It takes a lot of dedication and self-control to work at home and not succumb to distractions. It’s easy to lose motivation and focus which are pitfalls to your success. Therefore, it’s important to be intentional about how you’re using your time. You need to structure your environment in such a way that keeps you engaged.

In her experience, these impromptu interactions often generated the most creative ideas and problem-solving, and she noticed a loss of productive collaboration when her company first went remote. In a hybrid work environment, there can be bias against those who go fully remote. For instance, your bosses may not notice and appreciate your accomplishments as much or you may not be pulled into meetings that impact your work. You also miss out on spontaneous chats that can deepen workplace relationships, build trust, and lead to promotions. At an office, you can add some pizzazz to your cubicle with plants and family pictures and knick knacks—to a point. But in a home office, you can make the space truly your own and ensure it sparks joy for your workday.

Con: Less Human Time With Your Team

Additionally, my team in the USA would routinely start work at 6 am to catch a bigger time window with Europe and some time with Asia. They were more present across the globe than if they were in the office. Literally, all appointments during the week are so efficient during working hours you can save months of wasted time, which you can make up earlier or later in the day. Being in the office means you will, over time, develop relationships with certain people that turn into friendships. You will even have professional relationships where you gain a mentor or simply someone to bounce your work issues off. This does not happen for telecommuters, or at least the opportunities are far fewer.

As a manager, you might have the desire to micromanage employees as they go remote. Instead, we suggest trusting people to perform until they prove otherwise. Approximately 5 million workers moved between 2020 and 2022 because remote work made it possible. No longer connected with a physical office, many fully remote employees could keep their jobs and move closer to family, to a dream location, or to an area with a lower cost of living. (Maybe all three!) Just keep in mind that in some cases—like employers that want you to attend in-person meetings once a week—changing locations may not be ideal.

Remote working advantages and disadvantages from an employee’s point of view

It proves a sense of purpose and plays a part in employee satisfaction. It is harder for remote workers to maintain this relationship with the organization and their colleagues if they do not go on-site and meet their teammates. Without an option to come to the office and work together in person, employees might start to question their job, feel unhappy, and look for change. A study conducted by UC Irvine found that a typical office worker is interrupted every 11 minutes. If that wasn’t bad enough, it takes 25 minutes to get back on task. The nature of working remotely doesn’t make it inviting to chat with coworkers.

• Going to the office builds up commuting stress, followed by stress at work working for non-stop eight hours, to say the least.
• It also reduces expenses such as equipment maintenance, utilities, and other overhead costs that would otherwise be applicable.
• A whopping 7.8 billion vehicle miles aren’t traveled each year for those who work at least part-time from home, 3 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) are avoided, and oil savings reach $980 million.
• To mitigate the new risks that surface with a remote workforce, you will need to establish clear policies on bring your own device (BYOD) and working in public places.
• When your surroundings match your work preferences, you’ll be able to get more done.
• For other workers, at least 61% are expected to be back in the office around mid-summer.
• Then you might thrive in a work environment without other colleagues.

Also, this is beneficial to organizations in the sense that it’s easy to retain contended employees and thus, maintain a high employee retention rate. Two of the most popular video meeting tools in the business world are Microsoft Teams and Zoom. However, this technology isn’t beneficial if employees don’t know how to use it. Google Workspace (Google Docs, Sheets, and Drive) is a good solution to file management. Using the Drive, employees can share files automatically between relevant team members without worrying about unauthorized access. Now that we’ve discussed the pros and cons of remote working, let’s look at how you can maintain a thriving remote working environment.

The Main Pros And Cons Of Working Remotely

Even swinging by the kitchen for a donut or a piece of birthday cake becomes a thing of the past. The key here is to regularly schedule outings with family and friends, join local clubs and meetups, and attend any team events the company organizes. As a remote worker, you can take advantage of many government-offered grants and incentives.

His solution was to have a coding partner, someone he’d bounce ideas off of and check in with about project progress. Work together, even if there is a time gap, and you’ll find that the old adage “two are better than one” is still true. Before we start comparing workplace options, we thought it would be a good idea to define what each means and how it can be used so we are all on the same page.

The differences from working from home versus working at an office can be seen when it comes to finances — and we’re not talking about how much money you earn. When working at an office, you pay for the costs of commuting, such as public transit, gas, or maintenance expenses. You don’t have to worry about sitting in traffic, commuting expenses, and you won’t be tempted to go out after work and spend money on happy hours and eating out.

It’s easier than ever to stay connected in our era of email and smart phones and many employees believe it increases their quality of life. As a remote worker, you have to rely on email, smart phones, laptop, etc. to stay in contact with the office and clients. You are totally dependent on the right technology to be in business. It’s also up to you to keep up with technology that evolves so rapidly.

You can feel isolated

Just know that whatever work environment you choose, you’re not alone. In-person jobs require you to clock in and out at specific times, whereas remote workers can clock in and out with more flexibility. The lack of a set routine when working from home can result in an unpredictable schedule. Remote work became how companies benefit when employees work remotely the new normal for many employees given the COVID-19 pandemic, but as many slowly return to the office, you may be considering whether or not working from home is best for your future. There are seemingly endless reasons to work from home, like the lack of a commute to decreased spending on childcare.