Working From Home Isn’t As Great As You Think
You’ve finally gotten to work after an extra rough commute, are barely sitting down, and the annoying guy in your cube farm immediately comes up to you asking questions your brain isn’t ready to handle. All you can think is “I haven’t even had my coffee yet, why is he over here. I wish I worked from home, then this would never happen”. Well, this may be shocking to hear, but “telecommuting” isn’t always that great.
When you’re actually working from home for a while, you begin to realize that the cube life actually does have a few benefits over your house or apartment. Let’s take a few moments to recognize that everything really isn’t so bad in the workplace.
Your office chair is awesome
Face it, you’re never going to drop $1,500 on that super comfortable air mesh, spring loaded, lumbar supporting, multi–angle adjustable chair that you have in your office. The $150 imitation version from Staples looks pretty cool, but after a few hours at home, you realize that there is no substitute for the real thing. When you’re having a bad day, the last thing you want is physical discomfort as well. Knowing that when you get back to your cube, you’ll at least have a great chair to sit on is definitely a huge advantage.
I’ll get so much more done at home…well, maybe
One comment I’ve heard thrown around a lot is “I get so much more done at home without all of the distractions at work”. While this may be valid for some occupations, I have found the opposite to be true.
Sure, you’re at home, and can work in your boxers. You’re going to be a swift, work demolishing machine now that you can do whatever you want without disturbing, or being disturbed by your coworkers, right? A little TV for some background noise, and you’re ready to rumble. Oh wait, is that the new trailer for that Bruce Willis movie Surrogates? I like sci-fi, let me look it up online real quick. Oh shoot, I never did the dishes, and they’d better be clean before my wife gets home, or else. Ah lunchtime, I’ll just watch an episode…or two…of something I recorded last week.
Like it or not, being AT work helps you avoid all of the random distractions that may come up while sitting around in your home. Also, those little disturbances from your cube neighbors may actually help you focus, or at least motivate you to get something done so they’ll get off your back.
Working at home is lonely
Even in the age of the Internet, where you can be constantly connected via IM, Facebook, Twitter etc., working all alone can still be lonely. You may go through an entire day of working at home, then realize you haven’t moved more than 20 feet in the past 8 hours. You also haven’t even spoken more than a few words (to yourself). This is fine for a day or two, but it will quickly remind you of how much you miss the random social interaction you get from your office.
You may think that working from home is a panacea and will fix all of your problems, but trust me it isn’t and it won’t. It has its’ advantages for some, but for the majority, I believe that working in a real office will enable you to stay more focused on your work, and keep you at least mildly social.
