Working from Home: Heaven or Hell?

Working from home has become the latest trend and we are talking globally here. Every day, more and more companies are allowing their employees to work from home at least once or twice a week.

And even more companies are looking to outsource, looking for employees who can work from home and, sometimes, from a different country. We can see these “work from home” job offers increasing every single day on the different job boards and people are really starting to get into this new groove because, let’s face it, staying at home has to be better than going to the office every day.

However, this is not true for everyone. Working from home has its pros and cons, but, in the end, it depends on each person.

Benefits and Balance

Let’s begin listing some of the pros:

• No commuting – That alone should convince you to stay home. No traffic, no public transportation, no people on top of you during rush hour, just bliss while you walk from your room, to the office space.

• Flexibility – of both hours and in managing that time. Most of these jobs do not necessarily have a rigid schedule you need to follow, so you are able to manage your own time, especially if you are a freelancer.

• Less stress – Since most people working from home are their own bosses, or their bosses are nowhere near them, stress can be reduced to a minimum.

• Fewer distractions – hence more productivity. No useless meetings, no coworkers telling you about their 13 cats or children, no running around the whole office looking for a photocopier that actually works, no wasting time with small talk, just you and your family.

• More family time – Since you are already at home, there is a really good chance you can spend more time with your family, or your dogs, while working from home. You just need to be organised, and know how to manage your time in a productive way.

Not All Good

Even though you are now probably ready to pack up your desk and go home, you need to know that working from home also has its disadvantages:

• Isolation – Even though some people prefer being alone, others would rather have some company during the day, but if you have a family, this is not really a problem.

• Distractions – we might have more distractions in an office, but that does not mean there are not any at home, browsing social media becomes your biggest enemy while working from home.

• Separating work from home – this is probably one of the worst disadvantages of working from home. You need to be able to organise your day in a way you get to spend enough time working, and enough time with your family or friends. Try to have a separate space for working – do not stay in your bedroom, find a good nook in the house to do so.

• Working endlessly – Since you have no one controlling your hours but yourself, you might feel the need to work at all times. That is why you need to be very organised with your time and prioritising your responsibilities.

Now you are ready to consider your options and decide whether you are a good candidate to work from home or not. Welcome to the future!

Vanessa Fardi is the Leader of US, Central America, and Latin America Team for Canadian startup neuvoo. Neuvoo is a job search engine that indexes jobs available online in one unique platform, without any charge for the source of the job. It was created in 2011 and is currently available in more than 60 countries.