Gone are the days when doing a job was synonymous with getting up, taking a bus to work, and spending your day within the walls of your office. Today, like everything else, the way we work has changed drastically, and for good.

In the past few years, we have seen an upward trend in remote work. Today, most people have access to internet service thanks to providers like Spectrum Internet, Verizon Fios, AT&T, and others. Spectrum, in particular, covers around 80% of the US with its superfast Internet service. And thanks to such services, remote work has become the ideal way of work for many.

However, like everything else in life, remote work has its own cons as well. Keep reading to learn about both the pros and cons of remote working.  

Advantages of Remote Working

Let’s first look at the benefits of working remotely from the comfort of your house or wherever you want to work from:

Better Work and Life Balance

When you are working at home, you get to spend some extra time with your family. You are able to be present for your family when they need you. You can enjoy meals together, and you have more energy by the end of the work day to spend some quality time with them. On the other hand, when you are working from the office, you get so emotionally and mentally drained by the end of the day that you come home to your family yet don’t have the energy left to spend time with them. And when commuting for work is long, it just adds to the tiredness. 

Improved Peace of Mind

When you are working from the comfort of your home, you don’t have to worry about commuting, you don’t have to face office politics, and you don’t have to worry about getting ready every day to look presentable. When you have fewer decisions to make every day, your mind is more peaceful and you will have more mental energy to focus on the work at hand.

Enhanced Efficiency

Continuing our previous discussion, when you have a peaceful mind and don’t have to worry about a lot of stuff, your work efficiency improves. You can focus all your energy on your work and get more done in a short amount of time.

Saving Time and Money

Working from home can save you a lot of time and money; you don’t have to commute to work and can save a lot of money on fuel. Plus, you will save hours of commute and get your work done instead. You don’t have to spend cash on formal dressing and save money as you will be spending most of your time working in your sweats. 

Downsides of Remote Working

While there are many advantages of remote working, there are some downsides to it which you might have to live with if you prefer working from the comfort of your home:

No Separation Between Work and Home

One of the major downsides of remote working observed lately is that there is no boundary left to the amount of time you spend working; when you are working from home, you might involuntarily stretch tasks and spend the entire day working on them. Thus, it is important to set boundaries between your household chores and office work and maintain them.

Lack of Social Interaction

While this is no issue for someone who is introverted and doesn’t enjoy social interactions, it might be a huge deal for extroverts. People who get recharged with social interactions might find it hard to spend time working at home and might even get depressed. They might miss the feeling of meeting their colleagues every day and spending time socializing. To manage this issue, you can change your work environment; go to a coffee shop or a café and do your work there sometimes. Call a friend or a colleague and have some heart-to-heart conversation to keep yourself recharged.  

Distractions at Home

Another issue many of us might face while working from home is the distractions at home; not all of us have a dedicated workstation at home and might have to face our kids screaming and fighting over their toys, the loud noise of vacuum cleaner, and the little chores your family keeps asking you to do as they don’t understand that working at home is still working!

The Bottom Line:

It feels good to be able to work from the comfort of your own home, or you may also work while having a vacation somewhere on the beach. It does sound exciting, but there are some downsides to remote working that we have mentioned above. The key is to keep both advantages and disadvantages in mind and make sure you work with the same honesty and diligence at home as you would be working within the confines of your office building.