Working from home can make for a more productive environment than the typical office cubicle. For some, work from home situations are ideal for helping them in enhancing their work-life balance.
Since the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus in 2020, more individuals are finding themselves working from home. It’s natural that they’d be wondering how work-from-home situations might affect their productivity.
So, what’s the difference between working from home and from office? It’s safe to say that working from home can improve productivity:
1. No Commute
When your commute used to involve sitting on public transportation or your own vehicle in traffic for perhaps an hour, now you are able to get to the job site in no time at all. The fact that you start the day without having to go through the stress of a commute, surrounded by others who are also tired and feeling stress, can go a long way toward boosting productivity.
2. Less Water Cooler Talk
Think about how much time you fritter away, chatting with coworkers as you hang around the water cooler. While a bit of pleasant conversation is always a plus and makes for higher morale around the office, there is the potential for it becoming a case of too much of a good thing.
Chatty colleagues can keep you from duties such as finishing your report on time or tempt you to skip over some important steps in a process. And if you’re hoping to avoid productivity-sapping office banter, remember to stay out of video conference meetings unless you are specifically invited and need to participate to do your job well. Otherwise, excess talking could wreck your productivity even when working at home.
3. More Exercise
The extra time you enjoy from a work-at-home arrangement means you can use some of that time in exercise. Standing on a treadmill while reading through your emails is one example of how you can become more active at the job. During conference calls, you can do yoga and stretch (as long as it’s not a video call, that is!) without people being aware of the fact that you’re multitasking for good health.
4. Maximum Productivity
Working from home enables you to work more productively than when in the home office. You will feel more comfortable in an environment you decorated yourself. You’ll have easy access to your favorite foods from the kitchen, instead of having to run out for lunch. While working, you can take care of some home tasks too, such as putting up loads of laundry in between editing spreadsheets or updating a contract.
5. Practice Makes Perfect When it Comes to Maintaining Productivity, Working From Home
Whether you already work from home now or are contemplating making the change to a home office, it’s useful to consider how your productivity levels might fluctuate, just based on where you happen to be. Keep in mind that practice makes perfect.
Chances are good that after you’ve been in a work-from-home situation for a while, any issues you have with productivity and how you manage your time will be sorted out.
