Work At Home Pleasures

You get to make funny faces during a board meeting. You get to wear what you want. You get to spend time with your offspring. People who work from home have an easier time eating healthy and striking a manageable work-life balance. Eating healthier and having more time to spend with your family can help you feel less stressed, which will make for a happier more productive workday.  A 2011 study from Staples found that employees who worked from home experienced 25 percent less stress. Employees also reported that they were able to maintain a better work life balance, as well as eat healthier.

Cofounder of SimpleTexting, Felix Dubinksy, notes the health benefits of being at home, “It’s much easier to keep a healthy diet while eating at home. You save a lot of stressful hours that would have been spent commuting. You can construct a comfortable work environment for yourself. Spend more time with family.”

For many, the physical proximity to family and the convenience of being at home are tremendously comforting. For parents it can be especially pacifying to know that they are very near to their children and available should they be needed for any reason. https://www.bayt.com/en/career-article-1601/

Alessandra Ceresa, Marketing Director of Greenrope, finds he can balance his work and life much easier when he works remote, “Because much of what we do is not constrained within the hours of 9-5, I am able to go to the gym in the middle of the day, take a walk, do errands. When I take these sorts of breaks, the moment I sit back down to work I am focused. My life is balanced, because I get all of my work done, and have time to actually live my life.”

Often with long commutes and anywhere from 1 to 3 hours a day spent getting to and from the workplace both physical and mental health are adversely impacted; the former as the gym hours are usually the first to go and the latter due to the stresses associated with both the commute and the workplace itself. By working at home the commuting time saved enables you to resume physical exercise, to go for a long walk for example before and after work or to join a local gym. Removed from the stresses and distractions of the workplace and working independently in their own preferred environment at their own pace, professionals are often a lot happier and a lot more productive.

The best part of it is you get to save on on many hidden costs associated with going to work. These include costs of commuting, car wear and tear, fuel, road taxes, parking, office rent as well as indirect costs such as expensive professional wardrobes and the dry-cleaning of those. Often you can also save on daycare expenses!

Everything has its pros and cons. Working from home is not for anyone. It takes a lot of dedication, self-control and discipline to motivate yourself to persevere in working at home alone over the long run without succumbing to the distractions and losing drive and momentum. Often a partial arrangement where you report into the office once or twice a week is the optimal arrangement as it allows for close interaction with colleagues and supervisors and ensures you remain in touch with company developments while still permitting you the comfort and convenience of working from home.

Lastly, Kevin Kruse says, “You can do your job wherever and whenever you want…you can even sit in a beach chair with a cocktail in hand for all I care…as long as you get our desired results.”

A survey summarized in the Microsoft whitepaper, Work without Walls, indicates the top 10 benefits of working from home from the employee viewpoint. In reverse order: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/12/18/benefits-working-from-home/#115d39fb1d4c

10) Environmentally friendly (23%)

9) More time with family (29%)

8) Less stressful environment (38%)

7) Quieter atmosphere (43%)

6) Eliminate long commute (44%)

5) Less distractions (44%)

4) More productive (45%)

3) Avoid traffic (47%)

2) Save gas (55%)

1) Work/home balance (60%)

Well, there you have it. As I conclude, allow me to whisper this hidden benefit: On a lighter note, you can take a comfortable snooze when your eyelids have sworn not to part ways and not get a warning letter while at it. This is because the bed is right next to you. All I can say is do not put yourself in a box. Think far and wide. Bring the world to you. Explore the internet. Challenge yourself. Seek to learn more things, even those that are not in your line of duty. You have one life to live that you will have to account for when all is said and done.

In short, ‘Jiachilie’