working from home

Why working from home might not work for everyone

While across the nation, commuters continue to lament the fact that travelling to work is taking longer than ever, a growing bunch of switched-on workers have discovered that the fastest way to travel between their home and the office is simply to make their home the workplace.

If you thought that working from home, variously called, WFH, telecommuting, teleworking or working remotely is on the rise, you are right, with a survey by jobs’ board company Indeed revealing that a staggering two thirds of Australian employers now allow their employees to work from home.

It’s not a challenge to appreciate some of the key drivers for the enormous gear shift in thinking of many of those in the drivers’ seats at our workplaces. After all, bosses who increasingly allow workers to WFH will often talk up astonishing productivity gains, heightened employee morale, increased employee retention, and a reduction in the number of sick days.

For many Aussies, working from home can be a welcome break from the day-to-day stresses and interruptions that the office can dish up. But let’s be honest too: it also offers the flexibility of squeezing in a spot of washing, or a quick trip to the shops in between emails and calls.

While experts believe that around one in three Aussies enjoy the benefits of WFH at least some of the time, a good deal of others experience traffic snarls of a different nature causing them to want to crash right back into their cramped cubicles.

For starters, the day begins with the sounding of an alarm that seems like more a suggestion than a mandatory get up and get moving call, leaving you struggling like a fruit fly rolling in honey to get out of bed.

Decisions around what to wear are complicated and can consume inordinate amounts of time as you struggle to choose between bedtime professional such as a dressing robe and ugg boots — to lounge room smart casual consisting of a flannelette shirt and your favourite tracky dacks.

Then there’s the loneliness because there is no water cooler chit chat which means that, inevitably, you’ll end up talking to yourself, and you’ll start answering back.

There’s also the very real possibility of intrusive, unwarranted, unsolicited and unwanted conference calls throughout the day which can leave you feeling more awkward than having your credit card declined at the checkout.

For many Aussies, working from home can be a welcome break from the day-to-day stresses and interruptions that the office can dish up. But let’s be honest too: it also offers the flexibility of squeezing in a spot of washing, or a quick trip to the shops in between emails and calls.

Take the telecommuter who during an extended conference call continued that hookup during an urgent bathroom visit. She flushed the toilet based on her belief that the mute function had been activated only to discover later from a close colleague that her entire bathroom visit had echoed round a packed boardroom. Plus, there’s the dog that inevitably starts to bark when a call commences or your four-year-old who interrupts the call with: “I am hungry”.

Let’s not forget the technical issues that can throw up more problems than a maths book, the fact that unless you have iron-clad concentration you might easily be driven to distraction, and that going into the office provides you with a much-needed break from your partner, two children and your dog.

But it is your unthoughtful, unsupportive and unsympathetic colleagues back at the office who often make the entire experience of working at home as sour as unpasteurised milk left outside on a hot summer’s day.

It’s comments like: “I wish I could watch Netflix while I worked”, “what do you do all day”, and “it must be great to have a dip in the pool on warm days” which make it look like those who work remotely are riding the gravy train.

For many of us, working from home works. But before you join those who have made the shift from a cramped cubicle to a comfy couch consider that if you crave company, you’re not self-motivated and you already have trouble drawing a line between your work and private life — then WFH might not work for you.