Working From Home v.s. Office
Which option is better, working from home or working from a traditional office?
I am certainly confused and very interested in hearing what you have to say.
Yesterday was my first day on this new job and I worked from home. I got up and then worked in my PJ all day. Today, I threw on my usual business outfit and drove to a nearby mobility office.
I must admit that working from home certainly provides a lot of flexibility. I don’t need to fight through the morning traffic; I get to save some gas money; I can cook fresh lunch for myself and I get to work in PJ. But I get tired easily and very tempted to take a nap after lunch. Coming into the office, however, just feels right. The working environment gives me the energy to do what I need to do. Another thing I worry about working from home is that I will be totally isolated and I may go nuts after a while.
So,if you had an option, which location do you prefer?
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5 opinions for Working From Home v.s. Office
HART (1-800-HART)
Mar 1, 2006 at 1:43 am
Hi Yuna. I began to work on my own in March 2003 and decided to work out of my house to. It was great before, becuase my work was literally 7 minutes away from home by car, and a 20 minute walk. That meant I could go home anytime and eat lunch or supper etc etc. But, that never happened and I often used to go out to eat. Over the past 3 years I can safely say that working out of my home was the best decision but drives me utterly mad some times. Reasons? I have two dogs and a cat. They get bored or want me to NOT ignore them. Or, when I’m on the phone they will create a kerfuffle amongst themselves. Gawd help me if a comes over or a courier or the postman because they have trained me to just feed them a milkbone to keep them at bay. We have no kids, but my office is in the upstairs area and my meeting place is downstairs. Often - not to mention names - but someone in my house (not me) forgets that clients do come over and is not always 100% tidy, w.r.t. newspapers, remote controls, blankets, etc (okay it’s sometimes me).
It’s nice in my busy season though, I walk to the bank and post office almost every day when I have something to post or deposit - and if I don’t, I just stop at Tim Hortons for a coffee and a Blueberry muffin. You have to get out of the house of you will go crazy. In the early years, I used to go out every friday afternoon for lunch with an associate who was also working on her own doing similar stuff, and we would ‘compare notes’ and discuss stuff .. Eventually however, we ended up doing a job as a partnership and she totally screwed me up and stole my share of the money. I had to take her to court and won judgement. Collection is always a different matter. On your own - there is no support group - and regular cheques.
Christine(Yuna)
Mar 1, 2006 at 10:46 am
I am thinking about having a puppy now that I have the freedom to work from home. But you are right, the cute animal(s) will get used to the attention and utilimatly cause a lot of distractions. But i think I will still adopt one. This is really the best time.
Yes, you are right about not having a support group once we become home office workers. This is why I still fought through the traffic this morning and drove to the mobility center to work instead of staying at home.
I did find that having business partner is really tricky. I am sorry you got cheated and ripped off and had to fight the case in the court… Although this is totally a different topic, but I think no matter how close we think we are with these partners (whether professional or personal relationship), we gotta put in the legal protection at front and design a system that can prevent the partners from stealing from each other. I have heard too many horror stories…
Thanks a lot for sharing your stories!
Kim
Mar 4, 2006 at 9:55 am
Hi Guys,
The former office support notion is interesting. While, I miss the chats and brainstorming, etc…I think I have learned that I like to make my own creative decisions anyway…
On the otherhand, even on the slowest day in an office environment, you can always depend on a colleague to keep you motivated…at home during a lull, it’s a struggle. Sometimes you need someone to help you figure out what you are supposed to be doing.
In the end though, I don’t think I could go back to a structured, corporate environment…I’ve gotten too comfortable with being self reliant and independent.
Good luck ladies…
people search
Mar 11, 2006 at 6:01 am
I have worked from home for the past 3 years and i am begging to hate it now, as i sleep eat and work all in the same place and it just gets tiresome and i feel that it starts to effect the quality of your work, but a friend is going to help me out, they are getting new premises and it has spare offices and he said that i can use one free of charge so this is going to be great
Kim
Mar 13, 2006 at 10:33 am
people…that sounds like a great idea, I hope it works out for you. I hear what you are saying…I sit in the same home office everyday, it is two feet from my kitchen and other personal living space…it I feel like I am trapped sometimes…
You do have to force yourself to go out and take a break, outside of the home.
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