The advantages of the Home Office

 

Working from home probably sounds like a dream to many employees. In fact, working from home also has many advantages.

1. increased productivity

The colleagues from the department have a short chat while you try to work highly concentrated yourself. The colleague talks about her vacation and somewhere a telephone rings: “Especially in open-plan offices the noise level is often high. Colleagues distract you and you notice how your concentration suffers. You can avoid this in your home office. No one is there to distract you. You can create the working atmosphere you want much better than you need to be productive. With absolute peace and quiet, your favourite music on your ear or a wide open window. Open-plan offices in particular have some disadvantages that affect productivity, such as time or Gentside reports.

2. save time and money

The shorter the commuting distance, the faster you get to work. What sounds natural at first becomes all the clearer when you don’t have to drive 20 kilometres in the evening traffic. The employee can thus save valuable time on every home office day, depending on how he or she travels to and from work. Home office days can also make themselves felt in the wallet. The fewer distances travelled, the lower the costs of mobility by car and public transport. This saves you money.

However, working from home also means that you are inclined not to leave home. The magic figure of 10,000 steps per day is therefore not something that most people can manage. Andreas Weck shows in a report at t3n how this goal can also be achieved, despite the home office.

3. work when it suits you

Where some prefer to start an hour earlier to get more out of the day, others prefer to work into the evening hours or to have an extended lunch break. If there are no appointments or meetings in the way, this can be achieved wonderfully by working in the home office. This enables you to achieve a great work-life balance, as you are much more flexible than with fixed working hours. Especially for employees with children, the home office offers advantages as they can spend most of their time at home with their loved ones. But don’t forget: At the end of the working day, the workload must still be reached!

4. using the cosiness of your own four walls

“What am I wearing today?” – This question belongs to the past. In the home office, you can dress, style and behave the way you want, because in the end, it’s all about work. You can also set up your workplace as you wish.

The disadvantages of the home office

Every medal has two sides – as does the work from home. The disadvantages of the home office are discussed below.

1. self-discipline is a must!

Even if productivity is often higher, there are still many distractions lurking at home: Just wash a machine, do the dishes and watch a episode of your favourite series, then it’s time to get back to work… But at the end of the day, this setting costs you more time than you save by travelling to work and increasing productivity. That’s why a high degree of self-discipline is indispensable so that you can really carry out your tasks even though there is no boss in sight. After all, work in your home office is based on trust, which means that your boss trusts that you will really be able to work the required hours.

2. separation of work and private life

When work and life merge in the premises, there is a high risk that the clear separation of the two areas will be abolished. In the evening “just check mails for a short time” or quickly attach them one or two hours after dinner often becomes a habit. That’s why you should always have a look at the hours you have worked, despite your home office, and spend them as productively as possible.

3. miss the boat

As annoying as the colleagues may be – in the end we people like to be in company and whoever works most of the time or even exclusively in the home office also misses the nice conversations between colleagues and the common breaks. In addition, good means of communication must be available on the part of the employer so that the communication and distribution of tasks among the employees can also function smoothly in the home office and not end in endless email conversations. Also, unfortunately, some employers often perceive the employees who are not present as being less present than those who are always on site. This can have a negative impact on additional bonuses or salary increases.

4. pressure and overtime

Home office is not yet established in many companies. Workers often find themselves under pressure to be particularly good at avoiding the prejudice of working nothing. This often results in unpaid overtime and additional stress.

Is home office good or bad?

Whether a home office is good or bad cannot be said in general terms. Work at home should neither be too strict nor too relaxed in order to create an optimal work-life balance. So you can use the advantages and eliminate disadvantages. In addition, there are a lot of tips and tools on how to make working in the home office even better, more productive and more successful.

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One of the notable by-products of advancements in technology in the past decade is that working remotely has become easier than ever.

What is working remotely? It simply means doing your job from home, either on a part-time or full-time basis. This type of working arrangement is also referred to as:

• telecommuting
• virtual commuting
• teleworking
• remote work
• virtual work

More companies are embracing working remotely

There’s a direct correlation between more jobs becoming computer-reliant, technological advances, and the growing trend of working remotely.

There have been sizeable increases in broadband speeds and improvements to WiFi and video conferencing technology.

Advancements in mobile and cloud collaboration technology are also driving the digital shift in workplace structures. And, of course, the number of tech-savvy millennials entering the workforce is another factor.

Forbes reported that in 2016, “43% of Americans spent some time working remotely”. The World Economic Forum’s employment trends forecast cited telecommuting as one of the main factors affecting changes in the workplace.

Each year, more and more companies offer an option to telecommute to their employees. Studies show that some of the benefits to businesses include:

• reductions in office and overhead costs
• longer retention rates of higher quality employees
• better quality work is produced (and at higher productivity levels)
• their employees have lower stress levels

7 reasons working remotely can work for you

As attractive as working from home may seem, it’s admittedly not for everybody. There are challenges, such as maintaining a productive balance between home and work.

Less social contact and not being able to network in person with co-workers may also prove to be a difficult adjustment for some.

For most of us, however, the idea of working remotely from a home office is very appealing. Whether you’re working remotely or self-employed and working from home, there are definite benefits to having your workspace where you live.

Some of the benefits (like saving time) may be obvious, but there are a few other ones you may not have considered. Here are seven key benefits of working remotely from a home office.

1. Set your own hours

Being able to set your own hours is the most obvious benefit of working from home.

As mentioned, it can be tricky finding that healthy balance between your home life and your work responsibilities. Once you do find a good balance, however, the flexibility and freedom that comes with working remotely can be liberating and empowering.

Along with setting your own hours, you can also manage your non-working life much easier. You’ll love being able to take care of tasks like grocery shopping when the stores are less busy. Appointments can be scheduled at times that are more convenient to you.

Or maybe you’re a night owl who does their best work after the sun goes down. If so, you’re tailor-made for telecommuting.

Some adjustments to your work schedule may need to be made to accommodate phone or video conference calls or occasional visits to the office. But for the most part, you can dictate when your work gets done.

2. Say goodbye to commuting

While setting your own work hours is a nice luxury, those with longer commutes to the office might just consider saying “so long” to that part of their daily routine the most welcome aspect of working remotely.

The national average for commute times is 26 minutes (that’s each way, to and from work). In Toronto, that average jumps to 34 minutes, the highest in Canada.

If you happen to live a significant distance from where you work and need to travel during peak traffic times, you could be spending a dozen hours or more per week commuting. We all need to make a living, but at some point, you have to ask yourself exactly how much your time is worth.

Working remotely virtually eliminates this stressful, unpleasant part of the working experience. All of that time you’ll reclaim from not sitting in your vehicle for several hours every week can be spent on more worthwhile things.

If you’re able to work from a home office, you’ll also have a little more flexibility with where you can live. You won’t be as tied down to being located within a short commute to your office…because your office is just a few steps away from where you woke up.

3. Save time getting ready for work

The time you’ll save from working remotely doesn’t just add up by eliminating your commute. Since your home office is now your workspace, you can spend less time on getting prepared for work.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll want to start each workday still dressed in your pajamas, mind you. Getting showered and at least putting on some decent day clothes helps to get you in a working mindset.

This helps to maintain that healthy balance between your professional worker self and your casual at-home self. But if you wake up and feel like getting right to work, working the occasional time in what you wore to sleep is at least an option you never had before!

Being able to telecommute allows your day to get off to a start that’s a little less rushed, which sets a better tone for the rest of your day.

Working from home and the time saved by doing so can be devoted to just about anything. You can spend more time with the family, pick up a hobby, start exercising regularly, or invest it right back into your work schedule.

4. Working remotely can boost productivity

Think about how many interruptions and distractions you get at work. There’s the constant operational noise of the office, co-workers dropping by your desk to chat or ask a question, water cooler conversations, and meetings to attend.

A busy office environment can restrict productivity, which is a problem you won’t have when working remotely. A survey by Staples found that 86% of telecommuters feel they’re more productive working from a home office.

A 2013 Bank of Montreal (BMO) poll of Canadian businesses found that 65% of them saw increases in productivity from their remote workers. Other studies and surveys show that telecommuters are largely more engaged with their work and miss fewer days than those working in a shared office space.

Developing a productive work regimen and blocking out the distractions that are unique to a home working environment may take a little work at first. Once you do have them figured out, you’ll wish you had been able to work from home years ago.

5. Shape your own workspace design

Designing your home office space for maximum productivity is one key part of developing and maintaining a productive home working routine.

One of the great benefits of telecommuting is you can shape your own workspace design any way you want. Most shared office spaces are sterile and have lousy artificial lighting. That type of working environment can make it harder to focus and get the most out of your workday.

A bespoke home office space that’s tailored to your work needs and offers more flexibility should result in better productivity and a higher comfort level.

Start by choosing a good spot for your home office, preferably a room with plenty of natural light. You’ll also want to pick a room that’s separated enough from the rest of your home to avoid interruptions and encourage a consistent workflow.

Your custom home office should be designed to make your most frequently done work tasks as easy and as convenient as possible. Keeping office clutter to a minimum will boost productivity, so ensure your home office design makes it as effortless as possible to stay organized.

6. Working remotely can reduce stress

With all the conveniences that come with working remotely, it won’t come as a surprise that telecommuters feel less stressed than those working in a shared workspace.

Study after study shows that those who work at home have lower stress levels than workers in office environments. For starters, you won’t need to deal with any aggravating office politics and drama.

That Staples survey found that on average, employees who transitioned from working in an office to working from home reported their stress levels were 25% lower. 73% also felt that they were eating healthier since they started working remotely.

A 2017 Flexjobs survey of 5,500 workers shows that 78% of the respondents felt that a job with work flexibility (like telecommuting) would result in them being healthier. 86% said they believed they would be less stressed.

The survey also found that stress from commuting was the fourth most popular answer (45% of respondents) as to why someone would seek a job that allowed them to work from home.

7. Save money

Another benefit of working remotely is it allows you to save money. You may be able to write off your home office space, office furniture, and office supplies as a tax deduction.

How much you can claim will depend on your employment status. Those that are self-employed will have more flexibility with tax deductions than those who are considered full-time employees with a business.

The money saved on gas costs alone from commuting will add up to a substantial amount. You’ll also put far less wear and tear on your vehicle, which will extend its life.

CNN reports that the average American spends $2,600 yearly on commuting costs. You could take those savings and put them toward a relaxing family vacation.

 

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