Regular Job Office vs. Home Office

Everyone has thought about working from home at one time or another. For some it is the desire to be home for the kids and still provide for the family. For others, it is the desire to be the master of their own schedule. Who says you can’t were bunny slippers on a conference call? Whatever the reason, it is becoming an increasingly popular trend among workers to work from home. I took a few minutes a few months ago to talk to a bunch of business owners about their views on working from home and got some very mixed reviews.

The biggest fear, both from small business owners and large, is a lack of trust. How do we know our employees are actually working and not billing us for time they spend surfing the net. You see, in an office there is a constant flow of traffic. This means you are constantly being watched to ensure you are actually working. There are also controls set on your work computer to ensure you are not viewing inappropriate materials or playing computer games on the company clock. Those controls do not exist when you work from home, unless you are using a company computer. One of the easiest ways to know if someone is working for their money is to look at their productivity. Are they completing their work in a timely fashion? Are they awake and alert during conference calls? If the answer is no than that individual should not work from home.

There are other advantages to working from home and not just for the employee:

Decreased commute time – How long does it take you to boot your computer in the morning? That’s right that would be the extent of your morning and evening commute. Not to mention the amount you would be saving on fuel, wear and tare on your car, and of course the environmental impact from the reduction in CO2 emissions.

Employers will see a decrease in their electric bill from having even one less computer running all day long.

Employers could also see a decreased space problem. Can you image an office with 50 employees where 25 work from home? You might actually stand a chance of finding a parking space.

Employees would have fewer distractions while working. You might actually be able to get more done because you don’t constantly have to answer other people’s questions or deal with the pop-in problems. Anyone who has worked as a Secretary or Assistant knows all about the pop-in problems.

No more having to take a day off because your son has the flu. In fact, no more taking off yourself when your ill. Yes, you may have a less productive day than normal. However, you are more likely to make up for that time when you work from home as it won’t be time taken away from your family.

Businesses today are global. This means, every aspect of the business is global. You can post a resume to the internet and within an hour have three employers respond with potential job offers. 20 years ago that would have been unfathomable. Take advantage of this e-culture. Just because an employee wants to work from home, doesn’t mean you can’t have a group meeting once a week. It doesn’t mean you need a complicated conference calling system either. I’ve known people who work three days a week from home and love it. Just because you are stuck at a desk in a cubical today, doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance to work from home tomorrow. If you don’t ask, you will never know.