Once upon a time (in the pre-Covid era) work from home was considered a privilege enjoyed by a select few in an organization. Many of us used to envy people in our social and professional circles who had this option. But since the onset of the global pandemic, WFH has become the new normal for lakhs of people across the globe. Does it still feel like a privilege? Or has it become a frustrating reality eating away our work-life balance?
If you are wondering which one is better, the earlier office set or the WFH scenario, let’s weigh the options and figure it out.
1. Does your work schedule leave you with enough family time?
The work schedule plays an important role in determining how long you work in a day. The work schedule in some jobs differs from work from home.
Advantage: It gives flexibility. You can choose your hours of work, be it day or night. There is no strict control and gives you autonomy to work when you feel most energetic.
Disadvantage: The boundary between your work and family time gets blurred. You may also regret wasting time during the day as you have to often cut off on your family time to complete the work.
2. Is your environment conducive to your growth?
The environment at the office is very formal with only office materials and colleagues surrounding you, whereas you have an informal and comfortable set-up at home.
Advantage: You get a comfortable feel to relax whenever you want. You can also customize it according to your convenience. For eg. running light music in the background and choosing your favourite chair which helps you sit for a long time easily.
Disadvantage: Sometimes this comfortable environment makes you lazy. The formal environment keeps the focus on work only and sets the mood for the employees to begin work as soon as they enter the office premises. A homely environment makes it all casual in approach and may be detrimental to your productivity.
3. Are you comfortable with virtual communication channels?
Communication medium and pattern change completely when you work from home. Few people enjoy this mode of communication, whereas others prefer to talk in person.
Advantage: Unnecessary conversations get minimised while you are working from home. It also reduces office politics to a large extent.
Disadvantage: Not every type of conversation can be done on-call or online and sometimes the message is not delivered the way it was intended to be. It creates misunderstandings. Also, making a call for every small thing consumes a lot of time. You may also miss important calls or messages which need an immediate response.
4. Are you getting enough rest for your overall well being?
Have you ever paused work after work for a quick power nap and then woke up hours later missing important meetings or call? While power naps are the coolest thing in the WFH set up, they may make you somewhat lazy adding to your already sedentary lifestyle.
Advantage: Taking power naps whenever you feel tired is great for refreshing yourself, clearing your stressed mind or unblocking a creative clogging. Spaced out rest periods make you more energetic while at home – something that is not possible in your regular office-goer’s life.
Disadvantage: Some people take undue advantage of this, which affects their productivity. One may also miss some urgent message while having a power nap and deadlines may often get missed impacting work projects and your professional image, in general.
So if you are interested in working from home, find a genuine work from home job. apna app will help you in finding office as well as work from home jobs for all types of qualification and experience. This app facilitates job search in Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Ranchi, Kolkata, Hyderabad & Surat. Apart from this, you can also use apna app for professional networking and upskilling yourself.
Install apna app now!
