You wake up early, and you look around you: the same scenery as yesterday. The table and the computer await you. “You work from home, what luck?” Hello, and welcome you all, our today’s topic is Work from home vs Work from Office. So Let’s dive in…
Work from home
Work from home means that you would not commute to an office regularly and instead would have to work from a home office, your dining room table, a coffee shop, or even a co-working space. You would not have to be in the office nor would you have a designated space for yourself.
- Advantages: Work from home offers many advantages, such as reducing the time and cost of daily commutes. Working from home also offers greater flexibility in terms of working hours for employees, which can be ideal for those with personal circumstances that benefit from less rigid office hours.
- Challenges: However, Work from home is not a modality without challenges. Those who have been working from home during the pandemic have reported issues such as difficulty unwinding after work, loneliness, and trouble collaborating with colleagues. Working from home also depends on having a stable and secure Internet connection, which is not always easy to find outside of an office.
- Ideal for: Employees who have a long commute to work or have personal responsibilities who benefit from flexible working hours.
Work from office
Working in a traditional full-time office is what most of us were used to before the pandemic. Working in an office full time would imply a daily commute and comply with the normal working hours established by your employer.
- Advantages: Working in an office full-time certainly has its advantages, including the ease of organic collaboration with colleagues that can be more difficult to replicate when teammates work remotely. Communication can be easier because conversations can take place when you bump into someone in the break room or pick them up from their table.
- Challenges: However, commuting to an office can cost workers time and money, depending on how far away they live and whether their employer pays for their travel. In addition, easy access to constant communication can mean that workers do not focus as easily on their work and spend time chatting with colleagues. These spontaneous conversations can also lead to decisions being made without the involvement of the entire team, which can lead to project delays and errors due to miscommunication.
- Best for: Employees who have a short commute, who don’t need more flexibility in the working hours, and who enjoy the culture of the workplace.
Work from home vs Work from Office
We establish some schedules to fulfil the tasks, perfect. But some things cannot be controlled. Children, calls, distractions are beyond your control. Working at home has its good side but also its dark side. For this reason, many companies decide that part of the work is done at home while still being part of a team. But they are still very few.
Since 2005, the number of people who work from home has grown by 103% in the United States. In India? 88% of workers in India prefer to work from home Read more>>.
Work from home has advantages; especially in saving transport costs, in an improvement in family reconciliation, and for the company, it means less expense without reducing productivity.
The point is that the mentality of many managers is outdated and that of some workers as well. Working from home requires iron discipline, finding a balance between the hours dedicated to fulfilling your work obligations, and your personal life.
Sometimes, you miss having a colleague to solve a problem or feel that you are part of a team. The dark side of going to work only to do nothing is real, and unfortunately common in many organizations.
There are people who ‘need’ to go to work to socialize because they believe that staying at the table piling up papers or pretending to be busy is enough and, worst of all, it makes them ‘great’ workers because they spend many hours at the company, the same hours that boss do.
Working at home is the same or harder than doing it in a physical company. And at the same time, the work comes out, the objectives are met.
If distance training exists, why not remote work if possible? With the same rights, of course. Working from home makes you socially “invisible”. Putting up with comments like “I don’t see you on the bus anymore” or “Don’t you do anything? These are small obstacles that are easy to overcome. It’s been too many years seeing the “winner” go to his position impeccably dressed to do his job ( or not) and arrive home defeated by his hard day.
Fulfilling your work obligation from home has the same merit as doing it in person, and that cost savings for the company should be reflected in the workers’ salaries.
Managers should understand that the company is a place to produce and create a good climate but not to fill a space with people. We can compare with other nearby countries where productivity is high, quality of work is optimal and the workplace is not a space for fun (meetings without a clear objective, frequent meals…)
We will have to reflect on the high demand through workers to be able to carry out their function at home, and why they continue to be stuck in a model that does not benefit any of the parties economically.
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