Working at home is supposed to be the way forward, reducing fuel pollution and avoiding the traffic jams. We can sit in our home office, drinking lots of tea & listening to music while we work without interruptions.
With fuel prices rising daily, high speed internet & office real estate soaring, many companies decide to become leaner by allowing some staff to work from their office at home.
But does working from home work for everyone?
For many people, working from home is the ideal solution in creating a balance between work and life. The problems associated with working from home include:
- Lack of daily interaction with work colleagues
- Self discipline is required as there is no one to monitor your work
- Finding time to have a shower!
I have a friend who works with a large firm of lawyers. I met him for lunch and he gave me some interesting insights. "Initially everything went smoothly" he said. But as time passed he noticed that other people were being promoted within the company and he wasn’t even on the list for consideration
He complained about being given all the "rubbish jobs" whilst his colleagues got the better cases. He was invited to fewer meetings and didn’t get as many memos about the company as he used to.
Although he was able to network with his colleagues by email and phone, he felt that it wasn’t the same as when he used to meet them every day.
His relationships with the key people in charge the company declined, as his more visible colleagues made inroads with the managers.
He has now decided to move back into the firm's city centre office.
If you decide to start working from home, then do a trial run first. Keep notes, analyze the problems that you faced and analyse the solutions. Working at home can work for some lucky people, but is not necessarily right for everyone!
Do you work from home? Is it more productive? What are the issues that you face? Once you have the answer to these questions then you will know if it is right for you.
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