What Are Some Pitfalls From Working Fully Remote
The Cost Of Working From Home Vs The Office In 2021
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Its well known how the pandemic has spawned a societal movement toward working from home . However, the financial expenses involved in this push towards remote work are far less documented.
Thats why Business.org surveyed 700 employed Americans to gauge the cost differences between WFH versus commuting to an office.
Out of these 700 people, we discovered:
- 28% work exclusively from home
- 24% work exclusively from an office
- 48% work a hybrid model
So, is it cheaper to work in a traditional office or at home? Lets find out.
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Does Working From Home Offer A Better Work
In the modern world, were constantly told about the importance of a healthy work-life balance. The exact meaning of the phrase is somewhat debated, but its generally agreed that you need to strike a good balance between how much time and energy you invest in your work, and how much you invest in your home life, family, relationships, and everything else.
A good work-life balance is difficult to achieve at the best of times, given the aforementioned obsession with productivity in most workplaces, but the impact of remote working has received a lot of attention. How can you maintain a work-life balance when both occur in the same place?
Its not just a rhetorical question it makes scientific sense, given what we know about human psychology and neurology. Our brains organise the information we use to navigate the world, and the events we experience, by way of cognitive frameworks labelled schemas.
We use schemas to determine how to act and respond in different situations and contexts, leading to the formation of ‘social schemas’. Thats why we behave in a certain way around our closest relatives, another way around old school friends, another with our university friends, and so on.
This is particularly obvious in the workplace, a familiar context with specific rules, expectations and norms. Our brains are sensitive to boundaries between places, so would logically find it easier to get into ‘work mode when entering a context set up for exactly that.
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Defined Start And Stop Times
One of the major drawbacks of working from home is the tendency to let work bleed into your personal life. Its often difficult to clock out when your workspace is your home.
When a coworker asks you for a quick favor once your workday is over, its hard to say no. After all, your computer is right there. This is particularly true for people who have a natural tendency to say yes to everything and hard workers in general.
This isnt the case when you commute to work each day. You leave your desk, hop in your car, and drive home. Your commute even if you live super close to your office is a way to transition from work to personal life.
Balance Beyond The Office
In many different areas, professionals who worked from home or split time between the home and office reported greater satisfaction than their in-office counterparts. This trend was especially evident in matters relating to individual performance: Remote or split-time workers were more satisfied than in-office employees with regard to pay, growth opportunities, and their jobs in general. Results like these form the basis of the business case for offering work-from-home options: Multiples studies have found remote employees to be happier and more engaged after leaving the office setting. Interestingly, however, a hybrid approach may be even more beneficial to workers than working exclusively at home. Work-life balance and family life satisfaction were best among the split-time cohort, for example, and they were also most likely to feel appreciated by their employers. Moreover, spending part of the week in the office may pay great dividends with colleagues. Split-timers felt most satisfied with their co-worker relationships, and they were even less likely than in-office workers to feel disconnected from fellow employees.
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Challenges Of Working From Home
While there are many pros to remote work, working from home does have its challenges too. Its a fairly new way of doing business, so youre guaranteed to run into some obstacles. Adapting to remote work takes time and effort from all members of the team.
The main fear many CEOs and founders have about working from home is that it could negatively impact collaboration and company culture. The lack of in-person interaction can be challenging, and without proper investment and forward-thinking, company culture and collaboration can fall by the wayside. Because of this, your HR team will need to implement robust new processes, work-from-home policies, and social initiatives to ensure your business runs smoothly and company culture doesnt suffer.
Working from home also requires better technology to make it a success. From high-quality home office equipment to effective collaboration software, you need to get the work-from-home set-up right to help your teams flourish. This could mean budgeting for a remote work allowance to help staff purchase everything they need to work from home successfully.
Finally, while working from home does allow for more employee flexibility, it can blur the line between personal and professional life. This can lead to staff working longer hours and burning out more easily. Therefore, you need to make work-life balance a key business goal if opting for home working.
Working From Home Vs Office: Some Pros And Cons
There are many pros and cons when it comes to working from home versus working in an office.
Some people are more comfortable in an office setting, while others prefer to work from home. Recently more people have been facing the choice of working from home as opposed to working from their office.
This article will explain some of the pros and cons of working from home and working from your office.
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Track Metrics That Matter
To track your productivity in each location, you first need to determine what to measure. We tend to think of productivity in terms of hours worked, but a more effective measure is the actual results of your labors. For hard metrics, look for some output measurements as well as data on how your time gets used . For soft metrics, consider logging both your mood and your sense of accomplishment at the end of each day you can also use things like email or group messaging to track feedback from others. None of these indicators is perfect, but together they present a useful picture.
Set up a spreadsheet where you can consolidate all your metrics into a single view. The simplest approach is to list the dates down the first column on the left and then assign a column to each key metric, like words typed, mood, accomplishments, and tasks completed. You might also want to track how much time youre wasting on distractions , how much time youre spending on meetings, and how much time you are spending in apps that indicate youre working diligently .
Pros Of Working In The Office
- More opportunities for growth and learning
First and foremost, the office is an excellent place to get a mentor. Working in the office also helps you learn how to relate to people from different backgrounds. You will automatically know how to behave accordingly in a professional setting.
- Improved time management
If you prefer working hours that are set in stone, the fixed structure in the office will give you a feeling of stability. You will also learn how to manage your time better working with others within your vicinity.
- Creation of relationships
Unlike working from home, being in the office allows you to interact with others and make acquaintances. Even though you wont manage to connect with everyone, there is likely someone who will become a close friend outside work.
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Take Breaks To Reduce Stress And Boost Productivity
Remote workers often take fewer breaks than their in-office colleagues, but taking breaks is one of the most effective ways for remote employees to stay productive.
Encourage your workers to get up periodically during the workday, especially when theyre particularly drained or distracted. They can grab a healthy snack, take a walk, call a friend, meditate, etc.
Many people find success using the Pomodoro Technique, which follows this method:
This technique can help your employees decompress and come back more focused.
Commuting To The Office
Heading to a traditional brick and mortar location every day also eats up its own share of cold hard cashbut in different ways.
Sure, grocery and utility expenses are lower since workers arent at home as much. But 60% of exclusively office-based employees report spending more on eating out than when they worked entirely from home. Separately, 53% spend more on coffee, while 34% fork over extra money for after-work drinks and socializing.
And its not all food and drinks, either. Simply getting to work is a feat, as 14% report spending more than $200 monthly to commute to work.
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Working From Home Vs Office Productivity
Office Life – July 11, 2022
The pandemic caused dramatic workplace shifts, including a huge rise in remote work. This raises the question: is working from home as productive as working from an office?
In fact, The Economist reports that the number of employees working from home skyrocketed from 5% before the pandemic to a staggering 60% in March 2020. And with this monumental change, the productivity of working from home has become a big topic of conversation.
As the professional world works to determine where we go from here, one of the big things that is being evaluated is working from home vs. office productivity and which is better for their business.
To weigh in on this conversation, we took a look at what the current data and trends are telling us.
Heres what we found.
Does Working From Home Really Work
Whether or not the transition to remote employment actually works depends on who you ask. There are many people who will say they love working from home, and just as many would say they prefer working in an office setting.
In 2021, 70% of remote workers said they found working from home less stressful than working in an office.
64% of workers also prefer hybrid work over working in a traditional work environment.
Multiple studies have also shown worker productivity increase since the shift to remote work.
Percentages range from a 13% increase to as high as 77%.
However, as with any study, there are always outliers and exceptions. While productivity and worker happiness may increase with remote work, there are still countless employees who cant wait to get back to the office.
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Remote Work Vs Office Work Vs Hybrid: What Do Employees Think
According to Bufferâs 2021 State of Remote Work, nearly 98% of workers would like to work remotely, at least some of the time, for the rest of their career.
Most employees believe that remote work improves their flexibility, but can be challenging for their mental health. According to respondents, the top benefits of remote work are the ability to have a flexible schedule, flexibility to work from anywhere, and not having to commute. The biggest struggles of remote work include not being able to unplug, difficulty with collaboration and communication, and loneliness.
Productivity results are more mixed. According to PwC, 52% of employers felt their company was more productive working from home, but only 34% of employees felt the same. About 83% of employers and 71% of employees say remote work has been a success during Covid-19 pandemic.
Most companies seem likely to adopt a hybrid workplace in the coming years. Over half of employees want to work remotely three days a week or more. Nearly 30% wish to be fully remote, working from home five days per week.
What Mix Of Wfh And Office Time Is Right For You
Many professionals will choose a hybrid approach to work after the pandemic, sometimes working from home, sometimes from the office. But how to decide where to spend each day isnt always as obvious as it seems. The authors describe a data-driven process for understanding where youre most productive on which kinds of tasks and how to convince your boss that your resulting plan is best for their interests as well.
Over the past year, many of us have found things to love about working from home like flexibility, the ability to focus, and no commute. Now that offices are starting re-open, you might start to remember that there is a lot to love about the office, too: social interaction, the joys of collaboration, and of course, that endless pot of coffee.
Many companies intend to give us the best of both worlds by allowing employees to split their time between home and the workplace. But it will only give you the best of both worlds if you figure out how to combine home and office time in a way that maximizes your productivity and personal wellbeing. That means figuring out which days to spend at home, which days to spend at the office, and just as crucial, how to sell your boss on that plan.
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Working From Home Vs Working In An Office: Why Working From Home Is More Beneficial Than Working In An Office
Home is defined as a place where one permanently lives, however this can also be described as a place of feeling and belonging. Workplace is defined as a place of occupation. While these two components began as separate things, overtime they have begun to integrate. In this paper I will discuss how working in the comfort of your own home can provide an environment that is better for mental, physical and financial well-being, as opposed to that of an office and compare working from home vs working in an office.
Working from home boosts productivity by allowing for more privacy and freedom for people to work on their own schedule to complete tasks. It also benefits both mental and physical health by relieving the stress of having to work in a chaotic office environment. Telecommuting is also known to be cost efficient, which for many people is another benefit. The integration of these environments has become a central theme in architecture.
From my own personal observations, many of my peers find that they cannot focus in the provided studio workspace and make the decision to work at home. This further displays the notion that a quieter environment will boost productivity.
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Depression and anxiety will often negatively impact someones work performance. Working from home and avoiding long and dreadful commutes can combat these negative physical and mental impacts.
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Child Care Costs Stay Elevated For Wfh
In theory, parents working remotely could eliminate child care costs since they can remain in the proximity of their kids. However, our data reveals this isnt entirely the case.
In fact, 51% of people working entirely from home report paying more in child care costs than before, when they commuted to the office each day.
This is likely due to schools across the US shutting down in response to the pandemic. And without school in session, workers with kids often can’t double as both corporate employees and domestic caretakers simultaneously.
Unfortunately, women have suffered the most from this childcare gap. Upwards of 2.5 million women have left the US workforce since the start of the pandemic, largely to handle increased caretaking responsibilities.1
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Most Times You Really Dont Have A Choice
Unfortunately, not everyone has a choice regarding office or remote work. For instance, casual workers in the production line dont have the luxury of working from home. Lab technicians and medical professionals are excellent examples of professionals who have to report daily to work. On the other hand, you might be forced to work from home to reduce the spread of Covid-19, even though you prefer working in the office. Since you cannot do much to change your current situation, it is best to make the most out of it.
