Over the past couple of years, working from home has become more common for many of us. As offices closed, many employees were sent home to work, making long commutes and boring stints at the office a relic of yesteryear.
As someone who has been working from home the majority of the time for the past couple of years, I don’t ever want to go back to an office building full time. Working from home is simply better in lots of ways. In fact, I’d say working from home should be the default – not just an option.
Working from home means no commute.
I like driving, and I like taking road trips. What I don’t like, however, is the long and slow commute from my garage to an office. Hands down, this is one of the worst parts of any outside-the-house job.
A commute means I have to get up earlier to get to my office at the time I’m supposed to begin work, and it means I’ll have less time with my family because I’m spending that time between quitting time and my arrival home on the road.
Working from home, I just need to log in at a certain time and get to work. That means I can roll out of bed, walk over to my desk and log in. When I’m done with work, all I need to do is walk away from my desk and go on with my evening. I’m not stuck in traffic. I don’t have to stop for gas. I’m immediately able to go with with my life.
No need for an expensive wardrobe.
In the days of office life, I was expected to look the part. That meant nice clothes, etc. Working from home, I just need to be semi presentable. And that’s really only when I’m on video calls. If I want to work in my pajamas, I can. No biggie. No one cares. Obviously I wouldn’t want to do that if I need to be in video meetings, etc, but since I don’t have to leave my house and I don’t have to see people in person, I can wear whatever I want.
That means I don’t need to go shopping for the expensive dress clothes I needed before. Now, a decent pair of jeans and a semi-professional shirt are all I need.
My time flexibility is better working from home.
When I worked in an office, I could take a lunch break, sure. And it’s expected that no matter what job you have or where you work, you should have breaks of some sort. But at home, I enjoy even better flexibility.
Living the office life, I could walk around and check out the break room and maybe talk with some coworkers who weren’t too busy, but working at home, I can get other things done in my slow times. I’ve been known to mow the grass, run errands, work on projects, and relax in a comfy chair or watch some TV. Since I’m not bound to a desk at an office, I can be working – and hopefully doing a good job for my employer – while enjoying some of the flexibility I crave and be able to be comfortable.
When I’m at home, I can spend more time with my family.
This is one of the biggest and most important reasons I enjoy working from home so much. My wonderful wife also works from home, and I have loved being able to have lunch with her throughout the week. We are able to take a 30ish minute break during the late morning to have lunch and talk before we both have to go back to work. If we both worked in an office environment, we would miss that opportunity.
Even though it’s a small amount of time, it’s more than we would have if we both worked elsewhere.
There have been days when we’ve had other family come to visit, and even though I’m still working, I’m able to spend time with them when I don’t need to be on the phone or in meetings. Since I work from home, I can sit on the couch and talk with them while working on my laptop and knocking out tasks for clients. That’s something I wouldn’t get in an office setting.
Working from home, I can travel.
My wife and I love to travel. We have family that live out of town, and we love to be able to go visit them. That would be difficult with a typical, in-office 9 to 5 kind of job. If I had to be in the office, I wouldn’t have the flexibility to take my laptop and work from our family’s guest room. Or if my wife needed to travel for work – as she does occasionally – I would be stuck at home, tied to my boring commute and office. That’s not the kind of life I want.
Working from home, I have the freedom to take my laptop and work from just about anywhere there’s a solid Internet connection. I’m not dependent on an office building. I’ve even worked from my car a few times, and it’s worked out pretty well.
Working from home is the new way to work.
Years ago, working from home was weird and rare. It was really reserved only for a select few people. Now it’s common and normal. My hope is that as things get back to normal – whatever that will look like – that we don’t lose the beauty of the work from home life. I don’t know about you, but I never again want to be tied to an office building. I love being able to get to work without driving there, and I love the flexibility that working from home provides.
That’s one of the primary reasons I believe everyone should have a side hustle. Even if it’s just something like writing for Medium.
A while back I wrote an article explaining that I think working from home should be the new normal, and I wholeheartedly stand by that statement. In years past, going to an office building was the best way for teams and colleagues to work together. Now, we’re in the 21st century, and we have so many tools and platforms that allow us to work together without truly being together.
It’s time we make using those normal. As an introvert, nothing would make me happier than to see working from home become the default, expected way to work.
It’s simply better. Does it work for all people in all professions? No. Of course not. But for the rest of us? Definitely.