With icy winter months creeping in, working from home may be the perfect solution to avoid disrupted public transport routes, traffic jammed motorways and slippery footpaths. For those wishing to be productive and at the same time, staying in close proximity to family ties, taking the office “home” should be considered more than a contingency plan.
As you can imagine, working from home requires a great deal of motivation and lacks the camaraderie that people experience from working in a team. With its obvious pros and cons, we consider its strengths and weaknesses.
Pros
- If you are a start-up business, evidently combining your work and home life with one set of overheads makes financial sense.
- Saving time each day on the commute means extra time focussed on your projects. It also means more money in your pocket and less going into the petro pump.
- Have a family which also requires some of your attention? You are flexible for the school run or to prep for the evening meal.
- An employer? Working from home can reduce sickness levels and stress levels among your employees by trusting them with greater flexibility.
- No need to invest time into getting ready in the morning, you can get up and throw on whatever clothing you wish.
Cons
- You may be saving some pennies, but you are invading your own personal space. An office may require sacrificing an entire room. Remember you can’t leave the office to go home to relax, you’ll be spending all of your time in the same environment.
- The commuting time may be reduced but staying at home may cause you to be faced with distractions you most certainly wouldn’t come up against in the office. Short breaks can easily turn into extended lunches when you’ve little structure around you.
- Spending time with your children is the best investment you could make with your time, but little ones won’t understand deadlines and targets.
- Despite improved communication channels, working from home means little interaction with your colleagues. You may feel out of the loop and lack a competitive spirit.
- Without an office culture you may find it hard to motivate yourself and stick to a schedule considerate of your clients’ working hours.
Flexible office space. A solution?
Working from home may be the ultimate solution for many, and from time to time escaping office life and getting your head down can be an excellent decision. For those in the early stages of setting up their own business however, it can often become a limitation. Being unable to hold meetings in a convenient space and portraying your sense of professionalism can limit relationships from moving forward.
This is where flexible office space can come in. Having a working environment where and when you want it means you don’t have to commit to long contracts and costly overheads, and provides an escape from friends and family when you need to concentrate most.
Are you pro home working or a flexible office space fan?