Home-based workers continue to increase in number. Here’s why it’s a good thing.
Well, mostly. Generally speaking, being able to do certain types of work from home is a good thing. It’s certainly better for the environment: No pollution from the daily commutes for one. It’s great for saving both employers and employees a ton of cash.
But it’s a bit more nuanced than that. NeedaOffice sent us an infographic on the work from home trend that paints things in a positive light. But as we’ve explained in previous posts, it’s certainly a bit more nuanced than the infographic below.
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Some things about working from home you should know
- A lot of the benefits of that come with working at home taper off over time
- Higher performers are more likely to prefer working from home.
- Conversely, lower performers tend to prefer the office.
- Regardless of how productive workers are, long commutes tend to be the most dreaded part of a work day.
- Your lagging employee / coworker might not need just to work from home; they might actually need psychiatric help
- The ability to communicate clearly is essential not just for home workers, but for their office counterparts as well.
- If your homeworking employee can’t move without constant supervision barely put a coherent sentence together via IM, perhaps Skype and video calls should be more prioritized…
- …or maybe they should stay at the office.
- Not subsidizing or providing necessary equipment and support to full-time homeworking employees can lead to some resentment
- Be sure to always include home workers in real-life team building activities when practical.
- Consider only offering a few days of the week available for telecommuting so both office and home-based employees are better aligned.
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Telecommuting is great, as a whole. But it’s not for everyone. Or is it? Share your thoughts below!