Listly by myHQ
While many believe that working from home gives them the advantage of having control over their schedule and gives them more time for parenting and personal pursuits but this is far from true. In most cases, you either end up compromising on your work or compromising on your personal life and giving more time to your work.
According to Lifehack, this is one of the biggest disadvantages of working from home. In India, over 60 per cent people face the problem of children or family demanding more attention from them while they work and many of them either end up working late or not being able to give their 100 per cent attention to it.
The second major factor that many people face while working from home is that they find it difficult to concentrate on work and constantly get distracted one way of the other.
While the family is just one factor that breaks their concentration, other concentration killers include noise from family or neighbourhood activities or them getting distracted just by looking outside the window and observing the beautiful view of their backyard or their children playing.
Besides regular distractions like background noise, there are also people at home or who drop in unannounced and then not leaving you alone as they have a hard time accepting the fact that you’re actually working at home (or trying to) and not just sitting on your computer.
Nearly 33% of the people who work from home also don’t have the necessary access to office equipment such as high-speed internet, fax/copier machine or a high-end laptop which also adds to their distress while working from home as they have a hard time replicating their work environment at home.
Besides not having access to the necessary office equipment, many also face problems as they don’t have constant access to documents that they need while working.
While the majority of documents these days have virtual access or a soft copy that an employee can access, many still prefer to keep access to sensitive company documents paper-only or want to make sure that its safe on virtual or electronic format so they keep it on a Virtual Private Networks (VPN) or secure cloud access which can only be accessed via registered office computers
Besides distractions and lack of equipment or documents, many also are not able to work alone and need regular face-to-face interaction so as to get feedback or to brainstorm on their ideas.
For them, working independently or in isolation with just a computer screen to keep you company is vastly different from the hustle and bustle of an office and they crave for that noise and regular feedback so as to improve their work.
When a team is working from home and you remove the presence of an authority figure or manager form the equation, things can turn catastrophic as there are few people who either don’t work and/or don’t let others work.
Many times you also lose work and have to pay people their retainer back as the people working with you have not finished work on time and you have missed your deadline.
With your team not giving work on time or submitting substandard work, you also lose face as a client doesn’t think you are reliable and won’t retain you for any future projects.
One of the other major disadvantages of working from home is a loss in productivity as people tend to get distracted by comforts that they get at home.
These include things like their temptation to take mid-day naps, or taking “breaks” by watching Netflix, or playing virtual games or even spending some time on their smartphone.
This decreases one’s productivity and leaves their work at the mercy of them not giving in to their temptations and just rushing through their work at the last minute
Without a properly equipped home office which has a proper desk and decent office chair your back, neck, and shoulders will eventually suffer and lead to back posture.
This will also lead to slouching, health issues and more pain as you will constantly seek more comfort and your work will suffer from constant breaks and distractions.
You can avoid a majority of these disadvantages of working from home by taking your work and/or team out of your house and into coworking spaces like myHQ which offers you an office environment away from home.
They have a network of 100+ coworking spaces and creative work cafes and you can choose a workspace as per your mood and choice. myHQ work plans are flexible, visit-based (pay only for days you visit) and hence, are a boon for remote workers.
These places are well equipped with high-speed internet, office equipment and also offers you a cheap workplace which will keep your distractions at bay while offering you all the office comfort that you need to complete your work.
While you will still need access to your office documents here required, you will no longer be working in isolation and can even seek feedback from your fellow coworkers where you need them.
Further, these coworking space will also provide you with the perfect ambience for work which would lead to better productivity and creativity and myHQ’s flexible and affordable plans will make sure that they are in your budget.
With the high availability of coworking spaces all over India, you can select a space which is closer to your house and thus work without family distraction and yet still be close by to strike a work-life balance that many seek.
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