19 Mar Work From Home

Work From Home: A Blessing In Disguise

The generic 9-5 office jobs have been around for as long as we can imagine, but with new management strategies in place and the virus outbreak people are forced to stay at home and take care of operations from there. Telecommuting or work-from-home is the new, trending management technique incorporated by companies to ensure more productivity.

The internet and modern networking facilities make it much easier to practice work-from-home. Moreover, many entrepreneurs have also resorted to the work-from-home ethic and are happier than ever. With the present outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), many offices have permitted their employees to work from home. For a professional office, this may not seem like a wise decision, but the results prove otherwise.

Work-from-home has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, but in the current scenario, for the first time, people are taking a deeper look into the work-from-home system. Believe it or not, work-from-home or telecommuting has increased things like productivity, office morale and employee health.

Though this type of system does not seem adequate for a professional office setting, it has its own set of health benefits to the employees. So, if you are working from home and are not enjoying it at all, let us look at the positive outcomes of working from home. In this article, we will have a look at the countless pros of working from home.

1. Increases Productivity

A report from the productivity coach Steve Pavlina stated that out of 480 office minutes, employees are only productive for 19% of the time, i.e. for 90 minutes overall. This further paves the way for another report by the American companies that show they lose almost $1.8 Trillion every year due to unproductivity.

This makes us question the office productivity and what factors affect the overall productivity of employees in the workplace. Distractions at work, idle chatter (at water coolers and kitchens), commute and sickness and diseases are the four horsemen of unproductivity.

Many companies tried various management experiments and found that incorporating telecommuting or work-from-home can help mediate productivity correctly and can actually improve productivity to a certain extent.

Of course, there are a few distractions, but nothing too serious that cannot be controlled. Working from home gives people the comfort of being in a safe place, where they have their guard down and can focus more clearly on the task at hand.

For instance, you could choose to keep your phone on silent, work on a different PC that does not tempt you to go on social media. With these tips in mind, anyone is guaranteed to notice an improvement in productivity at home.

2. Generates Savings

When we look at how much of our salary is spent in going to a physical location or office workplace, we can see the extra expenses. The expense of gasoline or petrol, food, water, coffee (if your office does not have a machine), and other tempting expenses. Not to forget the get-togethers with your office comrades, all of which costs us effectively.

But when you work from home, a lot of those expenses simply vanish. You are bound to spend less on gasoline, food and other office needs. At your residence, there is an unlimited supply of the food you like, comfortable settings where you can sit and work freely; unless you feel like purchasing something necessary, you are not spending much money.

These small expenses might not seem much in the beginning, but when you see your next paycheck come in, you will notice a major difference in your balance amount. The expenses all seem insignificant until you check the daily balance of your bank account. CareerBuilder did a survey that showed that an average American worker spends almost $3500 a year, only on transport, food, coffee, and other contingencies.

3. Avoid Germs, Diseases, and Pandemics

Office workplace is where germs and diseases spread very quickly. This is mostly because of the contained and cool environment where people from different walks of life interact. It is upsetting to know that many employees come back home sick and end up losing a lot of work, while not getting compensated for being sick.

Working in highly populated places is where most people are in the vicinity of each other’s germs for long periods of time. Telecommuting is actually much safer as compared to an office workplace. While working from home you are avoiding germs from the commute, workplace and other miscellaneous places you come across while going to work.

Especially with the recent pandemic of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), it will be beneficial to work from home. Many companies in the world right now have encouraged their employees to work from home to avoid falling prey to this virus. In conclusion, working from home can save your life in the current pandemic.

4. A Better Life and Work Balance

Being a full-time employee is no ride in the park. Your schedule is always at the mercy of upper management or your supervisor. Things get really stressful when you are told you work for an extra few hours, but you already have some plans at home. Saying “No” in such situations has proven to backfire on the employees.

In many cases, you might even have to continue working from home rather than enjoying some quality time with your family. This is where the balance between work and life starts to cripple, and before you even know it, you are barely left with any time to interact with your loved ones at home.

On the other hand, working from home is a very good solution to this problem. Here, you have control over your whole schedule. You can freely divide time between your wife, kids, and other family and friends while also paying attention to the work at hand. Even though you might have deadlines to meet, your presence at home would only make you and your family feel at ease.

Working from home assures you of a better life/work balance because now you have complete control of your schedule. If you are a freelancer, your client may give you deadlines.

You can fix a schedule where you divide reasonable time between all your activities and work. Having this balance will further encourage you to be more productive and will result in you working more than usual.

5. Stay Healthy

Stress is one of the leading causes of heart disease in workaholic people. Other conditions, like type 2 diabetes, obesity, stress eating, and other major stress-related diseases, are bound to get the better of any employee who works non-stop. In addition to that, there might be projects due, overtime work, impossible deadlines, the traffic, office politics, financial concerns, and other worries just keep piling up.

Doctors generally prescribe regular exercise as the best possible way to manage all this pressure. Demanding office environments do not really give a lot of us a chance to work out after the office hours. We are always “too busy” to even look at this problem.

But, working from home can pave the way for a much more stress-free life. While working at home, you can occasionally take a stroll across the house, maybe meditate a bit or even go to your personal gym for a stress-relieving workout session. Just get a few dumbbells, resistance bands, and a yoga mat, and then you will be set to work and work out freely.

When at home, you have access to healthy food as well. This will help you go for that extra coffee intake and can help you maintain a healthier body and mind. Keep a few snacks ready, just before starting your daily work routine.

Offices tend to promote the whole idea of socializing after work. Going to bars and restaurants and food courts after a stressful week is a common habit, but nevertheless, it is an unhealthy one. Instead of wasting so much time and money on unhealthy food and alcohol, you can have a small get together at your home while serving relatively healthy food.

Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)

The grass always seems greener on the other side; whenever we are at work, we always miss our soft bed, our liberal homes, whereas when we are at home, we feel that we are missing something out on work. This is really a strange dilemma, but it is always important to look at where we are less stressed and more productive. Transitioning from an office-based environment to a work-from-home environment can be a little too overwhelming sometimes, but it is better to choose the environment in which we are most comfortable.

The more time we spend in the environment that makes us most efficient without any stress, the more we are to focus more on our work and less on the surrounding. This is a really important life skill to acquire, and many people go all their lives without reaching that focus level and potential.

One of the essential things in life is to find the right environment where we stay focused and calm the longest. This can help us in observing ourselves more and noticing the flaws within. The more we learn to focus, the more we will communicate. Clearly, we will be self-motivated and will stick to a routine. Fewer distractions and lesser stress will indeed result in a spiritual enlightening. 

But if you get motivated by seeing people around and social interactions and feel comfortable in crowds, then maybe working in an office would be the best way to reach a higher level of focus. When things feel monotonous in one place, it is always advisable to switch the settings up, maybe go work in an office for a while. At the end of the day, it does not matter where you are, as long as you are safe, comfortable and focused.

Conclusion

Working from home in today’s situation might be the best idea. But when during a sudden change from an office environment like this one, there are always a few things to consider:

• Always make sure that your home office is more equipped for being a good workplace that makes you more productive. There should not be many distractions. Try to avoid working in rooms that have television, disturbances or any other form of entertainment.

• Always be planned for future contingencies. Have a different location as a backup just in case the electricity goes, or there an internet problem. Consider getting a backup system in play, like a backup ISP, or an inverter.

• If you have a family or roommates, let them respect your working hours and keep the disturbance to a minimum, especially kids, nieces, nephews, and pets.

• Ensure that your home-office equipment and appliances are all reliable. Invest in good software and applications that help you be more productive and have a perfect home office space for yourself.
• Use software like Slack, Zoom and ClockIt to manage your communications, meetings and time tracking.

The best place to invest your savings would be on hardware and the internet. Working from home would mean taking video calls on a regular basis. Do not shy away from taking a good headset, camera and mic for such situations. At the same time, always make sure your setting is a bit professional.

Getting used to working from home can take you some time. But this change might really be a bigger step to a more productive you. Soon after you see the health and monetary results of working from home, you will realize that this might be one of the best changes that have affected your life positively. So, take some time off, and let us break the stereotype of the traditional work environment.