Home working yesterday and today
Those who live around big cities and work within them will be very familiar with the daily process we’ve all known as ‘the commute’. Unless you live and work within the city itself, the physical activity of getting from where you live to where you work is frequently time consuming, expensive and physically exhausting; most people do it on auto-pilot and surely no-one would choose to do it if there was an alternative?
We can blame the Industrial Revolution which sucked people away from local workplaces, usually a farm, to work in a factory or office based in a centralised location. However, despite progress over the years for the type of work we do and how we do it, and advances in transportation that enable workers travel greater distances faster, we haven’t really made any real progress on the basic social model of work here/live there.
Despite this gloomy picture there was an alternative that was available to a select number of workers. A small but growing band of people and companies were showing that with thought and co-operation on both sides, it was possible to make working from home a success. I’m not talking about jobs that have been done in the home for many years, such as piece work, but rather jobs that would normally be done in an office that were able to transfer to being done at home. Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic meant millions of people around the world transferred their jobs with little notice from their employers into home working arrangements, with an immediate cessation of commuting to boot, which in some cases was an arrangement that lasted for months.
Early home working pioneers had typically approached their employers rather than the other way round, and requests were often in response to domestic changes that required the mother (almost always) to be at home more. So rather than the employee losing income and the company losing expertise, it made much more sense to introduce a new arrangement that worked for both parties. In many cases those plans have been a success but it has required patience and commitment from all involved to keep such agreements afloat. Leaders had to learn, for example, how to manage someone without seeing them every day whilst employees had to be able to detach themselves from the distractions of the home environment. Even prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, some companies had really taken these changes on board and were actively recruiting staff to work from home, recognising that it provided a useful differentiator when attracting and keeping staff, and arguably lower operating expenses.
This is clearly not an option as yet for many people, factory workers for example, but for many others it might be no more than a question of working out the logistics, acquiring some new skills and saying then goodbye to the daily commute.
If you’re thinking of implementing this option for yourself, here’s a list of pros and cons you should consider in advance.
Pros:
You set your own work schedule (but you still have to get the work done!)
You don’t have to commute (saving you time and money and travel hassle)
You can work in whatever clothes you want except when a visual conference is scheduled
No one is supervising you every minute
Depending on your country's laws, some of your office and home running expenses can be written off against tax
If you have young children, elderly parents or people to care for at home, you may be able to structure your work conveniently around those responsibilities
Cons:
You need a lot of self-discipline to start work when you know you don't have to be at the office by 8am
You must be entirely self-motivated to ensure you delivery as much or more than you would if in an office
You don’t get the office banter and camaraderie from working with others
You may miss out on the informal learning opportunities that often occur within an office workplace
There is a danger of putting in too many hours or overworking, a sort of overcompensation because you’re not commuting and the office is right there…….
With these issues in mind, here are some ideas to help you make home working a success:
Create a proper work environment to put you in the mood. Avoid the kitchen table and get a proper desk with a decent chair
Make sure you can close the door on your home distractions. You don’t have to be a hermit but you need to focus when you’re trying to work
Make sure your work space has good lighting, a good temperature and have a telephone and (possibly) a printer nearby. Think of the best space you could have had at the office and try to recreate that (but keep an eye on the budget!)
Make time for office banter with colleagues even if it is just through Skype or Zoom
Get out of the house as often as you can (work permitting), and make an effort to attend work social events – meeting other people face to face is still the best way to build and consolidate relationships
Set achievable goals everyday. It’s important when there’s no-one else around to make sure you create some structure.
Working from home can make a significant impact on your personal and professional life. Certainly there is no shortage of evidence that with thought and co-operation from both employers and employees, it is possible to make working from home a success. It will be interesting to see how and to what extent home working continues to evolve in the future.
About the Author
Tracey Thompson is well regarded within the industry for her ability to source and engage high performance HR talent. Over many years she has built a well deserved reputation for her uncanny ability to access proverbial “purple squirrel” HR specialists and as a result, is looked to as a global sourcing subject matter expert.