I have been working from home for the last 3 years i.e. pretty much my whole career. The first company I joined was about to make a transition to go fully remote. After working for 4 months from our Bengaluru office, I decided to work from home and have been doing it ever since. By the time the first case of COVID-19 was found in India and many companies decided to work remotely, we already had a well-established setup of working remotely.
There is no going back for me from that point. The first criteria I look for every next job I search is whether they offered remote work or not and here are some reasons why –
Productivity – Even though I have only 4-5 months’ experience of working in an office, I can definitely tell I am likely to get 50% more work done when working remotely. Being able to work when I feel most productive is the key here. Stepping outside or doing other activities when I don’t feel productive refreshes my mind.
Work-Life Balance – Working from the office requires at least an hour to get ready for work. You may need another hour for commuting, which is not counted as your working hour. You can save this valuable time when working from home. The ability to spend more time with friends and family and manage my personal life really adds to my job satisfaction.
Saving Money – No commuting to work means no transport cost. You save money instead of buying clothes. I just wear my shorts, a t-shirt and my flip-flops, and sit in front of my laptop. I am living in one of the remotest states in India and would require to move to another city and will end up spending so much money on rent, food, etc. had I needed to work from our office.
However, there is a negative side even if it looks all positive.
Always at work – Feeling like I’m always at work sometimes stressed me out. Playing video games, watching movies, cooking, walking, chatting with friends plays an important role in my work-life balance. It’s important that you have a separate workspace to avoid this feeling.
Less social interaction – Though I am an introvert, I always think I need to interact with more people to improve myself. It’s not easy when you are working from home.
The positive side very much outweighs the negative side for me.
