Can Working From Home Work For You?
Everyone has different skills and abilities. For instance, some people excel in public speaking, while others are much more gifted in communicating through the written word. Some people are great at origami, and others are experts in making omelets. As such, there are thousands upon thousands of jobs that take into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the people who fill those jobs—using what the employee excels in, and outsourcing what they don’t. It stands to reason, then, that just as certain jobs fit certain employees, working from home may not work for everyone who tries their hand at it.
But what’s the big deal about working from home—how tough can it be? And most importantly, can it work for you?
Prioritizing
An employee who works from home is given a big privilege: trust. What the employer is saying to their employee by paying them to work at home is, “I trust you to do your job unsupervised, and to do it just as well as you would while in the office.” With that privilege, then, come slightly higher expectations. For instance, taking a fifteen-minute longer break at the office may not be a big deal—you boss knows where you’re at, and knows that you’ll be back at your desk soon—but being unavailable for fifteen extra minutes when at home may raise some eyebrows. Do it continually, and you may find yourself back in the office, or without a job entirely.
So, because of this added trust, it is important to keep up a certain rhythm most of the time, making sure not to take advantage of the privilege of working unsupervised. How you do that is to prioritize, or set certain time limits for every task that the position calls for. That way, you always have the time in check, and you know exactly how much work you can complete during the remainder of the day.
Distractions
Typically, your job site does not house your kitchen, laundry room, entertainment system, pets, and your home phone, but if you work at home all of those things will be readily available. It’s easy to see, then, that distractions will be abundant: “Maybe I’ll just watch thirty minutes of my favorite sitcom before I start on a new project.” No one is there to say no, and if you keep it up, thirty minutes can turn into forty-five minutes, and even into a full hour. When working from the comfort of home, it’s crucial that you don’t get too comfortable. Be sure that your office space is clutter free, toy free, and that the food it at a minimum—even close the door so that you can’s see your remote and your comfy couch.
Quality
Finally, one of the most important points to dwell on when considering if you’re work-at-home material is quality: Can you keep up the same quality of work at home as you can at the office? The answer to this is simple: if you can keep distractions down to a minimum, prioritize your workday, and remember that your employer is giving you a great deal of trust, then you’ll have no problem at all. If you take advantage of the perks, while not taking advantage of the job, you’ll excel at being a self-supervised, work at home employee!
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