Work From Home – Is It Worth It?

When you spend half the day battling the heat, the humidity (or the snow and ice) and the heavy rush of traffic just to commute to work every day, work from home seems like a wonderful idea. You can lounge around all day indoors in your PJs and make a living!

However, that?s not all, a freelancer who?s working from home doesn?t have it all sorted out. There are some downsides to the job as well, but the good far outweighs the bad. Many of the big-shot companies actually hire people who are willing to work from home! Here are some of the reasons why working from home is totally worth it:

Work From Home - Is It Worth It?
Work From Home – Is It Worth It?

You?re more Productive and Happier

No one likes to wake up early in the morning, dress up and commute to work every day wearing a three-piece suit and tie. It would be so much better if everyone could just chill in their personal space, wake up when they want to and work when it suits them. You?re a lot more productive and happier in spite of having to manage both homes and work simultaneously.

Surveys have proven the same. According to a study 86% of the Americans love working from home. Moreover, 41% of the people would turn down a 9-5 job or a corporate position and work from home instead.

You Can Set Your Own Working Hours

Now, in a corporate setting, punctuality is a virtue that people most value. A 9 am morning shift starts exactly at 9 in the morning; you cannot afford to come in late. Most companies also reduce future salary increases if an employee comes in late too many times. Moreover, there are limited leaves that you can apply for in a year.

Not to mention overtime and extra shifts that only add on to the pressure. Working from home saves you from all this trouble. You can choose when to work and set your own deadlines. You can make impromptu plans, travel anywhere you want to and still work!

When You Work From Home You Don?t Have To Go Anywhere

One of the biggest advantages or perks of working from home is you don?t have to go to the office every day. While everyone working at the corporate sector has to deal with traffic and adverse weather conditions, you get to chill in your home office and work peacefully. Also, people working from home save a lot of money too. The gas bills are considerably lower and you are spared the harassment and exhaustion of going to and fro daily. And you can set up your own business phone line using a VoIP phone line, like one-third of all businesses in America.

Almost 40% of the people working from home are under the age of 40. From fresh dropouts to home makers and college kids, everyone can make money from home if they have the right platform and resources.

No More Pointless Meetings

Work from home jobs are not just confined to freelancing for clients, you can even start your own thing, gradually becoming an entrepreneur. Starting an independent startup gives you a lot of creative freedom and flexibility to manage things the way you want to. You are not answerable to anyone and most importantly don?t have colleagues to deal with.

Ask anyone who?s from the IT or corporate what?s the most annoying thing about their job and the answer will be unanimous ? the co-workers. Office politics, unnecessary meetings with the HR, biased treatment of employees and not being given due credit for your contribution to the firm are just some of the problems a person working in the 9-5 job has to deal with on a daily basis.

You Are Your Own Boss

When you are working from home you are not working under anybody, there is no boss or manager breathing down your neck. Of course, there are deadlines you have to meet and work you have to complete, but the work schedule is not that stringent and uptight.

Work from home jobs is a lot more flexible and independent than the conventional 9-5 ones. At least you don?t have a supervisor or CCTV cameras watching your every move! This does have a downside to it though, not having a boss motivating you do make one complacent and careless.

You Get To Have Fun As Well

All work and no play would definitely make you a dull person. Sick of being confined to your cubicle all day just holed up in front of your computer, sitting on the same chair working on those same figures and projects day after day? Well, people who work from home can take breaks anytime they want to.

You don?t have jam-packed schedules and deadlines to match, yes there is some work pressure but not as much as you?d experience in the cut-throat corporate sector. No, work from home jobs gives you the much-needed breathing space to have fun and do your own thing from time to time.

You Can Save Up A Lot More

Commuting to and fro from the office every day can cost quite a fortune especially if you are using your own vehicle. The gas bill and fuel charges take up almost ? of your salary thereby cutting down on your savings. Also, in a professional environment, you need to follow a dress code and keep yourself prim and proper.

Car maintenance, dry cleaning, laundering, and other miscellaneous expenses eat up a significant portion of your earnings leaving you with meager savings at the end of the month. Working from home spares you from all of these costs.

The Bottom Line

All said and done, working from home is not all rainbows and the sunshine though. There are times when your personal and professional commitments might clash and leave you in a dilemma. The key is to find that silver lining. Set the boundaries and keep your work separate from your personal life. Create a dedicated workspace, an office of sorts in your home to help you set the mood for working peacefully for extended hours.

Do you work from home, or are you looking to create the arrangement in the future?

( Photo by hollidaypics )

4 Responses to Work From Home – Is It Worth It?

  1. Hi Kevin. We don’t work from home due to the nature of our business, but we are self-employed, which we both like. But we do have two family members who do work from home, and both love it. Neither could ever imagine going back. My nephew still gets up early, reads motivational material, is showered, shaved, eaten breakfast, dressed well but comfortably, and is on his computer at 7:00 am. He still keeps a ridged schedule, but he doesn’t have to because he’s self-employed, but he does it for himself. He loves it. A sister-in-law works for a company who does monitor how much time she is online working, so hers is less flexible, but she has great benefits, and she wouldn’t trade it either. When I was young and single, I worked a part-time job for 22 years in addition to my full-time work, and I did it from home. I loved it also. Instead of watching TV or wasting time, I was earning money. Now that I’m older, I see it will pay off in terms of how much I will collect in social security. So, yes, it’s worth it, for many different reasons.

  2. That all describes me Bev. I was working from home for at least 8 years in the mortgage business, and the past 8 years with blogging. I find that I can be more productive working from home, since I can concentrate on doing what brings in the most money. That’s unlike an office environment where you’re always being pulled in 10 different directions. I also find that it affords a better life/work balance.

    That said, I probably work more hours, mainly because I can, but still have more time for everything else. What I do find though is that you really have to do your best to limit at home distractions. One being that your family and friends think you have all the time in the world to do X, Y and Z. That’s a constant struggle, but not enough of a problem to remotely offset the advantages.

  3. I couldn’t let this post go without jumping in. I worked from home for years and LOVED it. Now I am in a big “open floor plan” situation for a major corporation and I despise it. In fact I spent a good portion of this morning searching for a new job–one that will let me work from home. Working from home has always been the “holy grail” to me, and never easy to find. As an introvert, I find working so closely with people exhausting and miserable. Working from home gives me the personal space I need and allows me to concentrate.

  4. Hi John – I think that work from home is the holy grail for most people. Just mention it in passing, and watch people’s eyes light up. It’s popular precisely because it’s so rare. I mean, you hear about it all the time, but when you look for a job that offers it, or ask your current employer to let you do it, you usually come up empty. Self-employment and commissioned sales seem to be the only way to do it consistently.

    I believe that most employers still subscribe to the plantation workstyle (captive workers, held in the employer’s shop, working within very tight control). You almost have to do something dramatic to get the arrangement, like go into sales, or start your own business. I hope you can land something that will get you back home. It’s worse for you, since you know the perks of work from home, having already done it.

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