At the moment, the Coronavirus epidemic is still going on. New cases are discovered every day in different countries, and the numbers keep tallying up. With the need to reduce the risk of getting infected, a lot of employers are making their employees work from home. The idea is only possible with the widespread technology available to the public that has grown in recent years. While the idea may seem easy, working from home has its own set of challenges for an average joe used to working at the office.
Challenge 1: The clothes worn at home
Sure, people could start work on their laptops while still in their sleepwear or right on their beds. But does this really make them focus on work? Chances are, being dressed in their pyjamas will only tempt them to laze around or procrastinate and ultimately fall asleep without getting work done. To work from home, people don’t have to dress in a shirt and pants. They could just get showered, wear something casual, have breakfast before they start work on their laptops.
Challenge 2: The space to work
Often times, people look down on the thought of the office as a workplace. It’s a place they’d commute to everyday, with their own desks and chairs – people are aware that the office is the place to do work. When at home however, a lot of people take too much liberty when they set up a place to do their work. They’d think it’s enough to work from their beds or simply on the couch with their laptops on their laps. While these may work, not everyone can do work when they’re too chill. Set up a little office space on the dining table, or even on the kitchen counter. So long as the chair is straight and the laptop is firmly set as if on an office table, then the chances to be able to do work is higher.
Challenge 3: The boundaries of work and home
When people are at home, they are bound to be distracted by a lot of things. They would be concerned about house chores, or even what to eat. Snacking is probably going to be their worst enemy while working from home. It’s crucial to set clear borders of when time should be spent for work and for home things. Let’s say that someone begins his work from home at 9.00 a.m. If he aims to complete the 9-to-5 hours, then he must not do other things aside from the regular lunch hour. If he suddenly finds that he has an appointment that would disrupt that work time frame, then he could just add more hours later after he deals with that appointment. The key is to respect the time for work that he has set for himself throughout the day. Only then the balance between work and home activities could be maintained.
These are the major challenges that come with working from home. If a person could overcome at least these three, then he is already prepared to start working from home.