Working From Home: Advantages and Disadvantages of the New Normal Way of Work!

In the last year, the life of every single person in the world has turned upside down. All of us have been sitting at home since everything was closed down in March of 2020.

We’ve been trying to lead our normal, daily lives even though things have changed. Thankfully, the huge technological advances our world has made in the last decade are assisting us in our conviction in leading our lives. Nobody has been enjoying it as everybody needs to work right from home.

The internet and our smart devices have enabled the smooth running of all the different companies throughout the world.

Add to it an ergonomic chair, and you are good to go. Even though the concept has been utilized before, the full potential of working from home was seen by people.

Gradually, as things are beginning to normalize, most people are going physically back into their offices for work.

But many organizations have also found that the system of working from home is effective enough and every employee doesn’t have to come into the office every day to do their job.

Clearly, there are many benefits to this structure. However, all good things are accompanied by bad things and there are certain disadvantages of working from home.

Advantages of Working From Home

●    Increased Productivity

Working from home is said to increase productivity greatly. Employees don’t have to sit at a desk the whole day working, at home one can take breaks and work in an environment they want to.

There are way fewer social distractions at home as well since one is not surrounded by their colleagues and there are not as many stimuli either.

Increased productivity is something a company wants in its employees and most people are more comfortable and productive working from their homes.

There is nobody to constantly supervise you or check on you. The responsibility of completing tasks by themselves without external help sets on the employees and they seem to complete tasks more efficiently.

●    Saves Time

Time is very important and there are many ways one can save time while working from home. The foremost being commuting.

Employees become tired at the very beginning of the day because they have to travel to get to their office. Many workers might have to travel over an hour to get to their place of work and nearly all do it via public transport.

The rush and crowd during office commuting hours in public transport is very hectic. Even before starting work, one becomes exhausted, and focusing on work seems difficult. Conversely, while working from home, these problems vanish.

An employee can comfortably get ready and start working with a fresh mind every single day. They don’t have to waste hours of their lives commuting and can focus that time on work.

●    Health and Wellness of Employees

Everyone talks about the importance of work-life balance for any worker. Studies have found that balance is necessary for the mental and physical well-being of a person so that they don’t suffer from burnout.

People working in an office are statistically more likely to suffer burnout. The monotony of office life is the primary reason that they lose interest in their jobs.

This kind of exhaustion is never good for the company. The well-being of employees naturally facilitates more productivity in the company.

People who work from home are less likely to suffer from burnout since they can customize their surroundings according to their personal comfort.

They can work on their terms. Companies often think that if they provide this kind of freedom to their employees, they’ll never get work done.

However, if you set clear boundaries and expectations for specific tasks, meetings, and projects, your workers will definitely complete them on time as it becomes their responsibility.

If the employees are happy and satisfied with their jobs, they will make sure to please their bosses as well.

Disadvantages of Working From Home

Even though there are numerous advantages, there are some disadvantages of working from home as well.

●    Routine

One of the biggest things that facilitate productivity in an office is the routine that we have to stick to. It seems monotonous and boring, but this routine makes sure we complete our work in time.

While working from home, there is no specific time when we have to report to our offices and start our work.

We have a lot of distractions available to us in our homes. We might want to catch up on some Netflix or play with our pets.

It takes tremendous willpower to sit and do our work, especially when we are bored. This might cause problems with meeting deadlines and the efficiency and quality of our work.

If one can stick to a routine at home and try to ignore all distractions during a specific period, it helps with the work.

●    Internet Problems

Most offices have really good WiFi and internet that is designed to take the load of all the employees.

Home WiFi are never that good. Often the internet in our homes causes many problems. We lose connectivity or they might be so slow that an email is stuck in the outbox for two hours!

This is very frustrating and we miss very important deadlines or crucial meetings. It might seem very comfortable while working from home but we often miss the professional infrastructure of our offices.

●    Delay on Verification

In an office, whenever you have a query, you can go to your supervisor or colleagues and clarify your doubts.

At home, that seems impossible. It is very easy to text or call someone, but not everybody sits in front of their phones all the time and they might be doing something important.

There are often things we seem to not understand and our supervisor gets back at us after a few hours, leaving only one or two hours to finish the work.

This can be very frustrating as well as problematic. The availability of answers and help is necessary while working which is not available at home.

In spite of the many advantages and disadvantages, working from home seems to be the preferred mode of work and the only mode as well.