With more people than ever working from home, some through choice, others through circumstance, we wanted to ask a selection of people from various backgrounds how they were finding the change, what challenges they face, and what, if anything, they prefer.
A bit of background info on our candidates
Sam is a recruitment specialist, who normally commutes to Central London on the underground, and has always enjoyed the social side of city working
Joe is a media project manager, who drives to a rural location for work, and commutes to work by car with his wife, who works nearby
Sean has recently set up his own accountancy firm, based in a busy town centre, and usually drives to work.
1: What are the advantages you have
found about working from home?
Joe: No distractions of the day to day office life,
no travel time and not having the expense and hassle of a commute.
2: What are the disadvantages you
have found about working from home?
Sam:
Sometimes harder to focus with Kids, Dogs, Neighbourhood noise.
Less
cross desk collaboration – hints and tips you get from colleagues when in the
office
Less
social interaction if you spend your 9-5 sat in a room alone at home
Harder
to build working relationships over MS Teams rather than face to face
3: Do you miss anything about working
in the office?
Sean:
Working atmosphere
Joe: Interactions with people, it is easier to keep
up to date with new products when you talk about them and probably overhear
conversations of others.
Getting out of home to go to work provides a
separation that you don’t get working from home
4: Do you find you have more or less
quality time for things that you enjoy
Sam:
Definitely has allowed more time to spend with my young son & cooking meals
for the family to sit down and eat together.
5: Have you noticed a difference in
your expenses after working from home?
Sean
- Yes – massively decreased from travel time
Sam:
Saving £300 per month on Train tickets and lunch in London
Joe: Obviously cheaper, but haven’t looked at extra
electricity costs, of being in doors. Food is cheaper being able to make your
own lunch at home and no expensive coffees.
6: How do you plan your days?
Joe: It is very important to set your days and make
plans, otherwise time runs away with you and you don’t complete the tasks you
need to.
7: Do you have a good work routine?
Sam:
It can sometimes be, although mornings in the house are sometimes hectic with a
young one so the mornings work can be disrupted.
8: How do you feel your work/life
balance has changed?
Joe: I haven’t struck the right balance yet, but my
overall day is probably shorter without the travel, but I still don’t feel I
can gain out of the time gained. Work is more intense and it is easier to feel
more tired.
Sam:
It has been a positive change. I commute roughly 2hrs a day so am saving 10
hours a week by not commuting – this has given me more time to spend with the
family & exercising.
Sean:
More time at home helps a lot but also more time spent working in the evening
as there’s no cut off from home/office
9: Do you feel more or less
productive working from home?
Sam:
Maybe very marginally less on some days – but most I would say it’s the same.
Sean:
A mix really. I get an extra few hours of time to work per day due to the
reduced travel time but occasionally find myself assisting with babysitting
duties taking me away from work!
It’s pretty
clear that common themes emerge; no commute is a welcome change, generally we
miss the atmosphere and input from our colleagues, screen conferencing can’t
replace speaking to someone in person, and we don’t feel any less productive by
being at home.
No commute
is clearly saving people time and money, but how you choose to use that time can
make a big difference. Whether you want
to spend the time exercising, with your family, or checking emails and doing
additional work is generally your call, although it’s easier said than done
depending on your boss.
Personally,
my experience with Arise has been that only the hours you select to work are
the hours you work, so having no commute to my home office has been great, and
really my choice whether to sign on for an extra couple of hours work or go for
a walk, sit in the garden and read or spend more time with my husband and
kids. There’s never any pressure from a
boss making you think you should be spending more time dedicated to your job.
I do miss
the banter and collaboration from work colleagues, it’s difficult to vent to
yourself when you’ve had a frustrating experience, or need some advice on where
to go next. However, when you’re working
with Arise, there is a chat room for advice, technical support and help with
policies and procedures. Over time, you
build up real rapport with this team, and get to know them very well. We also have what’s app groups, to help with
info, shift swaps and a have a giggle too J
In
conclusion, I don’t think that working from home is for everyone, and there are
some real advantages as well as disadvantages to it. A lot of this is dependent on the company you
work for, and your boss. Which I think
is pretty true about any job, wherever you work. The great thing about Arise is that you are
your own boss, you choose your hours and can easily schedule in appointments or
life events to suit you. There are
people on hand to help and support you, both in Arise and Carleton Connections,
if you choose to work with us.
What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below
Comments
Post a Comment