Are you here to discover the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking?
Many of us have had to work from home over the past few years for various reasons, whether being a result of the ongoing pandemic, the nature of your job, or simply recovering from surgery—like the kind offered at thebunioncure.com—and while there have been some hurdles to overcome in the process, it has generally worked out for most people.
By reading this post, you will find out the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking.
Many benefits come with working from home, such as a semi-flexible schedule and not having to drive to the office; however, there are also some accompanying downsides that you may not be aware of.
Here are a few pitfalls to be aware of and how you can avoid them.
Disadvantages of Teleworking
1. Endless Distractions
Working from home requires a high amount of willpower to push through the day, and that gets even harder with the endless distractions that attempt to pull you away from your monitor.
These distractions come in all forms: the FedEx driver delivering your Amazon order; your messy home begging to be cleaned; kids playing loudly in their rooms; the new season of your show coming out. The distractions will never stop, but you can do some things to make it easier.
Firstly, you can set timed blockers on websites that you know you’ll be tempted to visit, like Facebook, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, Instagram, or just about anything else. This will deter you from mindlessly scrolling through sites you shouldn’t be on at the time.
Another helpful aspect is to wear headphones with either music, a podcast, or white noise to block out sound distractions and keep you focused.
If you have young kids at home, talk with them and make sure they understand that while you’re home, you need them to be quiet so you can work and that they need to play quietly if they are going to do so.
Remember that cleaning the house or preparing dinner can be done after the workday is over, just as you normally would if you returned home from the office, so there’s no reason to think you have house chores to do during the day. Save all that for the weekend and after the clock’s struck five!
2. Work Claustrophobia
If you work from home, there can sometimes be days that go by without you needing to leave the comfort of your home. This can be good when you want to feel cozy, but you’ll quickly learn that spending twenty-four hours inside your home can drive you crazy. You may feel that you can’t enjoy your home once the workday has ended because you just spend eight to nine hours working in the space that you’re expected to relax in for the rest of the day.
A good way to combat this feeling is to set up a home office that is separate from the rest of your home. An extra bedroom or a basement is the perfect place to put a desk with a monitor and lamp for you to work.
This way when the workday is over, you can leave the office space until the next day and venture out into the rest of your home to spend time with your family, friends, dogs, or just relax by yourself. This works best if you can minimize the amount of time you move about your house throughout the day. Another option is to get a change of scenery; if you’re able to take work on the go, visit a coffee shop for a few hours and work from there.
Let’s explore more disadvantages of teleworking.
3. Burnout
When you work from home every day without seeing coworkers, and it feels like you’re just a cog in the machine that’s actually outside the machine, it can get hard to become motivated for the day. You may also feel that since you are working from home and it is essentially your office, you are expected to be available for calls, emails, and other messages during any time of the day.
All this leads to work fatigue that can leave you with a feeling of anxiety and stress caused by non-stop work.
This should never happen. While a work-from-home schedule can sometimes have more flexibility in terms of starting and stopping hours, you’ll find that you can properly recharge your batteries throughout the week if you begin work at the same time each morning and ensure that you close your laptop or leave the monitor alone once a typical workday has come to a close.
If you are constantly responding to messages well past a normal workday would have concluded, you will find yourself constantly burnt-out from work, which leads to a decline in productivity, take small breaks as you normally would at the office or better yet, use coworking software to book a workstation at a nearby coworking hub and work a few days from there.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Teleworking: FAQ
What are the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking?
Advantages of telework: Semi-flexible schedule, easier to avoid illness, no commute. Disadvantages of telework: Distractions, claustrophobia, Burnout
Wrapping Up: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Teleworking
Let’s recap the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking.
Advantages of teleworking:
- Semi-flexible schedule
- No commute to work
- Easier to avoid sickness
Disadvantages of teleworking:
- Distractions
- Claustrophobia
- Burnout
Working Hard or Hardly Working?
In conclusion, as you explored the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking, have you examined the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking as they apply to you? They may be different for each remote employee.
It can be difficult to transition from the routine of getting up and going to the office to working entirely from home, but if you are aware of the potential pitfalls beforehand and do your best to stay on track throughout the day, you can prevent falling into bad habits that keep you from getting your work done and enjoying the aftermath of a successful workday.
Readers, please share so people considering teleworking discover the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking.
I look forward to your views in the comments section. Can you suggest more advantages and disadvantages of teleworking?
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