What are the Pros and Cons of Working from Home?

Pros of working from home

Increase in productivity: Unlike in the office with distractions like spur-of-the-moment meetings and chatty colleagues, working from home provides more control of your work environment, increasing your productivity level. In Airtasker's 2019 survey, remote workers reported that working from home eliminated time spent in daily commutes and increased overall productivity and happiness. 

Work-life balance: Working from home brings flexibility to your life and schedule, allowing more time for family, friends, and hobbies. With a good work routine and habits, you would strike a better, enjoyable balance between work and life. 

Saves time and cost: When working from home, the time and expenses spent on commuting, lunch, and other miscellaneous work costs are out of the picture. You need fewer business clothes when you work from home. You can also allocate the saved time and energy to profitable work activities.

Cons of working from home

Possibility of burnout: When home becomes where you work and sleep, unplugging from work at the end of a day becomes difficult. In fact, 22% of remote workers said their biggest challenge when working from home was unplugging after their workday. The constant use of technology for everything: work, entertainment, learning, makes it worse as we switch from one screen to the other. 

Loneliness or social isolation: When you work from home, you may feel socially isolated from your colleagues, and opportunities for social interactions decrease. According to one report, 21% of remote workers believe loneliness is their biggest struggle of working from home. 

Difficulty in collaboration: Working from home can slow down collaboration, especially when team members work in different timezones. Asynchronous communication must be carefully planned to maintain communication standards. Unlike in-person interactions where you get to see raw displays of emotions, remote communication is often devoid of context, which can lead to misunderstandings.

Distractions: The flexibility that remote work brings is a double-edged sword. Unlike the office environment where you may focus more because you're being supervised, working from home allows distractions from people, pets, social media, or habits. It's easy to get sidelined by laundry, Netflix, or even grocery shopping on some days. 

The pros and cons of working from home lean towards the more favorable scale for most employees. By comparing the work from home advantages and disadvantages, you can decide what is best for you.