COLUMN: The pros and cons of working from home
The virus-related lockdown has led to a lot of new experiences for all of us, and most of them (such as rationing toilet paper) have not been fun. But some of the changes we’ve had to make in our lives, at least temporarily, definitely have had an upside.
For example, these last few months have allowed me to experience the joys of working from home (also known as “teleworking” if you’re in the know) for the very first time. Since my day job involves on-site maintenance in a computer lab I never had the opportunity to work from home before.
I am now much more informed about the pro’s and con’s of teleworking, and I thought I’d share some of what I learned from the experience here. A lot of this might be familiar to you if you’ve ever worked from your own “home office.”
Pro’s :
- You get to sleep later since you don’t have to get up early enough to make yourself presentable and drive to the office. You can just roll out of bed and start working in your pajamas if you like. But remember if you have to do a video conference you need to put on a shirt and comb your hair.
- The work environment is probably much nicer at home than at your office. At my house there are windows in every room, and I can even work in my backyard as long as I stay in range of the Wi-Fi. It is much more pleasant than my windowless cubicle.
- As long as your job doesn’t involve a lot of meetings you can set your own work schedule. That is very convenient as life can be unpredictable and flexibility is a big plus.
- You get to spend a lot more time with your family, and that includes pets. Of course this is only a pro if you like being around your family, but I’m sure we’d all benefit from spending more time with our pets.
Con’s:
- Remember what I said about sleeping in and setting your own hours? Well that can be a problem if you don’t stay disciplined. Some folks (not me of course!) find that they sleep a little later and spend a little less time working each day that they telework. Eventually your employer is going to notice the drop-off in productivity.
- Distractions can be a real problem. At the office there are generally not that many non-work things vying for your attention as long as you don’t get lost in your smartphone. But at home you have all the things around that make being at home so nice. It might be books, television, video games, pets, other humans – whatever you turn to for fun and relaxation are right there trying to tempt you to put down your work and enjoy yourself.
- Social isolation can be an issue, especially if you’re an introvert like me. Working from home has made me realize that I don’t have a lot of social connections outside my immediate family. If I never go to work and converse with other humans there I find I spend way too much time turning to the family dog for conversation, and it annoys him after a while.
Given the nature of my job, this will probably be my only chance to telework barring a resurgence of the virus or a similar calamity that forces us to endure another period of home confinement. But it was probably a good trial run for what retirement will be like. It’s not too far off now that I’m past 50.
One thing I’ve learned is that I don’t want to go from full time work to being at home 24/7. As long as I’m physically able I’ll want to get a part-time job or volunteer somewhere to get me out of the house some. The dog will need a break from my jabbering every once in a while.
Bill Ferguson is a resident of Warner Robins. Readers can write him at fergcolumn@hotmail.com.