The post-pandemic era has necessitated the requirement for most employees to work from home. The enhancement in work-life balance and diminishing travel time in metro cities has ignited the preference of working from home for the employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic altered the entire corporate working concept. It highlighted the work-from-home provision, which increased working hours and helped the company cut costs during the pandemic.
According to reports by The University of Chicago Press Journal, research on the productivity of professionals at an Indian technology company found that though productivity shrank first after the pandemic, working hours increased considerably. Hence, employee collaboration improved, resulting in job satisfaction, and better work-life balance.
Though the concept of working from home shapes business productivity and workflow, there must also be some cons. In this blog, we will explore the advantages and disadvantages of working from home and how they affect and impact the workflow of employees and employers.
What is Working From Home?
Working from home is a modern work arrangement that allows employees to perform job responsibilities remotely instead of regularly going to the office. It offers flexible work habits and improves work-life balance for employees. Meanwhile, employers benefit from cost savings and better productivity.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Working from Home
The advantages and disadvantages of working from home have significant benefits and flaws for both the employees and the employers. Let us learn it in detail:
1. Advantages of Working from Home
The office working and work from home you avail have various advantages such as:
➔ Convenience Working
The convenience of working from home is a great advantage for the employer and the employee. The suitability of working from the home location with ease improves the focus of employees and helps them stay motivated for work. Unlike office working culture where the the commutation diminishes the enthusiasm in the employees especially in the metro cities where traffic congestion is a major challenge for the office-goers.
Not only does the traveling issue gets sorted but also the convenience of working from your favorite corner of the house fosters motivation to work significantly and comply with the deadlines.
➔ Long Work Hours
Unlike the traditional office working culture of 9 to 5, where employees shut their laptops at the sign-off time to travel back home. The work-from-home culture provides them time to stretch even after working hours by diminishing the travel time of commutation.
Commuting in the office has always been a major challenge for individuals residing in far vicinity from the office location. However, in the work-from-home convenience working structure the individuals not only get extra time but can also take breaks in between and stretch their work hours to complete the tasks on time.
➔ Improved Work-life Balance
The work-life balance of individuals gets improved with the work-from-home culture of working. The absence of direct supervision and micromanagement, helps employees prioritize their commitments along with accomplishing their professional necessities.
This improves their efficiency of being available for both the preferences of lives without compromising on any of it. It fosters the working at pace and it is a vital move that can help you ignite enthusiasm in employees by enhancing their well-being.
➔ Better Mental Health
Remote work and working from home improve the work-life balance of employees hence improving their mental health condition which usually deteriorates due to commuting challenges due to traffic congestion.
Also, some of the major factors that contribute to the mental health well-being of the employees in work-from-home provisions are:
- Convenience in working
- Better virtual collaboration
- Reduction in stress and frustration due to commutation
- Zero micromanagement
- Lesser Supervision
- Improved Accountability
- Enhanced job satisfaction
- Increased work-life balance and more.
➔ Greater Virtual Collaboration
The virtual collaboration among colleagues and teams increases due to the absence of physical involvement in a group meeting. Virtual platforms become the new conference halls for the employees to sit together and decide upon important decisions.
Also, extensivity in networking and advancements in technologies enhance access to a larger audience hence making it easy to collaborate virtually even with varied time zones and geographical presence.
The virtual collaboration increases the scope of virtual networking hence enabling individuals to learn and grow by grasping knowledge from across the globe without limitations.
2. Disadvantages of Working from Home
With pros also come some of the cons in the working from home provision for both the employer and the employees which are as follows:
➔ Diminishing Networking
The networking that occurs due to physical meet-ups at the office, seminars, conferences, etc. diminishes in the work-from-home provision.
The office culture builds a scope of networking in person with a range of diversified audiences hailing from varied socio-economic, cultural, and political backgrounds with varied experiences. However, working from home makes individuals lethargic and homesick most times by extending their comfort zone which as a result does not help them in strengthening their communication and networking.
➔ Deteriorating Team Bonding
The internal team bonding of a team gets hampered in working at home culture as the team does not sit together or take breaks, and meet up as usual. Although the scope of virtual meet-ups is high the personal connection and team bonding done in a physical atmosphere deteriorates.
Also, the little things that abide a team such as personal connection, small tea breaks, team lunch together, sharing jokes, seeking help directly from peers, hanging around in the office, etc. are a big miss in work-from-home culture and that certainly weakens the bond of the team making the team members self-centered and obsessed.
➔ Communication Disruptions
The biggest flaw in a work-from-home concept is the network disruptions that can occur due to varied reasons such as poor internet, limited technology access by the employees, poor bandwidth or network in certain geographical locations, heavy internet tariff on LAN connections and Wi-Fi connections which makes it impossible for employees with a smaller pay scale to afford it monthly, etc.
This not only disrupts the communication among the employer and the employees but also puts the work on hold. Considering this, working from home for most employees with lesser internet access or poor pay scale becomes a flaw. To make additional expenses on the Internet is often a burden for employees with lesser pay.
➔ Delayed Response Time
Not all the employees in an organization are tech-savvy or have a stronger internet service which as a result makes their responses to grievances or queries delayed. Also, the work-from-home provision is often misused by employees to fulfill personal commitments at professional hours hence delaying work commitments and making it a disadvantage.
The delay in response time often causes miscommunication, lagging work, increased workload, decreased productivity, etc. in the employees.
➔ Prolonged Working Hours
The office culture often abides by the concept of 9 to 5 working after which the employees usually leave but in a work-from-home culture, the working hours extend to unlimited hours unless the work is done.
With the convenience of work and absence of supervision, the employees usually attend personal commitments at professional hours and extend the professional hours to get the work done. This as a result comes up with varied consequences such as delay in work accomplishments, increase in workload, wastage of time, etc.
➔ No Time-Boxing
Time boxing which refers to the signing-in and signing-out time of employees varies in a work-from-home culture as most times, employees log in at their convenience. Unlike office work, there is no fixed rule to log in or log out at the prescribed time in a work-from-home culture.
However, with a robust attendance management system you can set the attendance and punch-out time for employees even for remote working at various locations of the employees yet, the time fixing or boxing is absent in a work-from-home concept.
➔ Frequent Meetings
Due to zero physical connectivity employers and employees leverage technology to even discuss minute matters at work. They are not able to discuss it personally and finish the topic in minutes rather they virtually set up meetings to get work done which not only consumes a lot of time for everyone who has minor involvement in the topics to be discussed.
Also, the frequent calls and meetings consume the working time of employees which as a result makes them extend their work timings beyond the conventional timings to get their work done.
➔ Security Concerns
Last but not least, there are security concerns when it comes to working-at-home culture as the access to work is with the employees who are neither under the supervision of CCTVs nor supervisors who ensure the safety of data.
Furthermore, it is fragile for industry dealing with confidential works as the misuse or leakage of data is vulnerable in working from home provision.
Benefits of Working From Home for Employers
If you are an employer, then you know the pros that come with the work-from-home provision. So, here are the following benefits of working from home for the employers:
1. Cost-cutting
The first and foremost benefit of working from home for an employer is the cost scaling or cost cutting of total overhead expenses of business that can be achieved by reduction of cost on majotr assets of the organization.
In a work-from-home concept, the employees work from home which as a result saves the cost of the company’s electricity bills, internet expenses, physical maintenance of the office assets, housekeeping staff expenses, travel allowances, and more.
2. Optimum Use of Software
The usage of software such as an employee management system becomes prevalent in the work-from-home provision. The maximum use of network, internet, and software is done in WFH. However, the use of software is frequent in office working as well but the dependency is most in the working from home concept.
3. Lower Employee Expense
The expenses of employer towards employees gets less in work from home provison. The provisions such as travel allowances, travel reimbursements, etc shrinks in the work-from-home or remote work concept. also other expenses such as refreshments for employees, etc are reduced.
4. Access to Wider Audience
Employers who work from home can widen their reach to an extensive audience through the Internet. They can have more time and resources to reach out to larger audiences and collaborate with them. Employers can recruit talent from anywhere, including remote or international locations, widening the pool of qualified candidates.
5. Improved Employee wellbeing
Remote work enhances the job satisfaction in employees by improving their work-life balance. This improves their well-being and helps the employer in increasing the retention rate of the employees. Happy employees are less likely to leave, saving employers from frequent hiring and training costs.
6. Better Workforce Diversity & Inclusion
Work-from-home provision enhances diversity in hiring by extending the reach of employers to hire from across the globe without limitations. It also helps them collaborate virtually with the employees and enhance their inclusion. It also degrades the scope of biases, disparities, favoritism, or preference choices in hiring by making it easier for people with disabilities, caregivers, or those in rural areas to join the workforce. Companies can attract individuals who may not thrive in traditional office environments due to inferiority, or social pseudo conditioning but excel in remote settings.
End Note
The advantages and disadvantages of working from home depend on the implementation and supervision of the employer. It can be a pro when sincerely handeled with accountablity and responsibility whereas it can act as a con if not supervised efficiently. So, it is essential for the employers to embrace remote working with adequate strategies and planning to supervise employees and implement an efficient HRMS software that can assits in making the operations streamline in a work from home setup.
