Work from home is increasingly becoming a trend, and a lot of people are catching up at an unprecedented pace. We all hear about so many great benefits one gets from working from home such as flexibility and increased potential to earn more. However, amid all the commotion, we might forget to talk about things which are seldom talked about.
Just like any other form of working, working from home comes with its own package of giveaways—and most of these giveaways might not be as pleasing as they say. There are many things about working from home which might not go as per your liking, but you should know about them anyway.
In this article, our team decided to ensure that our readers know what they do not know about work from home. We have compiled 10 things which are often untold about these kinds of jobs, and these are things which can make it difficult for you to adjust. So, let us take a look at those things.
1. Say Goodbye To Co-workers
Unless you detest working among and with people, you will certainly miss working with people on a team. One of the advantages of traditional office work is that you get an environment where professionals like you work next to each other, and you can engage with them in every kind of conversations.
When working from home, most of your conversations will happen through emails or video conferencing. While you can think that this compensates for the loss of co-workers, many might disagree.
It will be a bit quiet not working around with people in case you have had work experience in an office environment, but you will get used to it with time.
2. It Is Not Just About A Couple Of Hours
It is unsurprisingly common to find people commenting on the lifestyle of those engaged in work from home jobs. They will say that you need to spend only a few hours every day and spend the rest of the day in leisure. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE.
Work from home is as tedious as regular office work. In fact, it could become more tedious than ever because of the fact that you get to work from home. You will have to organize your life properly, keeping in mind your personal commitments. There will be moments when you end up spending sleepless nights to get done with work.
If anyone ever says that work from home is a piece of cake, you know what to say!
3. Personal Life
Yes, of all the things which might come in the way of your work life is personal life. But, it is natural to expect more household work now that you work from home. Even if you do not want to do household work, you will end up doing it.
It is very important to sort out your personal and work life because with time work pressure will increase, and you will have to be prepared to make tough decisions. Therefore, before picking up work from home, make sure you are mentally prepared to handle the frequent intermingling of household chores and work commitments.
4. Networking Can Be A Bit Tough
As noted earlier, work from home means that you will have to network through the virtual world. But, as everyone knows, you need to keep yourself close to all your social media to ensure that you do not miss anything from work.
Remote workers usually communicate with their colleagues and supervisors through platforms such as Hangouts, WhatsApp and LinkedIn. Gmail is a favorite among clients for decades now. However, you cannot always be connected to them for reasons such as poor internet connection.
Sometimes, you end up sending out multiple emails which are replied after weeks—something which annoys freelancers the most. Also, it is very different when you are texting problems because you often need to write down a lot which could be tedious and not adequately understood.
Reading what has been stated above, it must have occurred to your mind by now that networking is terrible when working from home. It is difficult, yes, but not really terrible. You need to keep yourself informed of all possible channels on which your client can be available for contact. Moreover, difficult networking is an occupational hazard for remote workers!
5. Financial Management Takes Priority
Financial management should be a key area of concern in everyone’s life. It assumes immense relevance in the lives of freelancers who work remotely.
A freelancer’s life is very wavy: there is rarely uniformity in the amount of work received and money paid. There will be days when pay is good; there will be days when you are closing into insolvency. It, therefore, becomes imperative to engage in smart financial management because you can never be sure when a crisis befalls you.
People who work from home are usually devoid of the perks which a regular employee gets such as concessional transportation rates, free coffee, and parties. On the upsides, you do not have to take a subway every weekday to reach the office, invest less in food, and be at home when it is too late. All of these will affect your finances.
Also, you need to maintain an account to meet exigencies. Make sure that you save a certain sum for exigencies which, as noted earlier, can happen anytime. Keep a track of what is coming in and going out of your account.
If you need assistance on sound financial management, you can find a few tools here.
6. You Are Responsible For Guiding Yourself
Your client will provide you guidelines, but the rest of the job is yours. You have to take up the task of doing and learning things on your own without much guidance. Unlike office workers, you will not get training in the work you opt to do and hence, you need to show an inclination towards self-learning.
Now, self-learning may sound like a huge task, but you should avoid getting deterred by that thought. Since you will have a flexible schedule, you can invest some time in learning new skills, doing online courses, or going to hobby classes. You can join advanced Diploma courses in the field you work.
Many freelancers tend to become laid back when working from home. They are initially very pumped up, but they gradually lose interest. They work with the same set of skills they started with, and this impacts the quality of work they produce.
For example, if you work as a freelance academic writer, you can try gaining skills in story writing and take up work as a story writer.
7. Do Not Forget Your Family And Friends
Getting absorbed in work is excusable only when you do not start ignoring your family and friends. You need to devise a time table in which you spend sufficient time with your near and dear ones so that you do not miss out on your personal life.
Let us put it straight: it is already lonely working from home and you would not want to seclude yourself from your personal community of family and friends. Take a day off every week to see your family and/or friends.
It may occur to you that you can talk to them on phone, but you should know that this will be nothing like having dinner together at your grandpa’s place. So, do not resist and take a day off for those who matter.
8. Diet Is Important
Not many will tell you that you need to eat healthy when working from home because they presume that home means access to a healthy diet. It is a fallacious presumption because you cannot have a regulated diet unless you want it.
It is often found that people who work from home compromise with their diets. They indulge in junk food that inevitably results in unhealthy diet patterns which directly affects the health of your body. Lack of exercise aggravates the health of the body. So, it is important that you take care of your diet.
9. Stop When You Have To
Do not be misled by the idea that you can work as much as you want. Every one of us goes through what is called a ‘block’, and when you experience a ‘block’, you stop!
We will illustrate: a freelance graphic designer needs a creative mind to work on his projects, but there will be times when brain stops functioning. No good idea comes out of his head; he feels burdened with stale ideas and laziness. When he experiences anything like this, it is a signal that he needs a break.
Having a homely setting to work at is sure an advantage, but that does not take away the human tendency to feel tired from overworking. You should take a break and relax. Do whatever that makes you feel good and then resume working.
10. It Is Not For Everyone
People say that working from home is not rocket science, but let us burst this bubble to you: work from home is not everyone’s cup of tea. You have to give up on so many things and take up so many other things, and this whole process is not as simple as many people make it out to be.
Before you quit your traditional work life to take up work from home, make sure you have thought about it intensely. You need to know the good as well as bad aspects of work from home, and hence, do not switch until you are mentally prepared.
Work from home can be an amazing experience, but it has its own share of things which might make it complicated. We have listed all those things in this list and want to know what our readers think of them.
This article is an attempt to help our readers know what it means to work from home. If you have any comment, view or suggestion to make, feel free to engage us. You can also hit ‘share’ and show us your love.
