Home Office: Advantages and disadvantages of teleworking
What is the "home office" or teleworking from home?
As its name says it well, the home office or teleworking from home is all work performed by workers from their residential address, taking advantage of different resources such as personal computers, internet access, platforms messaging and video calls, as well as programs for organizing tasks and work pending.
Sounds easy to do? This question has been highly debated both by companies and by the workers themselves, since teleworking suggests having a degree of commitment and responsibility on both sides, as well as sustainable conditions for employees to fulfill their obligations. with the necessary tools for it.
It is also important to take into account that the home office is a work model that cannot be carried out by all employees in a company or in all economic sectors. For example, parcel, construction, cleaning, customer service and other personnel will not be able to leave their jobs since their presence is essential to meet their objectives. However, there are other administrative, design, writing, online educators, analysts, among others that do not require going to an office to meet their work objectives.
Partial home office vs full time home office.
Many companies have embraced this employment trend in different ways depending on their particular circumstances and needs. There are corporations that have work plans for their employees in which one or more days a week are included in the monthly working day in which they do their work from home. They consider this necessary in order not to overload employees with such busy weekly activities and to reduce basic maintenance expenses for office spaces.
On the other hand, there are other companies that have a group of workers who are not present in the office on a regular basis, and who are even in different locations or countries performing micro functions with daily and weekly deliveries.
This type of work is becoming more and more fashionable due to all the benefits it can bring to companies and employees. But the truth is that it has to meet high organizational criteria to be truly effective, so just like any other business model, it has its pros and cons.
Do you know the Pros and Cons of teleworking?
Like all work dynamics, the Home Office also has its positive and negative aspects that it is important to consider before making the decision to practice it. Here we explain some pros and cons of working from home:
5 ADVANTAGES OF THE HOME OFFICE
- MORE FLEXIBLE SCHEDULES.
Being at home will allow you to fulfill your obligations on your own time most of the time, except for the occasional communication or virtual meeting with colleagues or superiors. This will allow you to complete work hours at your own pace, and in the range of time that best suits you if you ever have to go out or take care of other personal matters.
- YOU SAVE TIME AND MONEY.
If you work from home, you won't have to invest time or money in transportation to get to work, so that savings can be invested later for something else or saved for emergencies.
- PEACE OF MIND AT HOME.
There is no place like home. If you are comfortable at home and have a space for working, then it will be the ideal place to do your work, because you will feel comfortable being there and that will motivate you to do a better job.
- LOWER WORK STRESS.
All offices are different, but if we are at home we will most likely feel less stress at work, because we don't have a lot of people working around us putting pressure on deliveries or creating distractions with new projects.
- WORK ACUTE AND INDEPENDENCE
If we work from home we will learn a lot about ourselves and how to carry out our work independently. Over time we will sometimes feel the need to be self-taught, to improve our ability to solve problems and discover new technological tools that help us to have a better work dynamic.
5 DISADVANTAGES OF THE HOME OFFICE
- SEDENTARISM.
Working from home can radically change our habits, especially since we spend hours in the same place. A sedentary lifestyle is a consequence of this, since we do not have to move to an office every day, and there will be little physical movement if we do not incorporate it into our routine.
- ORGANIZATION.
Many teleworkers are in constant communication with bosses and other colleagues, but the real organization must come from us. The flexibility of schedules can make us work more or work less without realizing it and personal times can be seen at odds with work times, so discipline and good organization will be key.
- SETBACKS.
When we work from home, all unforeseen events will be at our own expense, and can be the object of distraction, investment of useful time and even some stress. They can be unforeseen electricity, internet connection, lack of resources or material, which are technical support setbacks with which an office runs normally.
- DISTRACTIONS IN THE HOME.
Home can be full of personal distractions that take you out of your work focus and interrupt your schedule, for example, family distractions with children or a partner, getting up to prepare lunch, or other tasks at home that seem more urgent than your work .
- LITTLE OR ZERO NETWORKING.
When we don't go to the office we don't connect personally with the rest of the people in the company. It is true that today communications are increasingly flexible and extensive thanks to technology, but this limits us to only talking to the people with whom we work directly. The office environment puts you in contact with staff from other departments and even new people who expand your world of work to network.
Do you think that the Home office has more advantages than disadvantages?
This option would suit you very well if you have the best disposition for it despite the negative aspects. Those of us who have experienced both models know that both working in the office and teleworking have good and bad things, and that neither is really better than the other, but rather a matter of disposition and balance.
We invite you to follow these tips if you are considering doing a home office and consider yourself a beginner:
TIPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE HOME OFFICE
Don't leave your pajamas behind! Spending all day in your nightwear sounds great, but the truth is that this will not allow you to separate work hours from rest hours, making your concentration and your sleep hours are affected by each other. Dress and bathe as if you were going out or your brain will make it difficult to differentiate between work time and rest time
Avoid a sedentary lifestyle. You must include an exercise routine in your daily life because there will be days when you will not even have to leave the house. Get up regularly to stretch your muscles and joints. Even consider going out with a laptop to do your homework in workspaces away from home a few days a week, such as internet cafes.
He has a routine. It is advisable to keep a routine with tasks to follow, scheduled work and rest hours, an agenda with priorities, delivery dates and a list of short-medium and long-term goals.
Get ready! If you work from home, remember that you will need office supplies to a greater or lesser extent, and you must have what you need before starting work, or you will not stop getting up from your chair to grab anything else. Reserve a space with your own desk for this, and make it like having your own home office.
He measures time well. It is better to reserve some space and time for setbacks, avoiding leaving deliveries to the last minute, since something unforeseen may arise that distracts you from finishing and delivering it successfully.
Communicate well. Keep communication channels open during work hours, such as your mobile phone and email, as this will be the only way to stay informed and communicate with your bosses and allies. Be very clear and precise in communications, avoiding leaving room for doubts and interpretations.
Staying home all day is definitely not easy!
But if you take these tips into consideration you will discover that it can be a great and very effective way of working. And you, would you try doing telework?
