The benefits of working from home
I have worked from home now for the last 8 years and during this time I have not had an office alternative to go to. With the world starting to get back into the office I thought now would be a good time to explore the benefits of working from home full time. Not everyone will enjoy these benefits as we all have different working styles and different home setups.
For me, my home setup has always included a dedicated place for working with a desk and office chair to sit in for hours at a time. That said I don’t always work at this desk, In fast, as I am writing this I am sitting in the garden typing away on my lap.
Flexible work location
The first one here is something I have hinted at, you can work from anywhere when you work from home. But I don’t just mean the dining table, garden or sofa, I mean you can work from the local coffee shop, a friends house, a hotel room. Working from home doesn’t have to be at home. You are essentially working remotely and can work from anywhere with the Internet.
I often (well used to be often) would walk down to the local coffee shop in the morning and sit replying to emails and doing admin work just to get out of the house and have a change of scenery. I have also worked in hotel rooms when away with my family and even temporarily moved to another country while maintaining my remote work.
Whatsmore with the rollout of 5G internet around the UK and speeds over 300Mbps available sitting in the park you really can work from anywhere now.
Flexible hours
With being able to work from anywhere comes flexible working hours. This is something that not everyone can do even I have to make sure I am contactable during normal business hours. But contactable doesn’t mean I have to be working. I can pop and do some personal errands in the middle of the day, I just take my phone and laptop with me.
Having these 2 essential tools means I can be contacted and I can start work from the nearest place to sit down if I am called in an emergency. As with most things you might find it strange sitting in a McDonalds working on your laptop but this is something the staff don’t mind and it will only cost you £1.20 for a coffee.
Additionally, you don’t have to go out. When you work from home your commute time is zero. This means you can start work at 6 am and finish at 3 pm if you so wish. You can also restart work again at 7 pm once the kids have settled down. I often work 15+ hours per day as I will be sat working on my laptop while watching TV on an evening after a full day of work.
Eat Healthily
This one may not jump out at you as a benefit at first but when you have access to your full home kitchen and cupboard staples you can cook yourself a healthy lunch and avoid the processed foods of the high streets. When I did work in an office I would frequent some very unhealthy food outlets on a daily basis looking for my lunch. Since working from home I have been able to eat fresh and nutritious food cooked and prepared in my own kitchen.
Some people do get this benefit in the office as well if they take a packed lunch to work with them but I was never a fan of the sandwich that spent half a day in a sweaty box.
Work-life balance
Finally, work-life balance is massively improved when you work from home. the above-mentioned flexibilities mean you have a better work-life balance overall.
Need to pick up the kids from school at 3:30 pm, no worries. Have 5 minutes to hoover up before your scheduled call, go for it. Take 30 minutes to cook a healthy home-cooked dinner for your family at a reasonable time, why not.
Being able to create time in your day for some of the simple things in life not only means you get stuff done during the week but you also have your weekends free to enjoy your time and not start your family man job of looking after the house and running errands al weekend.
