The Reality of Working From Home

Roll back to the beginning of my career, and the prospect of working from home was a pretty alien concept. We would work from a fixed desk on a large fixed computer (with the huge monitor screen!) every single day, and the prospect of being able to log on and work from any desk, any location and any part of the world, still being able to access all your files and folders? Well, it simply didn’t exist.

These days, the employment arena has changed significantly. Having worked as a recruiter in a number of industries, I have witnessed first hand that more and more people are seeking flexibility and agile working, both in terms of flexible working hours and the ability to work remotely. Friday 18th May is National Working from Home day, and although many companies are now embracing the potential of this working arrangement, a new survey by Seareach has found that less than half of the 2000 office workers they spoke to were allowed to work from home. The main reasons cited for them not being able to do so were down to security issues and fairness.

There are some who still doubt the effectiveness of such working arrangements, believing that working from home is something that needs to be stated within inverted commas; assuming that the reality is that the laptop sits logged on in the corner of the room whilst they do the housework or watch the latest episodes of Love Island. I have worked from home for a number of my employers (with some restrictions) and for me, there are some huge benefits of working from home.

After a disturbed night with Neve waking up constantly, being able to work from home once a week allows me to have one day where the pressure is off in terms of my physical appearance. I don’t have to worry if my hair looks a mess, try and hide the eye bags with copious amounts of concealer, or attempt to squeeze my ever increasing butt size into a pair of tailored trousers. Instead, I can pop on a pair of leggings and a baggy t shirt, and sit comfortably at my desk, without having to worry about looking professional.
No commute – with two young children, the work commute can be timely and stressful experience during rush hour. A nursery drop off, a school drop off and a busy drive into the office, means on the days that its my turn to do the drop offs I don’t arrive in the office until 9.30am. In contrast, the school is round the corner from my house, so working from home allows me to logon much earlier than I do when driving through rush hour into my normal place of work. At the later end of the day, I am also able to continue working right up until the time at which my daughter needs collecting, rather than having to leave the office earlier to take account of the journey. Effectively working from home gives me an additional hour of available time each day, and allows me to be back at home with my family sooner when I stop work for the day.
Less distractions – as much as I am a social being and love to talk, there are times when you just need to concentrate and get your head down – with no one distracting you or causing your attention to wane. Being in an empty house which is silent other than the gentle tapping of the keyboard is a great way to crack on and get some stuff done.
Productivity – I personally find that I am more productive when I work from home, particularly if I have work that has deadlines and a specific task to complete.

There are of course some challenges to working from home, and you have to be a committed trusted employee for it to work.

Potential to be distracted – Of course, there is the potential to be distracted working from home. You can see the mess in your child’s bedroom, the washing up in the sink and the washing that needs folding and putting away. You need to be disciplined. Maybe it’s just me and my lack of housewife abilities in the first place, but I simply separate the two. I tend to work in one room and shut the door.
Technology – In order to be effective working from home, you need to have the technology to support it. There is nothing worse than starting a task only to find that you can’t access the file you need or that you keep getting kicked off vpn. Ideally you should be fully contactable by telephone and/or instant messenger, so you can still offer that reactive / responsive service should it be required. Hopefully this will also dispel any concerns about your productivity too.
Trust – a working from home relationship is essentially built on trust. Abuse it and you most definitely risk losing it. Reap the advantages of working from home and show how it can work for both you and your employer, and it is definitely something that can be of mutual benefit.

You can read the full findings from Seareach’s working from home survey here.

Does your employer allow you to work from home? If not why not?

If you do work from home, why does it work for you?

*This is a collaborative post*