The Pros and Cons of Working From Home
Remote working has the made the decision of where to work or run a business very easy (or not, if you don’t like making decisions). Which is why, I’m sure, the number of employed and self-employed, who work from home, has increased so dramatically in recent years.
In March 2016, I took to social media to get a greater understanding of where my connections (across the UK) run their business from. The results were:
Home: 81%
Serviced Office: 10%
Coworking Space: 6%
Other (coffee shop, library, etc.): 3%
Not too much of a surprise there, as working from home is certainly the most flexible of all options. It’s also free and commuting is a dream. I know, as I’ve worked from home for years, and completely agree that it’s great for convenience. However, it takes discipline to work from home day in, day out, and can extremely isolating. Also, if you have a bad day at work, how does that impact on your home environment? Especially if you work from a room that you socially spend a lot of time in.
Whereas, working in an office or shared space is great for inspiration, bouncing ideas off everyone and breaking away from at the end of the day.
A Freelancer’s Route To Home-Working Discipline
I remember a freelancer telling me how they used to leave the house at 8:30 every morning, dressed for work, and would walk round the block (via a coffee shop) back to their home. Now there were at work and all home comforts and chores were out of bound.
At the end of the day, he would leave ‘work’ and walk the reverse route, so when they entered the door, they were now at home. It sounds like a lot of effort, but that was their way of mentally getting in the right frame of mind.
The Pros and Cons of Working From Home
Given that most of those who responded (majority of which are freelancers) worked from home, here are how they described their Pro’s and Con’s:
Advantage: No longer have to get up at 6.30 for the hour long journey into work on the A14.
Disadvantage, no longer get up from desk to go see colleagues, so spend far too much time sitting at the computer, getting fatter. — Susan Fleming, Not Just Travel Anglia
Advantage: Incredibly short commute
Disadvantage: No banter with colleagues — Andy Boothman, Creative Graphic Designer Director
Advantage: I can work in my pj’s.
Disadvantage: The washing is here… (and the rest of the chores) — Nicky Shephard, Director of The Marketing Boutique.
Advantages: Cost and flexibility.
Disadvantages include being treated as the neighbourhood parcel drop. — Karen Packham, Editorial and Website Consultant.
I am not a freelancer but I can work from home as part of my job:
Advantages: Fewer distractions, no commute.
Disadvantages: Not seen as part of the team, lack of interaction with colleagues. — Emma Saldanha, Marketing Executive at Cogent Accountants Ltd
Main advantage is the convenience & flexibility to work the hours I choose. But for a procrastinator like me that’s also a disadvantage as I can always find other things that need doing around the house instead of working. — Geraldine Jones
Advantage: my cats keep me company and act as my office assistants.
Disadvantage: my cats keep me company and act as my office assistants — Stewart Harris, Bassist, Singer, Graphic Designer
Big advantage is the journey to work and back. No traffic or public transport hassles. — Graham Harris
Advantage: Convenient but miss the camaraderie. — Karen Cann, Freelance Video Editor & Producer
Advantages: I can use travel time to work, I can take breaks and get stuff done at home, I can stop and go and pick my little boy up from school. It’s my space and I feel comfortable in it, no interruptions.
Disadvantages: I miss working with other people sometimes; it upsets my little boy that I am home but not playing with him. — Rachel Willer, Founder and MD at The Work Bees
In Summary
There clearly isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but it also doesn’t have to be one or the other. It can be more than one option. You prefer to work from home? Great. But what happens on the days (however infrequent) that you need a change of scenery?
Test the other options, even for just one day, and see how that impacts your productivity as well as the size of your network.
This article first appeared at http://www.cambridgebusinesslounge.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-working-from-home/
