Ever since the coronavirus pandemic gripped the world, it sparked a new topic of debate among the people – work from home vs work from office. Those who prefer the remote working policy argue that it gives their daily routine a much-needed flexibility, while the people who are in favour of office working believe that it offers a focused environment that encourages the teamwork.
However, the question remains the same that which kind of setup is better moving forward, especially in the post-pandemic era.
In this blog, we will briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both and give you a balanced perspective about what the future of work culture should be like.
Let’s begin with the benefits of working from home first.
Work from home – Pros & Cons
In this new normal, many people are in favour of remote working which is quite obvious, given the current circumstances due to COVID-19. Interestingly, there are several scenarios where a WFH (Work from Home) policy can prove to beneficial for both employees and employer.
Here are some of the major benefits of working from home:
1. Eliminate commute time
One of the biggest advantages of working from home is you don’t have to travel for long hours to reach the office. On an average, most of the people in India spend at least 2 hours in a day, travelling to office. This not only wastes time that you could have used in doing some productive work but it also hampers your work-life balance.
On the other hand, work from home gives you better productivity as you can do your tasks comfortably without feeling drained out.
2. Better work-life balance
You can’t ignore this fact that everyone has a life outside the work and sitting in the office for almost half of your day make that a lie.
Employers, who provide their employees an option to work from home and give them a freedom to choose their working hours, are generating effective results.
Moreover, remote working will also let you spend some quality time with your loved ones.
3. You can save more money
Another noticeable positive of working from home is it helps in cutting extra expenses for both sides – employer and the employee.
While an employee doesn’t need to spend his money on traveling, food and other miscellaneous expenses, companies can save big on energy spendings and other expenses which would have been unavoidable in an up-and-running office setup.
Challenges of work from home
Although working from home offers you numerous benefits as we have mentioned above, it comes with some challenges as well.
1. Lack of teamwork and organizational growth
There is no doubt in saying that remote working is a hindrance to teamwork. Typical work schedules are usually formed to make things more organized and easier for the employees so that the things can smoothly flow. However, a single barrier can set the entire team off-track.
Though, in work from home, employees have the option to connect with each other via phone calls or Zoom meetings, this cannot be as effective as the face-to-face conversations in the office. Thus, we can say this that work from home can dampen teamwork and lead to disharmony.
2. Managing distractions
Work from home setup often involves a lot of struggle in avoiding the common distractions, including long phone calls with friends, kids at home etc. These distractions not only reduce your work productivity but also the overall quality of work delivered. In this way, WFH not always guarantees 100% good result.
3. Facing technical errors
Working remotely also includes challenges that are not in your hands to control like the technical errors or any other problem related to internet connectivity. This can cause disturbance in your smooth work flow.
Work from office – Pros & Cons
Despite many satisfactory benefits of work from home, one can’t neglect the fact that office environment is still important for the growth of the employees.
On that note, let’s talk about the major advantages of work from office:
1. Eliminates communication gap
Face-to-face conversations are the clearest and most effective way of communication in the corporate world. It not only helps in strengthening rapport with other employees but also beneficial in the planning for new ventures. Not to forget, socializing with seniors provides you an opportunity to showcase your leadership skills and build meaningful connections with successful players of your field.
2. Gain experience
The best thing about working from office is that you learn something new every day. Remember, good experiences always help you reaching the top as the business sector find experienced individuals to be more responsible and trustworthy.
3. Dedicated work environment
Studies have shown that a dedicated work environment automatically triggers your brain to work with full concentration and ignore all the distractions. Moreover, having a particular workplace instead of a remote working will help bring consistency and a routine to your work.
Challenges of work from office
As they say every coin has two sides. Similarly, office job has its own drawbacks as well. Some of them are listed below:
1. Rigid organizational rules
In a typical office setup, you get to decide little as you have to follow some rules. Your office timings are fixed, your scope of work is also more or less predictable. So, you can’t really do much about it.
2. Never-ending work pressure
In office, an employee generally feels more pressure, either by his superiors or by his colleagues. With the ever-mounting workload, it is possible that you may end up being stressed and therefore decrease your capacity to work.
3. A static lifestyle
Another drawback of working from office that it will gradually make your lifestyle sedentary. Like it or not, you have to spend most of your working hours sitting in front of the computer and finishing projects on given deadlines, when it comes to the office setup. This can make a person lethargic as well.
Where does the future lie?
Now that we have given you a detailed analysis of both the scenarios, let’s talk about where does the future of work lies?
While remote working is still relatively a new concept for the old office cubicles, this trend can’t really go past the typical round-table conferences in the office. Especially, when now you have the option of flexible workspaces. There are plenty of choices available in the market, whether you are looking for a coworking space in Delhi, coworking space in Gurgaon , or coworking space in Noida, you can get you desired space in just a few clicks.
So, which one is better between Work from Home and Work from Office? Well, the answer might lie in striking a balance between the two.
A mix of work from home and work from office can provide both employer and employees a healthy work-life balance in this ‘new normal’.