With the pandemic forcing us to stay locked inside our homes, a not-so-new culture became the ultimate necessity for the human race, and that culture is “Work from Home.” This culture is omnipresent, whether it is into a corporate job, a teacher, a kindergartener or a college-going student.
This culture has been there in the corporate sector for a long time for employees who go on leave or for other reasons. Also, this culture had been there in the educational industry for people who took correspondence courses. But now, it is something which is the means of survival, not a matter of choice.
On the surface level, everything may sound rosy; but that is not necessarily the case. With the ease of working, many challenges come along with the work from home setup.
Let us discuss some of the boons as well as the banes of the work from home culture.
Pros
- You can work in the comfort of your own home. You can actually sit on your sofa in your comfy pajama pants and attend meetings the whole day.
- Travelling takes a large chunk of time, especially when you live in a metropolitan city and work from home culture saves a lot of that time.
- In today’s time when fuel costs are soaring high and are high enough to put a dent in your pocket, working from home actually saves all that money which you spend on buying fuel for your vehicles.
- Environmentalists have been trying to find a way to reduce pollution caused by fuels for ages, and working from home actually gives a solution for that issue to a large extent. In other terms, we can say that working from home is a great way of reducing pollution.
- Renting multi-storey offices or working spaces requires loads of money. By promoting work from home culture, companies are actually able to save all that money.
- Running an office is not an easy task. Companies are able to save the money which they spend on electricity.
- Since you save a lot of time which you otherwise lose in commuting, it also gives you several opportunities to pursue your passion.
- Since you are working from home, you have more time to spend with your family. The moments which you might have missed otherwise will now be carved in your precious memory.
- Work from home is a boon for travel enthusiasts because they can go to their favourite holiday destinations and can even work from there.
- It also increases productivity because you can focus on your work without distractions or any other worries.
There are always two sides to a coin. If something has advantages, then it is bound to have disadvantages as well. You can find many examples supporting this fact, like mobile phones. Work from home is another example that has both advantages as well as disadvantages.
Cons
- Work from home has caused a wreckage in the work-life balance of almost everyone out there. It has successfully omitted the boundary between personal and professional life up to an extent where you are thinking about your work all the time even if you are not working. It also forces employees to work for long hours most of the time; even past working hours.
- When you are working in your house, there are a lot of distractions present around you. It can be anything from your kids to that nosy neighbour.
- Working alone at home also causes lack of contact with other human beings, thus increasing the monotony of life.
- Also, as an employer, it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor the performance of the employees, thus sometimes causing delays or facilitating poor quality work.
- Continuous isolation and the lack of human contact also push people towards depression and loneliness.
Conclusion
The prevalent work from home culture has made everyone’s lives more manageable as well as challenging. Do mention in the comments section what you think are the pros and cons of working from home based on your experience.
