Tag: work from home

Working From Home – In The Mix

As Boris announces today that he wants everyone to return to their offices again to enable the economy to keep growing, it made me think more about this. I am lucky enough to do a mix of work, but the majority of it is not working from home. My dream is to eventually work mainly in writing jobs, but even then I hope to have a good balance of work in a workplace and at home.

There are so many advantages and disadvantages for working at home. I like the idea of finding a reasonable balance between the two. Here are the pros and cons of home working:

Advantages

1) No travel. Good for the environment and saves time being wasted. Why travel for meetings when you can still cover the material with online professional appointments?

2) No need to spend on snacking. All the food and supplies you need are already at home. This can be a downer too as you may be tempted to eat and drink more when working so close to a fully filled fridge.

3) You can take better control of your timetable, unless you are unlucky enough to have been given back-to-back zoom calls all day.

4) You are your own boss. Well, not literally, but at least nobody is actually breathing down your neck as you try to hit a deadline. At least if you need to buy some time you can say that the internet is down. Who will know?!

5) In theory you will get much more done. No distractions from chatty colleagues or noisy photocopiers can be used as excuses for a lack of productivity.

Disadvantages

1) Although you don’t use any fuel, you may find it harder to make a distinction between work and home. Travelling to work is often a good way to disconnect from your home life and give yourself the brain space needed for a day at work. I often unpick a day on my way home from work and usually by the time I reach my house I am ready to move on and chill.

2) Pets and family members can get in the way. At work you won‘t be dealing with fighting cats or intrusive dogs. Kids won’t be arguing over computer games in the background. Of course office hours are longer then school hours so there is bound to be an overlap.

3) I found that when I had a period of working from home I missed the social interaction of being around my colleagues who always give me a sounding board and regularly cheer me up with their humour. Let’s face it, nothing beats a good face to face gossip either.

4) You are using your own supplies. At least at work everything is there for you. Working from home leads to dealing with printers, restocking ink and regular trips to the post office. Although you can claim for these, they can take up a lot of valuable time.

5) You can get tempted to relax whilst at home. I know people who end up getting up later and staying in their jogging bottoms all day. Sitting around can lead to bad backs and putting weight on. That trip into the office can involve walking or cycling and getting your daily dose of fresh air and exercise.

So yes, I like working from home a lot but it comes with a down side. Personally I have a mix of both and like being able to have some days at home and others in a busy environment. Perhaps in future I will manage to make it a 50:50 split between them both.

For a related article about working from home click here.

If you enjoyed reading this post please comment below your thoughts about working from home. Also please consider following my blog. This will help me build a platform so that one day I can work on it from home more.

Working From Home – Without Distractions.

Temptation is everywhere when working at home.

Following my previous post about what it is like to work from home, I thought it would be fun to discuss the types of distraction you may find there and ways of avoiding them.

I have worked part time from my living room and learned some lessons for myself. To add to this, many of my friends have stopped commuting to London and instead done all of their business from home for the last year and a half. They have shared the things that regularly annoy them while working at home.

Here are some distractions that we have discovered whilst trying to conduct zoom meetings and carry out our daily work.

1) The TV.

For me the television is very tempting. When I have a spare moment I feel the instinct to pop it on for a few minutes. Then, if I am not careful, I simply mute it while I work, finding myself constantly referring to it in between each task and delaying my progress.

Similarly, if you base yourself in the living room, others may come in at different times of the day and want to turn on their favourite telly shows.

The easy answer is not to work in the living room but to base yourself somewhere that others definitely won’t interrupt your meetings or put you off. Failing this, a good old fashioned ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign may work instead.

2) Pets

I suppose this one speaks for itself, and whilst I don’t currently have any animals, I often cat sit for a friend. Cats and dogs love to roam and have very few boundaries. If you close the door, they claw at it until it opens and before long they are stretching out in front of your camera, causing you to have to contort your body to get seen on screen.

Pets need training to stay downstairs (or up) during work times and have regular opportunities to go out for a run. We have all seen animals on Youtube popping their heads into Zoom meetings and disturbing TV presenters who have reported from their own houses. Getting a good routine involving pets will help your work day run more smoothly.

3) Work away from the road.

What I mean by this is make sure you base yourself nearer the back of the house or flat, perhaps near the back garden. I have found that working in a room that overlooks my street has led to all sorts of noises disturbing my work.

From deliveries to rubbish trucks, arguing neighbours to children singing, all sorts of things have disrupted me because I worked in a room that was at the front of the house.

4) Try and disconnect.

It sounds obvious but unplug the house phone during the day. Otherwise it will ring again and again during your meetings and you will find yourself frustrated by it.

Yesterday I saw two Olympians doing an interview on the TV and their house phone was constantly ringing in another part of the house so they were unable to stop it. Their faces showed their irritation and this confirms why house phones and other devices which may ring need turning off while you are working.

5) Stay away from the kitchen.

Another thing that I find massively distracting is the kitchen because when working at home I find there is a constant temptation to snack. I have learned that the best thing to do is schedule breaks like I would have if I was in the actual workplace.

That way I don’t end up sipping coffee all day and wasting time boiling the kettle. Alongside this I have to delete my fast food apps during the week as I have fallen foul to repeatedly ordering lunch by delivery.

Writers and bloggers work from home a lot and so I thought it would be useful to discuss this topic. Here is a previous post about this topic. Feel free to share your own experiences and tips in the comments below. Maybe even consider following my blog.

Working From Home – Living the Dream?

Many people admire writers because they get to work from home. It seems like the perfect way to maintain a work-life balance and I have looked upon them with great envy for many years. But is it really living the life of luxury? Could you soon also be living the dream?

During covid times, so many have had no choice but to set up their offices in spare rooms or on kitchen tables. The question is – what are the pros and cons of working from home?

Thinking about becoming a full time blogger and writer, one aspect of that work that appeals to me is the ability to work from home. There have been times over the last year when I have been able to do some of my work from home and many of my closest friends have stopped commuting to London during the pandemic, adapting their work practices to suit a different setting. For all of us it has definitely been an eye opener, making us realise that having a work place within your house changes just about every aspect of your life.

Is working from home all it’s cracked up to be?

Positive Aspects

Working from home during the pandemic has been a good way of reducing the amount of mixing that people do. Zoom has acted as a conduit between colleagues and hosted thousands of meetings which would otherwise have been face-to-face, in the same room. Work conferences abroad have been replaced by meetings online and the reductions in the use of transport have no doubt had a positive effect on the environment. For me, seeing friends working from home has made me feel that they are likely to be living the dream. My dream, at least.

Technology has had to adapt to meet the needs of home workers who have had to spend extended periods performing their usual tasks using nothing but a laptop or iPad and a printer. Even social aspects of work have had to change, with people hosting online pub quizzes and dinner parties remotely.

The environmental benefits of home working speak for themselves. Reductions in the use of cars, trains, buses and aeroplanes means much less pollution. Cleaner air in cities is also a spin-off, especially appreciated after reports that levels of air pollution in cities have become damaging to health and can lead to affected lungs and breathing problems.

Working at home can mean more time to do other things. Not having to drive for an hour or so each day or spend hours frustrated on the long commute to London, could have a great impact on you. One of my friends finds more time for exercise while I myself found extra opportunities to read books, something which I personally find incredibly satisfying. Some merely get a bit of extra rest, setting their alarms that little bit later. Although I do know one person who often gets up so late that he finds himself with no time to get properly ready and has had to do a few early morning meetings in his boxer shorts.

Surely this is living the dream?

The Down Side

From the people I have spoken to there are some common aspects of working from home which are grinding them down a bit and they feel that their mental health is suffering because of these. I found some of these things irritating but each person has to weigh up the positives and negatives of this new way of working.

Being at home all the time can make it very difficult to separate the workplace from the family home. You can easily get confused between the two, distracted by children, the TV in the other room, daytime deliveries from parcel firms and just the general temptation to take five minutes for a drink in the garden or a quick game on a console.

Having a set workspace to travel to can be a motivating factor and many people use the journey to work to prepare themselves for the day ahead. Leaving work at work is commonly described as one of the major pros related to working in an actual office or at a specific workplace. Similarly, those who used to walk or cycle for part of their journey may often spend less time doing physical exercise as a result of working from home.

One of my friends finds himself working much longer as he finds it hard to know when to switch off. It’s quite distracting knowing there is another task to perform and the temptation can be to just switch the laptop on for another half an hour. This can then detract from your family time and others in your house can get upset and feel as though you’re neglecting them a bit.

To add to this, having enough space has been a big deal, particularly during lockdowns. Having children in the living room or a spouse running an office in another room, puts demands on space and also creates additional noise. When the internet is down, meetings get disturbed or downloading files is dragged out, especially when lots of people are sharing the wifi.

Quite honestly, the office can be a busy place but houses can be even more distracting. Pets often pop up and peruse the room during a meeting or do their business on your paperwork. How often are you watching someone on Zoom trying to subtly shoe away a cat or dog? Offices definitely have fewer animals, unless you’re a vet.

Is your pet disturbing your meetings?

Summary of Positives

– Great for the environment

– Reduces tiring travel time

– Enables you to organise your time more flexibly

– Zoom can make meetings quicker and more efficient

Summary of Negatives

– Can cause conflict in the home

– Much less sociable

– Less travel can mean fewer opportunities for exercise

– Easy to be distracted from work

– Losing motivation is more likely

So basically, with some experience of home working myself and being surrounded by people who have been doing it for extended periods, my own preference is a mixture of the two. There is a great freedom in working from home but nothing beats the social aspect of working with others, in a set aside workplace. What are your thoughts on the matter? Are you living the dream by working from home or do you prefer getting out and about for work?

Please drop a comment about your own work from home experience and if you like what you read perhaps consider following my blog.