Pros and Cons of Having an Office at Home

The modern-day workplace has very much changed in recent decades.

If you take a close look at some of those 80’s or 90’s films, you’ll see that the only people working from home were the artists, and perhaps a cigarette-smoking and typewriter-wielding novelist.

Nowadays, on the other hand, the companies are outsourcing more and more positions, to the point where some companies won’t even bother trying to get a location for their office. This curious turn of events has come about thanks to computers and their internetworked omnipotence, so to speak.

You want to draw a comic book and work as an artist? – Get one of those graphic tablets and install some software on your computer and you’re good to go.

Fancy working as an accountant and taking care of someone’s finances? – No problemo, sit behind your computer screen and start hacking at those tax returns and unpaid bills.

The thing is, more and more people nowadays find themselves working on the position of a home-based freelancer. So, as this odd way of working takes a swing in the modern economy, the folks who have had the pleasure (or displeasure) to earn their living like this, have very much postulated the positives as well as the negatives of such a lifestyle.

In this article, we’re going to talk about the pros and cons of working from home. Although an advantage for one person may seem like a disadvantage for the next, the entries below would pretty much be true for everyone across the board.

Right then, folks, without further ado, here’s the deal.

Pros of Working From Home

1) Saves Money

Having to go to and fro an office can be quite taxing on your budget.

The thing is, the commute is going to take not a negligible chunk of your monthly earnings. Also, let’s say you’ll be late for your train or bus a couple of times a month – that’s an additional taxi cost that your company doesn’t cover. (Let’s assume that the regular commute costs are covered.)

Also, once you get to work, unless you pack your own meals, you’ll have to buy snacks and refreshments once you’re there, which represents another way of spending money you didn’t plan on. Special business attire would be another way you’re forced to spend additional money you didn’t plan for, so no office – no special suits you need to pay for.

2) No Commuting

Without a doubt, one of the worst aspects of working in an office is having to commute.

Of course, some folks are lucky and have their office close to their homes, but for the rest of the hard-working men and women, commuting means wasting one or two hours a day on absolutely nothing at all.

No to mention that commuting is in and of its own fairly irritating because you can get stampeded during the rush hour if you're not careful. Granted, those times when you do get to sit beside the window and it’s raining outside can be quite a beautiful respite from the daily rush, so that would be a sort of silver lining for this otherwise rough scenario.

3) Flexible Work Hours

Potentially one of the most attractive advantages of working from home would be having flexible work hours. (Although this can quickly turn into a disadvantage if you’re not disciplined.)

No more getting up early and running to catch the bus or train.

No more waiting for the clock to strike 5 so that you're free to leave the office where everyone is tired and wants to go home. (That’s if you work a nine-to-five job, of course.)

If you’re a freelancer working from home, you can set your work hours to be whatever you want. In fact, you don’t even have to work 8 hours a day. You can work less than that as long as you can earn enough to pay your bills and you’re happy with your overall paycheck.

4) Decorating Your Own Work Environment

Although many offices do give you a certain amount of freedom to decorate your cubicle or corner to your liking, nothing beats being able to do whatever on Earth you so desire to your home office.

The thing is, home offices can be a small table in the larder (if you’re a minimalist sans claustrophobia), or you can dedicate a large room for your work. You can put a custom made sofa next to your desk for quick power naps, set up a standing desk if you hate sitting all the time, and even install one or more automatic espresso coffee machines, so you can have a steaming hot cup of coffee when you get drowsy.

And chances are – you will get drowsy working from home.

5) More Autonomy

The great thing about working from home is that you have more freedom to make your own choices when it comes to how you approach a certain task than if you worked in an office.

This is because the incentive of your employer or client to control your work process at home is virtually non-existent, so you can do your task in whatever way you desire. As long as the finished product looks satisfying, you can rest assured that the party who hired you will be quite happy indeed.

So, if you don’t like being told in what way something should be done and you despise deadlines, this work-from-home arrangement would be an excellent option for you. Of course, you do need to be disciplined to make this work well.

6) Less Stress

Even though working from home can get pretty lonely at times (which we’ll talk about more in the ‘Cons’ section below), it's also true that being separated from an office can not only be beneficial for your productivity but also – decrease your stress levels.

The thing is, many office environments can be quite busy and your colleagues can get on your nerves at times. Not to mention how your boss can be a pain in the neck by constantly checking on you and monitoring your performance.

Last but not least, let’s just reiterate how stressful commuting can be – quite stressful, indeed.

7) Workout Time

Not many office jobs allow you to work out in the middle of the shift.

Even though you can sneak in a couple of push-ups here and there when no one is looking, being able to complete an entire pre-planned workout session can be quite tough to accomplish. If you work from home, of course, this won’t be a problem.

Not only can you do whatever workout you fancy, but you can perform complex UFC-worthy training sessions in your home and backyard – and your employers won’t even have the faintest idea of what you’ve been up to.

8) Comfortable Work Environment

Last but not least when it comes to listing the pros of working from home, there’s the blessing of working in a comfortable environment. Well, it all depends on your interior design ideas and solutions, of course.

It goes without saying that you can set your work environment to look like a death metal fan’s corner complete with a chair that looks like that throne from Game of Thrones, or a fluffy spot complete with Christmas decorations and lazy bags.

It’s entirely up to you, and that’s the beauty of it. All you need to do is make sure you’re actually able to work in that general area as opposed to just admiring your special and organizational creativity, of course.

Cons of Working from Home

1) Loneliness

… which can lead to depression and even early death in some extreme cases.

Now, even though working from home won’t likely get you to that stage of loneliness, sitting all day in front of your computer not being able to reach out and talk to someone in real life can be quite taxing on your psyche.

This is why it’s so important to have a social life outside this work because otherwise, you can truly get depressed. Whether you consider yourself a loner or a social butterfly, you can rest assured that you need human interaction, because humans are, after all, social animals.

So, the number one disadvantage of working from home would certainly be the crippling loneliness, which can even lead to a falling in creativity and productivity.

2) It’s Hard to Separate Professional Life and Private Life

This is why discipline is of such crucial importance for work-from-home freelancers.

If you get a bit lazy and don't feel like working that day, a call from your friend inviting you to play some basketball outside can seem much more interesting than sitting in front of the computer and coming up with endless lines of text or filling in the capsules in Excel with accounting numbers and whatnot.

Conversely, if you’re eager to work and don’t feel like stopping, you can burn through your free time and forget about your social life – which can be quite damaging for your physical and mental well-being. This way, you can burn out fairly quickly without even noticing, which can, in turn, put you out of work for weeks.

3) Distractions

Whether it’s your dog jumping up and down all over your home office arrangement because he wants to go for a walk, or your cat typing gibberish on your keyboard while you’re in the kitchen trying to make yourself something to eat, distractions are one of those tough-to-get rid of vices of working from home.

The frustrating problem here is – your pets and even your family members may be confused when it comes to what your work hours are, so they may ask you to go somewhere with them or to help them out some other way, while you’re in the middle of something.

The best way to get rid of this plague would be to carefully plan what your work hours will be and let everyone know that you are not available for any other activities during this period.

4) Boredom

Other than the chronic loneliness, working from home can bring quite a bit of boredom on your shoulders, so to speak.

The problem with this, of course, would be that there’s no getting around the fact that you need to actually get some work done before you can start doing something else that’s fun and engaging. The tough pill to swallow here is – no matter how much you like your job, chances are – the constant loneliness and the monotony of constantly doing the same thing in the same place is going to get to you sooner or later.

When this happens, you may want to consider changing up your routine or spicing up your work hours by playing some music or making plenty of small workouts and refreshment pauses.

5) Sedentary Lifestyle

Although this one does represent one of the most irritating aspects of working an office job (whether in an office or from home), there are some pretty simple ways you can avert the detrimental effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

You see, one of the pitfalls of working from home is that you may feel blessed to be able to just sit in front of your computer and work at your own pace, but that can quickly turn two hours in 5 hours. And chances are – those 5 hours are the hours you sat through.

So, in order to make sure you don't sit your way to obesity, muscle atrophy, and the lack of focus and concentration that comes with this, you may want to get a standing desk or a similar work station where you can stand instead of sitting. This can spare you some pretty nasty consequences down the road.

The bottom line, working from home is becoming more and more of a reality for many people across the labor market, so figuring out ways to make this enjoyable and as non-detrimental to your health as possible would be of utmost importance for your well-being. After all, what use can you have from earning a bunch of money if you constantly feel cooped up and bored?

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