A few months back I negotiated to work from home on Mondays. Now that I’ve gotten some days under my belt I wanted to report back on how the experience has been, any pitfalls, and of course the glorious benefits.
First the disclaimers: I realize that working from home is not possible for everyone. There are a number of careers that are not conducive to working from home such as construction, facility maintenance, most medical fields, and mechanics.
Secondly, working from home actually means working. It’s not slacking off and pretending to work! That sort of behavior negates most of the benefits I’ll discuss below and will most likely get your privileges revoked.
If you are interested in how I was able to negotiate work from home privileges, you read about it HERE. tl;dr version: Make yourself valuable and accountable.
The Benefits
So far I’ve noticed the following major benefits to working from home:
Reduce Work Stress
Working from home offers a buffer between you and coworkers. While they mean well, their unexpected drop-bys, chats, and requests can eat up a chunk of your day. Even though you are still working when you are home, coworkers are less likely to bother you unless it is an urgent need. As an end result, I have noticed much longer periods of interruption-free working time. This allows me to efficiently move through my workload.
When I am face to face with a client or coworker there is an implicit expectation of an immediate answer to their questions. Sometimes I find myself stammering or repeating myself in an effort to buy my brain time to find the answer. Other times, I know the answer but my mouth doesn’t seem to work…
By working remotely I’ve noticed that I don’t feel the need to respond as quickly to requests. Even a delay of a minute or two seems to allow me to better collect my thoughts and respond in an informative, more professional manner.
Reduce Costs
Assuming you live about 15 miles from work (for a round trip of 30 miles) and your car gets 25 miles per gallon (at $2.50 per gallon) you would save about $150 per year on mileage by working from home 1 day a week. If you live farther and drive a less efficient vehicle, then this number can increase quite a bit. If you live 30 miles away and drive a pickup getting 17 mpg, then you could expect to save nearly $440 a year by working from home for 1 day a week.
Further, working from home can help you avoid eating out for lunch. If you have a habit of eating out everyday then you could likely save about $10 for each day you are working at home, or $500 annually.
Get On Top of Household Chores
During the normal course of a work day you have a lunch break and typically several smaller breaks. When working from home these smaller breaks are ideal for knocking out dishes, laundry, or picking up a room. I love to use these short breaks to do some meal prepping so I can save time later in the week.
Dishes, laundry, and cleaning are low hanging fruit, but one of the best benefits I’ve found comes down to meal prep. I find I can make delicious meals that last the whole week with only minutes of effort using my Instant Pot. Additionally, by working at home it is easier to defrost items for dinner. This leads to less fast food runs due to us forgetting to plan out dinner and defrost dinner.
Improve Your Health
I’ve found my lunch break is the perfect time to get in a quick workout. Usually for me this is a quick walk, and even though I eat thru lunch at work I am never able to get away to even take a lap around the building. And if you want to break up your work session with sets of push ups or sit ups, well who’s to stop you?
Work From Home Challenges
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are a couple trade offs that need to be considered when working from home.
Work Area Setup and Costs
I find it’s important to have a space to work that is separate from the rest of the house. Depending on your job your specific setup will vary. For me, I needed to purchase a printer/scanner a keyboard, and a second monitor. It’s not much, but it does cost some money. All this is set up in a spare bedroom which allows me to shut a door, if needed. And I even have a window! (unlike in cubeville at the office). I suspect most folks can get by with a similar set up.
Less Social Interaction
While I celebrated avoiding coworkers earlier, a total absence of the workplace banter isn’t ideal. Sharing jokes, office information, and tales from the weekend can be entertaining and informative. It helps you develop trust with your coworkers which can make the tough times easier.
Summary
These past few months have shown me how awesome working from home can be. To be honest, it has surpassed my expectations and the benefits greatly outweigh the downside.
I believe the biggest limitation to working from home is you and not asking. Show your employer what you’re worth. Then go ahead and ask… at least for a day a week. The answer is always no if you don’t ask.
What are your experiences with working from home? Any big wins or regrets?
Agree that work from home is a great benefit, and flexibility (which includes location flexibility) is a top priority for many workers, from Gen Z up. Commuting has been linked to increased stress, heart disease, even divorce! That said, another possible “cost” to consider is visibility in the office. If you are remote just one day a week, it may not matter, except if it’s the day of a regular team meeting. So you need to look at the rhythms of your own workplace and also how they value “face time”. Some offices value seeing their people out and about — not always for logical reasons, but if that’s how management evaluates their people, it’s something each worker should know.
Great point. Thanks Caroline!
I never thought much about working from home until we had our little one. I have a school schedule which pretty much matches his schedule, so I feel as if I have the next best thing. You make some tempting points here though (especially about reducing costs, saving time not having to get ready or commute, etc.). The more I look at time as money, the more I can see the benefits of streamlining everything from home… in my dreams! Ha!
Thank you! Having kiddos really changed my mindset in favor trying to work from home as well. They are only young once!