With technology increasingly being able to support a suitable home office environment, working from home is becoming an attractive option for many employees. Employees gain the advantages of being able to make better use of time and avoid costs associated with working, but at the same time this arrangement may interfere with their home environment. In this essay the merits of working from home compared to working in the office will be discussed.
Working from home allows people to avoid the need to travel to and from work giving employees additional hours in the working week that can be used for either work related activities or provide a more balanced lifestyle. For example, the additional time could be used to take children to and from school.
Employees will also have lower costs, particularly in relation to transportation. For example, if one partner works from home a family may be able to avoid buying a second car providing them with significant savings. Savings may also be made in other areas such as food and entertainment costs.
In addition, the breaks from work that most people take during the day can be used to perform household chores. The lack of other employees also means that there are no social norms and in quiet periods an employee can read the paper or a book or even watch television, activities that would be socially unacceptable in an office environment but do not impact on performance and may lower stress and have a positive influence on well-being.
However, employees may experience significant difficulties in working from home. They have no physical barrier between their work and home life as their office is ever-present and could interfere with having a normal family life unless carefully managed. Employees may also feel isolated as they do not have co workers with them and may lose valuable information that is sometimes passed by casual interactions in the office and fail to have the opportunities to build the relationships that are essential for career development and promotion.
In summary, working from home provides many advantages including lower costs, having more available time and being better for the environment. However, the time spent working from home must be managed carefully as there are risks of isolation, negatively impacting family life and loss of productivity.
With technology
increasingly
being able to support a suitable home
office
environment
,
working
from home is becoming an attractive option for
many
employees
.
Employees
gain the advantages of being able to
make
better
use
of
time
and avoid costs associated with
working
,
but
at the same
time
this arrangement may interfere with their home
environment
. In this essay the merits of
working
from home compared to
working
in the
office
will
be discussed
.
Working from home
allows
people
to avoid the need to travel to and from
work
giving
employees
additional hours in the
working
week that can be
used
for either
work
related activities or provide a more balanced lifestyle.
For example
, the additional
time
could be
used
to take children to and from school.
Employees will
also
have lower costs,
particularly
in relation to transportation.
For example
, if one partner works from home a family may be able to avoid buying a second car providing them with significant savings. Savings may
also
be made
in other areas such as food and entertainment costs.
In addition
, the breaks from
work
that most
people
take during the day can be
used
to perform household chores. The lack of other
employees
also
means that there are no social norms and in quiet periods an
employee
can read the paper or a book or even
watch
television, activities that would be
socially
unacceptable in an
office
environment
but
do not impact on performance and may lower
stress
and have a
positive
influence on well-being.
However
,
employees
may experience significant difficulties in
working
from home. They have no physical barrier between their
work
and home life as their
office
is ever-present and could interfere with having a normal family life unless
carefully
managed.
Employees
may
also
feel isolated as they do not have
co workers
with them and may lose valuable information
that is
sometimes
passed by casual interactions in the
office
and fail to have the opportunities to build the relationships that are essential for career development and promotion.
In summary,
working
from home provides
many
advantages including lower costs, having more available
time
and being better for the
environment
.
However
, the
time
spent
working
from home
must
be managed
carefully
as there are
risks
of isolation,
negatively
impacting family life and loss of productivity.