The Pitfalls of Working from Home

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has shed some light on many things, ranging from how unprepared the authorities and the population in certain countries can be for a disaster to how many meetings “that should have been an email” can, indeed, be replaced by an email. It is unfortunate that a global pandemic was needed to make companies realize how many of their employees show up day after day at their offices when they could do an equally good job from the comfort of their home office. For many, working from home sounds like an ideal situation. But many of them have never worked from home – and they only realize it’s not as dreamy and relaxed as they thought when they are forced to do so (by a global coronavirus pandemic, for example).

So, let’s take a brief look at some of the pitfalls of working from home that anyone considering it has to face.

It’s very easy to overwork

It’s hard to achieve a good work-life balance while you are working from home. On a normal day at the office, you’ll get up in the morning, complete your usual morning routine involving a shower, a toothbrush, coffee, and – ideally – a breakfast, then you travel to your workplace where you stay for a set amount of time before heading home and leaving work behind.

When you do the same from your home office, you may feel tempted to start your day with some work before proceeding with your morning rituals, step into the office “for a few minutes” and get pulled into work for much longer, and “do just this one thing” before going to bed. The result: long work hours that put a strain on your relationship and can, in the long run, lead to work-related stress, and every negative effect it has on your life.

Isolation is not fun

Coworking places are successful for many reasons – they offer location-independent workers and freelancers some much-needed infrastructure (like a stable internet connection, fax, printer, coffee machine, even a desk, to name just a few). Yet one of the most important benefits of coworking is that it gives the above-mentioned professionals a chance to mingle with like-minded individuals, perhaps ask for assistance – in short, it mimics the normal office environment they left behind. Freelancers and digital nomads can feel isolated at times – and so can work-from-home professionals who are thrown into this new lifestyle by the pandemic.

How about distraction?

At the office, you are surrounded by other people doing their jobs – ideally, that is. But when you work from home, you have to factor in the many things that will be distracting you from the task at hand.

Your phone will ring. Your cat will demand attention. Your dog will want to take a walk. Your kids will be all over the place. When you are focused on the task at hand, any of these can interrupt your train of thought – and sometimes, more of them happen at once. Staying focused can be a real challenge in moments like this.

Working from home can sound amazing – until you are forced to do so. It can take some getting used to but, especially if you manage to avoid all the pitfalls above, establish a schedule that you can easily maintain (flexible enough to give you some spare time for the distractions but tight enough to get things done) you will “survive” the period of being forced to work from home without losing your mind – and maybe you will even embrace working from home completely.