Whether your office has recently gone remote or you’re considering making the change yourself, you should weigh the pros and cons of each work style!
Many times our job offers us an option of working from home or working in the office – but we get confused about what option is right for us. As I have experienced both modes of work, I have summarised the good and not so good of working remotely.
Goods of working from home
1. More control over your schedule:
The biggest advantage of working from home is that we can save a lot of time commuting back and forth to work. We can spend extra time with our spouse and family, read the newspaper instead of sitting in traffic.
Start off our day in a calm fashion instead of being stressed and rushed to get to the office. Taking time for our self is often very difficult, we may find that having extra me time in the mornings will make us happy and therefore a more productive employee.
2. Flexible working environment:
Another benefit of working from home is that we have the ability to create our working environment. With no cubical walls defining our space, we have the freedom to choose our office location, the perfect corner.
3. Working independently:
When we work from home, we won’t get constant help from our colleague which bound us to solve the problem independently. As a result, we gradually become an independent employee.
4. Defined working hours:
We can get started a little earlier or take a few extra minutes during lunch. As long as we work our required hours and get our job done there is no harm in shifting our schedule a bit. It doesn’t mean that we can change the whole schedule.
5. Financial cost:
When we work from home, there is no travel expenses, no expensive company meals, and no expensive formal clothes for the office. If we want, we can work in our pyjamas.
We can take advantage of tools that help the remote team to manage work effectively from home. Here are a few tools that we use to work along with our remote team.: Slack, Skype, Zoom, Google meets, Asana, Anydesk, Calendly, Zoho, etc.
Not So Goods of Working From Home
1. Isloation:
Many people find that working from home is like a jail. We all crave human interactions and sometimes video conferences and phone calls won’t satisfy this need. Even though we can get in touch with our office, we no longer have the constant support of our colleagues and supervisors.
2. Technical issues:
When everything works – it is fantastic, but if our Internet cuts out or we lose access to our company’s intranet, we may be unable to do our job which hampers our schedules. Most companies have tech support designed to handle off-site employees, but we will never receive the same level of support as we would in an office setting.
3. Difficult in career growth:
When we work from home it is very difficult to manage any team. The employer won’t give the position like team leader. Nor it is possible to grow yourself by indulging with new people.
4. A 24 hour job:
When we work from home our workday never ends. Since it starts and stops in the same place, we may find our self-working later into the evening not realizing what time it is. Some people find that when they work from home that their jobs start to bleed into their personal life. While they assumed working from home would give them more freedom than it, in fact, has caused them to work longer hours and sometimes on the weekends.
Goods Of Working In Office
1. Motivation for career growth:
When we work in an office environment, we have supervision and restrictions, but we also have knowledge and support from our bosses and colleagues. Being around intelligent people might motivate us. A competitive environment might encourage us to perform better, helping us to excel in our field and ultimately our place in the company.
2. Social network:
We may find that we benefit personally from being in an office. Having a social life is very important and for many, their co-workers are their social network. Having lunch with our co-workers, catching up with one another, going out for a happy hour, these are all positive and rewarding activities. Again, when we are happy and satisfied, we are a more productive employee.
3. Interpersonal skills:
Another benefit that comes with working in an office is learning how to behave in front of others. When we are surrounded by a group of people, we automatically become alert and conscious of our self. This is also an opportunity for us to learn about relationships with colleagues and the ways in which we can maintain them. Our communication and interpersonal skills are boosted as well. These aspects are crucial not just to the environment we work in but also to our self.
Not So Goods of Working From Office
1. Travelling:
One of the biggest advantages of working from home is in turn the biggest disadvantage of working in an office. We can spend upwards of three hours commuting back and forth to work every day. Traffic, congestion and wasted time all add up to stress.
2. hard to show our efforts:
One disadvantage here reflects the fact that when we work from home our supervisors can’t see that we work hard and put in tremendous effort into some tasks. Then we are judged on tangible results only.
3. Hard to take care of others:
When we work in an office, taking care of children or animals becomes a little more difficult.
Of course, this depends on the individual company we work with and the law that applies to our country. So we might get well-paid maternity or paternity leave when we are expecting a baby. However, it depends on our contract – not all agreements include the same conditions.
Afterwards, when we come back to work for good, we need to fit at least two roles into our daily schedule: being a business person during the day and a parent after hours.
Not to mention the poor animals that wait for us all day long before they can go out or get their food.
There are standard routines, and it’s possible to bring everything together. But let’s agree on something – there isn’t much freedom regarding these decisions, and we must settle into them.
Take Away
Both remote and office work have some advantages and disadvantages. Depending on our individual needs in the particular period of our life we are in, we might prefer one working style and then another.
Feel free to email us at support@bkcprohub.com to contact us, should you need any assistance in your annual compliance.
You can also follow us at https://www.linkedin.com/company/bkcprohub
–Debarati Bhatacharjee
