect a person’s work or productivity.
More than half of the times it’s the negative effect and as a result, this becomes a reason for people to avoid going to work. I know a lot of people who have quit their jobs because of the office politics.
Working from home might not completely omit this part of the work but does reduce it a lot. The gossip, the tactics, and all the strategies, which make most of the people uncomfortable can be cut down.
Instead, you put all your energies in increasing work quality, reaching work targets and being positively geared towards work which matters.
I am not going to sell the work from home idea, it definitely has it’s golden points to be considered for a greater lot of people.
With the growing number of people who are turning to work from home or telecommuting option, the question about the productivity might not matter in future as it’s evident that to a larger extent productivity increases when working from home.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think working from home does have it’s benefits?
I would love to hear your opinions on this.
