Home Office - The advantages and disadvantages
In itself, the term "home office" is quite self-explanatory: one's own four walls function as an office and workplace. In a broader sense, the link to the employer's premises is removed. The workplace can, for example, be moved to the desk at home, the local library or the favourite café. This is a way of working that is primarily reserved for office workers - because a nurse, a construction worker or a cashier cannot, of course, take their work home with them.
The advantages of the Home Office
Working from home probably sounds like a dream to many employees. In fact, working from home also has many advantages.
1. increased productivity
The colleagues from the department have a short chat while you try to work highly concentrated yourself. The colleague talks about her vacation and somewhere a telephone rings: "Especially in open-plan offices the noise level is often high. Colleagues distract you and you notice how your concentration suffers. You can avoid this in your home office. No one is there to distract you. You can create the working atmosphere you want much better than you need to be productive. With absolute peace and quiet, your favourite music on your ear or a wide open window. Open-plan offices in particular have some disadvantages that affect productivity, such as time or Gentside reports.
2. save time and money
The shorter the commuting distance, the faster you get to work. What sounds natural at first becomes all the clearer when you don't have to drive 20 kilometres in the evening traffic. The employee can thus save valuable time on every home office day, depending on how he or she travels to and from work. Home office days can also make themselves felt in the wallet. The fewer distances travelled, the lower the costs of mobility by car and public transport. This saves you money.
However, working from home also means that you are inclined not to leave home. The magic figure of 10,000 steps per day is therefore not something that most people can manage. Andreas Weck shows in a report at t3n how this goal can also be achieved, despite the home office.
3. work when it suits you
Where some prefer to start an hour earlier to get more out of the day, others prefer to work into the evening hours or to have an extended lunch break. If there are no appointments or meetings in the way, this can be achieved wonderfully by working in the home office. This enables you to achieve a great work-life balance, as you are much more flexible than with fixed working hours. Especially for employees with children, the home office offers advantages as they can spend most of their time at home with their loved ones. But don't forget: At the end of the working day, the workload must still be reached!
4. using the cosiness of your own four walls
"What am I wearing today?" - This question belongs to the past. In the home office, you can dress, style and behave the way you want, because in the end, it's all about work. You can also set up your workplace as you wish.
The disadvantages of the home office
Every medal has two sides - as does the work from home. The disadvantages of the home office are discussed below.
1. self-discipline is a must!
Even if productivity is often higher, there are still many distractions lurking at home: Just wash a machine, do the dishes and watch a episode of your favourite series, then it's time to get back to work... But at the end of the day, this setting costs you more time than you save by travelling to work and increasing productivity. That's why a high degree of self-discipline is indispensable so that you can really carry out your tasks even though there is no boss in sight. After all, work in your home office is based on trust, which means that your boss trusts that you will really be able to work the required hours.
2. separation of work and private life
When work and life merge in the premises, there is a high risk that the clear separation of the two areas will be abolished. In the evening "just check mails for a short time" or quickly attach them one or two hours after dinner often becomes a habit. That's why you should always have a look at the hours you have worked, despite your home office, and spend them as productively as possible.
3. miss the boat
As annoying as the colleagues may be - in the end we people like to be in company and whoever works most of the time or even exclusively in the home office also misses the nice conversations between colleagues and the common breaks. In addition, good means of communication must be available on the part of the employer so that the communication and distribution of tasks among the employees can also function smoothly in the home office and not end in endless email conversations. Also, unfortunately, some employers often perceive the employees who are not present as being less present than those who are always on site. This can have a negative impact on additional bonuses or salary increases.
4. pressure and overtime
Home office is not yet established in many companies. Workers often find themselves under pressure to be particularly good at avoiding the prejudice of working nothing. This often results in unpaid overtime and additional stress.
Is home office good or bad?
Whether a home office is good or bad cannot be said in general terms. Work at home should neither be too strict nor too relaxed in order to create an optimal work-life balance. So you can use the advantages and eliminate disadvantages. In addition, there are a lot of tips and tools on how to make working in the home office even better, more productive and more successful.
