There are 2 sides to everything, so it is for Work From Home !!!!

Work from Home (WFH) is a concept that is accepted by organizations all over the world nowadays. Here the employees are given flexible working hours and places from where they can work and in turn the employer can get the work done with ease. However, there can be two kinds of employers, one who thinks that nothing will be get done because the employees will be having more distractions when they are at home. And the other kind thinks that the employees will be happy and the productivity will increase.

Recently, there was a survey carried out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it stated that 57% of workers had a flexible schedule in 2018. Also additionally, 42 million wage and salary workers that are 29% of the workers could work from home, and 36 million workers that are 25% of the workers worked at home some of the time. 

According to the State of Remote Work 2019 report by Owl Labs, Some employees were even willing to take a pay cut in order to work from home. The study stated that 34% of workers were willing to take a 5% cut; 24% would even take a 10% cut, and 20% would take a cut larger than 10%. The reasons that the workers were willing to work from home were surprising: better work-life balance (91%), an increase in productivity (79%), reduced stress (78%), avoid traveling (78%). Research has also suggested companies that they should encourage and support a work-from-home protocol in order to save money in the long run—that can be an added bonus on the employer side.

The technology industry is renowned for its flexible working hours and telecommuting prospects, most technology companies are web-based and while working from home technology is the greatest tool. There are so many ways a person can stay connected with colleagues, video chats, conference calls, VPN networks, and wireless Internet, in this way although one is sitting at home it gives a feel of working from the office. Sometimes companies experience a shortage of talent for their number of job profiles and hiring remote workers helps in opening a talent pool for the companies.

As we all know everything has two sides, similarly working from home also has its own Pros and Cons.

The benefits of working from home are as follows:

·      Distractions of office life can be avoided, like phone calls, colleagues coming over to your desk, chit-chatting over tea time which usually gets prolonged.

·      Being able to work in your comfort zone according to your preferences and needs can help you be more relaxed and hence boost your morale and also, in turn, enhance your productivity.

·      It helps you to do your task in your way in a more creative, efficient and fun way.

·      Sometimes it becomes difficult for a person to work under tight supervision which affects his productivity. At home, one can avoid such interventions and concentrate on the work more without having to be stressed out.

An experiment was conducted at Ctrip, a NASDAQ-listed Chinese travel agency, WFH was shown to deliver a 13 percent improvement in worker’s performance. There were other positives, too, including increased job satisfaction, and significantly less staff absence and turnover.

The challenges of working from home are as follows:

·      Working from home comes with its own distractions, especially if there are kids or pets in the house.

·      Sometimes employees struggle hard to be productive when there is nobody to supervise.

·      It generally creates a mindset of “always-on”, and due to this, employees might end up working for longer hours and also have to work too hard.

One can lose focus due to the distractions caused while working from home and also the have a sense of isolation, which can damage productivity. There are keys to stopping that from happening:

·      Self-Motivation: This can help you to boost your confidence, stay positive and set clear goals and objectives.

·      Minimize Distractions: Analyze your distractions, you might get caught up doing household chores in between important work, know how to delegate work to the people in the house. If you are in some important meeting or in between some important delivery just let the members of the family know so that they do not disturb. Communicate with your family members about the severity of your work.

·      Minimize social media distractions: Strategize and set goals for yourself. Do not use the phone constantly for social media. Use social media when you want to relax. It's all about self-control.

·      Know your goals:  Always remember your goals, along with the short term goals, never forget the ultimate long term goal that you are striving to achieve. Keeping such strong determination in mind will help you work efficiently no matter wherever you work.

So, as we have seen WFH has both benefits and challenges. It depends on an individual’s mindset on how he/she takes it. People should find ways to motivate themselves to work efficiently and productively. Know about things that might distract you and take measures to minimize that. Set up a workspace in such a way that is comfortable and appropriate for your job role, and make efforts to limit interruptions.