10 min read What are the Advantages & Disadvantages of Remote Working?
Remote work is quickly becoming a lifestyle now more than ever. Almost every person today is familiar with or has worked remotely at some point.
There’s always the misconception that it makes employees lazy since, well, no one supervises them, but it’s the exact opposite. The more flexibility they get, the better they perform.
There are several pros and cons of working remotely, which we shall look at later on. People can work remotely in many ways. For instance, some employees can work remotely for a large portion of the week but must commute to in-person meetings at the office once a week.
Ordinarily, these remote workers work from nearby restaurants or home offices and work from their company’s office only when it’s required.
Others depend on coworking places to be their working spots of choice. These spaces act as hubs of technology, productivity, and community while providing the chance to meet other workers and excellent network connectivity.
If you choose to work remotely, it helps to have remote working advantages and disadvantages in mind first.
What is Remote Work?
Simply put, remote working is a working arrangement that enables experts to work away from the typical office environment, usually with technology’s help. It supports the principle that you can successfully meet your obligations, no matter where you choose to work. It can take plenty of forms, the most common being:
- Software development: Engineers and other developers need maximum concentration to create, troubleshoot, and build complex solutions. Working remotely enhances the process.
- Education: Teachers can now teach away from the classroom, thanks to the surfacing of new digital education and video platforms.
- Healthcare: Organizations worldwide are using the internet to bring patients and healthcare experts together more efficiently than ever before.
- Call centers: A majority of call center workers are staffed across several time zones, making renting office space ineffective. Remote working nullifies this hurdle as it provides a suitable alternative for every party.
- Writing: Arguably the most common form, writers take full advantage of the remote working frenzy. From company content teams to online-only publications, anything is possible with WiFi and a laptop.
Below are some of the pros and cons of working remotely:
Top Advantages of Working from Home
- Work from Anywhere and Anytime
Do you want to work in the park? Coffee shop, maybe? From the comfort of your home? Wherever you choose, remote working makes it possible for you as long as you have a laptop and a stable internet connection.
What’s even better is you don’t have to follow the 9-5 routine. As long as you have a work schedule in place, you can spend your day, however you choose!
- No Daily Commute
Daily commuting is not only tiresome but can be stress-inducing and costly as well based on where you stay, your mode of transportation, and where you work. Some commuters also encounter serious issues such as increased vulnerability to depression and heart attacks.
This lowers your performance at work and can strain your relationships. On the bright side, all this is a thing of the past with remote working: You wake up, stay at home (if you choose), and work from its cozy confines.
- Flexibility
Working and balancing life’s responsibilities can be stressful if not impossible if you’re parked at your office desk for 8 hours a day.
Remote working allows you to handle your work and other personal obligations as you please. The key is to have a timeline of everything, so you never lose track. Also, you can adjust your work requirements based on your individual preference. If you’re a morning person, you can work during the day, and the same goes for if you’re a night person.
- Less Costly
Since you don’t have to leave your home and have stress-free working requirements, you won’t have to worry about spending a fortune if you choose the remote working option. If you choose to work outside your home, you’ll only have to spend very little on food or drinks and (probably) the internet.
- Better Health
Employees who work from the office are prone to the flu, the novel coronavirus, and other infections not just from fellow workers and the boss, but people whom they interact with throughout the day as well.
Additionally, they may not have balanced meals, especially in the morning and afternoon, which can strain to affect their performance. By working from home, you enjoy one of the most important advantages of working from home: Good health.
- Comfortable Clothes
Most people find suits and other formal wear pretty restraining. Unfortunately, if you’re one of them, such clothes are what you have to wear when you show up at the office.
Luckily, when remote working, you get to wear what you’re most comfortable in. This has to be one of the best work from home advantages. Whether you’re typing away in your PJs the whole day or even in a bathrobe or any other casual outfits, it’s all for you to decide.
- Fewer Interruptions
There’s so much that happens in an office setting that can take your attention away from your work, such as a fellow worker stopping by for chitchat, the sound of people moving around, or the unbearable murmurs around.
Even if there are occasional interruptions at home, you can thoroughly immerse yourself in your work once you take care of them.
- Increased Productivity
Resting more and experiencing less stress largely contributes to better performance at work. These are some of the goodies that remote working has to offer.
You won’t have to fret about daily commutes or burnouts. If you’re having a hard time being productive from home, consider keeping a to-do list, taking breaks, eliminating distractions, and following a schedule.
- Increased Independence
When you work remotely, you become your own boss in a way. You need to plan and schedule your day accordingly in order to finish all your tasks at the required time. You won’t always have someone supervising you while you work. Additionally, should you choose to work beyond the usual 9 am - 5 pm shift, you need to be able to complete the work in tandem and cooperation with your colleagues so that no errors occur.
Top Disadvantages of Working from Home
- Lack of Adequate Technology at Home
One of the main disadvantages of working from home is that not every employee may have a laptop at home, quality software such as ClockInEasy, or access to a stable internet connection. Instead of working remotely being a sigh of relief, it may be a headache and cause affected employees to go for the office setup.
- Remote work Doesn’t Work for New Hires Without Some Training
All jobs require training, no matter how simple they may be. Though remote working may be a perfect fit for professionals, there are some pros and cons of working from home for newbies since they need first-hand training. Virtual training may not be effective.
Ordinarily, a beginner should receive coaching for at least several months before they can effectively offer the services required of them. Since virtual teaching could fail at any particular time, face-to-face teaching takes the cake anytime.
- Feeling Isolated
If you enjoy being around people, here’s one drastic change you’ll not be comfortable with. It’s even worse if you’re living alone.
Even if you enjoy your company, let’s face it: As time goes by, you’ll miss your colleagues and the joy that comes with being around them. Solitude may be fun at first, but loneliness has a way of draining an individual. It may be one of the pros and cons of working remotely.
- Difficult to Unplug from Work
Remote working from home means that your space becomes your new office. If you have a deadline to beat or tons of work to handle, they’ll always be that tendency to be in front of the laptop no matter what.
If you take a break or go out for a while, there will always be the nagging mental reminder that you’ve got some work to do. The case is different if you work in the office. Work stays at the workplace, and once you’re home, it’s time to unwind.
- Difficulty Sticking to a Routine
Having a work routine is excellent, but with the unexpected responsibilities at home, let alone the pesky ‘home mentality,’ abiding by it may be difficult if not impossible.
The result? Frustration and confusion because you’ll have to compensate for lost time by staying up all night working or foregoing meals to complete your work on time.
- Missing Important Calls or Pings
It’s easy to lose yourself when you’re working from home. Though you were consistently on your laptop while at the office, you may miss important notifications or calls while at home due to other commitments.
And even if you spot them later on and try to reply or call back, 90% of the time, your efforts won’t make any difference as the matter was already sorted out.
- Power Naps
Picture this: It’s a sunny afternoon, you’ve eaten a big meal, and you’re at home. What’s the most reasonable step to take? Taking a power nap, of course!
Though power naps are meant to refresh the brain and make you feel fresh after working hours, there are pros and cons of working from home since you’ll take many power naps while you work from your space, which will affect your work.
- Boredom
The office environment may be unappealing, but you get to be around people, have a convo by the water dispenser during breaks, or take a stroll around town before heading to the office again.
When working from home, you wake up to a specific routine every day, which will get real boring real fast.
You may try to change the routine a bit, but it’s never enough to make you realize just how much boredom is one of the main working from home disadvantages.
- Working Slowly
Working remotely is flexible- which can be one of the advantages and disadvantages of working from home, depending on how you choose to use it. This flexibility is supposed to allow you to handle other tasks without affecting your work duties. However, it may lead to working slowly since there’s no motivation to get it done on time.
A house has a way of making the mind more relaxed and at ease. No matter how hard you may try to fight it, you’ll find yourself giving in to complacency.
If you paid attention to meeting deadlines on time before, the story slowly changes with time, and before you know it, you’re receiving complaints from your manager or supervisor.
- Waiting for an Answer
When you’re working from the office, whenever you need clarification on a point or help with a particular matter, you can always get it instantly. All you have to do is consult the person concerned.
This may not always be the case when you work remotely. The benefits and disadvantages of using group policy in an organization are you may have to wait forever before your issue is addressed when you contact them online.
This is because they have their commitments, and at the time you reached out, they may have been occupied elsewhere.
Conclusion
Working remotely is the best decision you’ll ever make. Countless organizations have implemented it, especially at this time, and it’s doing more good than harm to them. Work from home advantages and disadvantages shouldn’t scare you.
The only way you can enjoy it and benefit from it is to have a positive mindset. Instead of judging it prematurely, why not try it out and decide afterward?
Sure, there are pros and cons of working remotely, and it may be difficult adjusting if you’re new to it, but there are ways you can overcome the downsides. Think of the working remotely pros and cons as minor difficulties you’ll have to overcome before you can enjoy the actual prize. We’ve already looked at working from home advantages and disadvantages so you can make an informed decision.
