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Hello guys,
As I was remembering the times here in bitLanders and scrolling down my 'Blogs' section, I realized most of the topics I've chosen so far were related mostly to travel or biology or anything similar. But, I don't actually have a work-related blog. Honestly, I found this really surprising because for me, work is one of the most important things, and it's the very thing that occupies most of my time during each day and week. Well, then it's time to fix that issue with this post, where I will be talking specifically about working from home as opposed to working at an office.
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I've tried both so far. I've got my share of working in different environments, so I can share my opinion about them. Maybe I can't be absolutely objective because I've already chosen what's best for me, but I'll try to give enough information for them.
A ‘good job’ can be both practically attractive while still not good enough to devote your entire life to.
Advantages of Working from Home
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As many of you know, working from home instead of going to another certain location to do your job can be really diverse. Like, there are many opportunities (most of them not available in every country), but still, you have to choose what type of work is the best one for you. And at the end, it comes to what you are capable of doing, what qualifications you have, and last but not least, what do you enjoy doing. Let's see what are the top advantages of working from home that make the job worth it:
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Flexible Working Hours
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Oh, yes. That's definitely the first one in the list. I'm not saying all jobs provide it, but in general, to work from home means freedom in regards to choosing your own schedule and making the best of your time. And it's also my exact number one reason to switch to working from home and leave my previous job. Of course, this goes with some responsibility. If you can choose your own working hours, that doesn't mean that you forget to choose them at all, as otherwise – you won't get paid. It requires some sort of discipline to make yourself start working when nobody is telling you to do so. In that regards, I know many people who tried working at home, and some of them still doing this, but have a hard time organizing their time – work/breaks schedule.
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Of course, there is always the possibility that even if you are on a flexible schedule to actually create a fixed one for yourself which you can stick to. But in that case, this will be difficult to follow, and the main point of working on a flexible schedule is lost. I appreciate that people are different and maybe for some individuals this would be the better option.
I enjoy flexibility so much that I find it hard to imagine what would it be if I go back to a regular job. How would I feel about it? Probably terrible. Especially for a night bird like me, trust me, it’s close to impossible to find such schedule as the one I make for myself. Mine is not fixed, I can say my schedule is different every day, but there are some similarities in a day-to-day basis because I know during what hours I’m most active – in the afternoon.
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And my last point here and I will continue with other advantages – break time. Well, the companies I worked for so far always had that 1 hour lunchtime, and two small breaks of 15 minutes. In regards to law and labor contract – no issue here. In regards to personal freedom – I don’t see how that’s fair. A fixed lunchtime? What if I’m not hungry? I’m not really that spoiled, I do work hard and I'm good at my job, but when someone is messing with my break time, then we have a problem!
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There is one thing I never managed to understand about office jobs – how come following the rules, the break times and the schedule is more important than efficiency? A person who is using the hours of the day when he/she is most productive and is not bounded to work when he/she feels tired is 1. much happier and 2. much more efficient. But the good news is that more and more companies now switch to flexible hours (and I’m extremely happy about it).
No Traveling Time
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Together with the first advantage, here comes the bonus. This is pretty straightforward. If usually, it takes 10 – 30 minutes, even an hour just to reach the office, depending on location, traffic, etc., working from home gives you the opportunity to reach work the moment you want to.☺ Isn't that nice? Not only this saves you time, but it also saves you energy, nerves (in case you don't like traffic, like me), and so on. From my experience, there is nothing better than wake up in the morning and start working directly from the bed by checking email, tasks, etc. No need to prepare for work, get dressed or comb my hair. But don’t get me wrong here - not that I don’t comb my hair, I just don’t do it immediately.☻
No Issues with Management
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Even if you have the best boss in the world, there will be always some minor or bigger issues. Why? Because of the fact, that you spend many hours in the office and you have to deal with management face to face, and rarely by email, at some point, soon or later, unavoidably people start taking you for granted. Unfortunately, that’s what the sad reality in most companies nowadays is.
It’s a whole different story if you never actually see management, and deal with them by chat/email at the comfort of your home.
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And here are the main reasons why this is happening:
⚫ You feel more comfortable at your territory; you don’t leave your home, after all. And that’s purely from a psychological point of view - home is yours, you have all the confidence there.
⚫ If you are communicating by email you have plenty of time to make it the nicest possible and same goes for the person you’re messaging. Even if there are some controversial topics or disagreement in opinion, both sides have all the time in the world to think it over and express it in the best possible way. Cool, huh? And…
⚫ You will be surprised how much people will start valuing your work if you’re actually on a flexible schedule and an individual contract. What that means is that you have the option and the right to leave the job anytime you want, without advance notice, and you have the freedom to work as much as you want whenever YOU decide. Well, let’s just say that if you actually do a good job not only employers will be super nice to you but they will be hoping that you work more!
Here is a Querlo chat box that I created particularly for this blog:
Imagine the same situation in an office job with a fixed schedule. Nobody needs to ask you to work or be nice because you already signed that contract and you’re stuck there as a slave or something. Anyway, that’s just my opinion. I’m sorry if someone might consider it too harsh.
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I hope I managed to cover the most common advantages of working from home. These are things that I experienced or I’ve noticed in people working this type of job. In my next blog I’ll be talking about some disadvantages, so – see you there!
Thanks for reading!
- NinaB
