Work from home has become the new normal in today’s world. Many of us are working from home since the Covid-19 pandemic started. Work from home has its advantages and disadvantages as well. I will firstly cover the advantages and then will write about its disadvantages. Lastly, I will mention if working from home is really beneficial or not.
Advantages:
Travel Time
People who used to stay far away from the office have greatly benefited from working from home. In Bangalore, for example, one-way travel time for a person staying in Whitefield and travelling to Manyata Tech Park, Hebbal was around 2 hours before the pandemic. Traffic jam remains at its best in Bangalore during peak hours. Now think of that person who was spending 4 hours of his daily time travelling. At the end of the day after returning home, he would have been completely exhausted and tired and he would have nothing left in his tank. However, with work from home, there is no concept of travel and therefore it has proved to be a boon for employees as they can engage themselves in their hobbies or any other interests of their choice since they are bound to get some free time.
Productivity
Employee productivity increased manifold while working from home. When in the office, there used to be tea or coffee breaks. Then after lunch people used to walk for few minutes. No such scenarios exist in a work-from-home scenario. People are giving full attention to their work and as a result, they are getting more work done during business hours than they were doing in the office. However, there is a flip side to this point which I mentioned in one of the disadvantages.
Me time
People have got their much needed ‘me time’ because of working from home. Since they don’t need to think about travelling to the office, they have invested in themselves and their health. Many people started indulging in their hobbies like learning guitar, piano, etc, and started exercise to take care of their health.
Family management
Some people started taking care of household chores themselves and as a result, they were able to get rid of housemaids and cooks. This helped them to save more money for their future. Moreover, since husband and wife are both at home, they get to spend quality time with each other resulting in improved relationships.
Freedom to work from anywhere
Work from home does not mean always working from home. All you need is a good internet connection. People are going to resorts for few days and work from there. Many resorts came up with work from resort packages and people are utilizing those packages. This is helping them to work from a peaceful environment along with enjoying the beautiful nature at the same time.
Disadvantages:
No specific Laptop shutdown time
With work from home since people are available most of the time, they tend to work even after normal office hours. During the pre-pandemic stage, at least the majority of the people never used to open their laptops after returning home. There was some level of discipline before and I think that got affected with the work from home scenario.
Doubt clarification difficulties
It was easier to ask doubts to a person and get those clarified instantly as the person was sitting just next to you. However, with work from home, you would first need to check with him about his availability over your official Instant Messaging app. Then if you find his time, you would need to do a screen share to make him understand your doubts. So, according to me, doubt resolution time has increased with the work from home scenario.
Less Vacation time
Since people have been working from the comfort of their homes and moreover because of the pandemic, there are travel restrictions, they are hardly taking any leaves. This actually might affect people in the long run if they keep on working without taking a much-needed break.
No socialization
In the work from home scenario, people do not get the chance to talk to their colleagues about non-work-related things. When in the office, they used to talk informally over tea or coffee breaks and also during lunch walks. I believe these talks are necessary as you get to know your colleagues more and sometimes non-work-related discussions reduce your anxiety level which ultimately helps to concentrate more on work.
No designated workstation
Sometimes people work from bed or from sofa instead of sitting at a chair and working on a desk. Sitting on a bed or sofa for longer hours is extremely bad for your back and shoulders and will lead to back pain and shoulder pain.
Conclusion
Despite some of its disadvantages as mentioned above, I believe work from home really helped individuals to invest in themselves. People are getting sufficient time to exercise, they are learning their hobbies. Also, they are getting enough time for their families. Many people started YouTube channels and started making enough money out of that channel. At the end of the day, if a person is able to realize the benefits of working from home, I am sure he could make use of those advantages and would remain motivated even more to work from home. However, for a lazy person, I feel work from home would be a bane. They would likely indulge in binge eating, would be waking up late resulting in weight gain and health deterioration.
Thank you for reading this article. What are your views on working from home? Do leave your comments below.
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It checks out all the possible pros and cons