Home Office: Pros and Cons

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By Elli Davis, March 29, 2011

Photo by Liz West

Many people dream about working from home. Not having to wake up early and get ready in the morning is certainly appealing, isn’t it? Those who actually work from home, however, usually prefer getting out of their pyjamas and spending time in the company of people. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of a home office? Read on to find out.

One of the biggest advantages of a home office is the fact that you can basically start working minutes after you wake up. There‘s no need to hurry: you can take your time having your morning coffee and breakfast, you don‘t have to dress up or do your hair and make-up. Perhaps most importantly, you don’t have to spend time commuting to and from work — it only takes a couple seconds to walk into your office if you work at home.

You don‘t need to hurry during lunch, either. You can cook exactly what you like — it will always be fresh (hooray, no fast food!), according to your taste, and even less expensive. Your family can also have a warm lunch if they are at home during the day, too. Speaking of family (and in this case pets as well) they will certainly appreciate having you at home all the time. You, however, have to set some rules, so that they won’t disturb you too much.

Let‘s move on to disadvantages. Lack of social contact might be one of them. While not everyone is fond of their colleagues, it can be nice to chat and share stories with them. It is also pleasant not to eat alone at lunch, isn‘t it? Your prospective clients might be more impressed if you don’t work from home, too. Working from home, you are basically always in the same house surrounded by the same people, and a little change might be good sometimes.

The possible mix of work time and free time is also quite dangerous. I mean, you can’t easily distinguish between your work and leisure time without formal office hours. If you work in an office outside your home, you can finish what you have to do and then go home to relax. With a home office, this is much more difficult. Procrastination is one of the reasons — it is much harder to be motivated at home since there are many other types of distractions.

Everything has advantages and disadvantages, there‘s no doubt about it, and work location is no exception. Which would you prefer?