WORK FROM HOME OR WORK FROM OFFICE ?

While the pandemic has hit us hard , working from home is the new normal for all of us , be it students or employees ! Infact , it has also changed the way we work and interact with each other.

Companies as well as employees are trying to fill the void with everything from virtual happy hours to multiple check ins . But let’s face it : it’s not easy to replicate the physical office environment on laptop screens . While working from home feels special , it feels more special to be back in action returning to office ; it feels as if going back to school after summer vacation . When you were going into an office everyday there was a clear distinction in your work life and personal life . But now that you don’t have a commute to mark the beginning and end of the day and your office could now be in your kitchen , you can end up working all the time .

Let’s look at some points by which we can differentiate between work from home and work from office :

·        Commuting

While you are working from office , there is extra wasting of time in traffic jams and thus job satisfaction is somewhere affected by it. On the other hand when you work from home , there’s no commuting back and forth to work , that’s one of the strongest benefit .

·        Flexibility

Working from home provides with absolute flexibility to schedule the day , there’s a freedom in your way of working . On the other end , office work demands us to fit into the 9 to 5  criteria which might not be as effective as working from home .

·        Dress Code

Usually working in a professional environment demands more of a formal dress code . In contrast to the office dress code , is the idea of working from home . Working remotely provides with the convenience of wearing anything  comfortable to dress at home .

·        Working environment

When you are trying to focus at your home , there are sometimes unexpected difficulties that distract you and lower your efficiency . Whereas , while working from office you are focussed with the kind of environment you are working in .

·        Motivation

When you are working from home it takes a phenomenal amount of motivation to start work when you know you don’t have to be in the office by 9 in the morning . For this reason one might get lazy and start neglecting the work routine . While at the workplace , the working environment itself brings motivation to an individual to work efficiently .

One of the best part of working from home is freedom and flexibity in work hours but sometimes working from home leads to mental exhaustion due to more of video conferences and virtual meetings . Not counting video conferencing , face – to – face communication is something you really only get in an office space . It’s not only beneficial while planning a business , but it strengthens relationships and rapport with other employees . There’s something called relationship building which happens when you sit next to someone . So according to me , a combination of both ; i.e. work from home and work from office should be put into action , this will increase the productivity as well as job satisfaction of employees and they will work efficiently .