WFH Pros And Cons

2023 and we are all learning how to live with the reality of coronavirus. WFH Work-from-home jobs are very much a reality. Yes jobs that let you work from home, are here to stay. Some mom friends of mine are even willing to take a pay cut in order to work from home, if not already starting their own online business. Having been doing work remotely for awhile now here’s what I’ve learned. If you are keen – please do check out my WFH pros and cons below else just skip this post in total – No I take no offence 🙂

Let’s begin.

I’ve heard so many reasons as to why friends and family want to do their jobs remotely, not surprisingly it does in my POV allow for better work-life balance. I have some mom friends looking for a less stress environment, but most my friends are high on the reason to avoid commuting. oh yes that is huge! So many of my family and friends hate the travel time taking to and from work!

You will notice if not already that there are so many winning companies both in and outside of Malaysia competing for top talent by luring would-be employees by creating “comforts” which includes offering Flexi time and work-from-home options. Yeah guess what many have admitted that they’d be more likely to accept a job if it offered the ability to work from home at least some of the time.

Of course while working from your couch sounds great in theory, like everything else, it’s important to understand WFH pros and cons. It is always helpful I think to know before hand how to best maximize an arrangement. If you’re suddenly working a remote job, here are some of the potential advantages and pitfalls to be mindful of:

Pros

You are truly independent. It’s much more than just the benefit of getting to work in your pajamas. Working from home means you’ll learn to rely on self-motivation, self-discipline, focus, and concentration.

It sounds simple and obvious. But, the time management and scheduling you have to do is an important skill to have.

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You could get more work done. As long as you’re not sneaking off binge watch Netflix, you can actually be more productive when working from home.

For starters, the remote worker isn’t spending hours commuting, adding up to three hours of stress-free productivity to the day day. Plus, you won’t have the occasional annoyances of office life: interruptions, loud co-workers, chatter bla bla

You’ll become a communications expert. When having a quick meeting in the break room isn’t possible. You have to get up to speed on what communication tools are available. From texting, Skyping, emailing, web meetings—out of necessity, you become very savvy in all of those.

Cons

You may forget to clock out. While people might think working from home means doing less, the opposite might be true for diligent employees and entrepreneurs. When you don’t have that separation of going to and from the office, a workday kind of blurs together into your home life.

You can feel out of the loop. There is a lot of casual collaboration that happens in an office. Whether it’s picking up on the best practices of your colleagues or having an impromptu brainstorming session over lunch, it’s hard to replicate that from home.

You might not have full access to technology platforms. For the most part, cloud technology has made it easier than ever for remote workers to work from anywhere. However, that there are situations in which data security or consumer protection concerns might prevent you from having full access.

Co-workers might accuse you of slacking. When you work from home and can’t get to a call or email right away. Your co-workers may not give you as much leeway as they might if you were in the office. People might wonder if you’re taking it easy rather than pulling your weight.

Tips for working from home

Keep it professional. Even if you don’t have a dedicated office, try to set up a workspace and make it off limits to the rest of your household while you’re working. There’s nothing worse than being on an important work call only to have the doorbell ringing, the dog barking, and the kids screaming in the background.

Be responsive. Get in the habit of sending a prompt reply whenever you get an email, even if it’s just to say, “Got it,” or, “I’ll get back to you by noon. And, do your best to be available for ‘job/business related calls or other collaborations, even if you don’t have strict work hours.

Set specific touchpoints with your team. It’s smart to set a time each day/week for regular check-ins with your manager and/or your colleagues, fellow affiliates and/or customers. That will not only help you stay accountable, but it will also remind your office counterparts that you’re an important part of the team.