Why Working From Home Can Make You A Better Employee

From early morning commutes to annoying colleagues; working from home can seem like a dream to many 9-5’ers who spend day after day in the office. But it’s not just employees that can benefit from remote working, but employers too.

Contrary to popular belief that it’s simply throwing a bone for the ‘lazy employee’; recent studies from the Stanford Graduate School of Business show that it can, in fact, make you a more efficient and productive employee – 13% more than those who are office based.

One of the main reasons why working from home can make you a better employee is due to the fact that you are likely to be a lot happier when given the freedom to work from home. The old saying “a happy worker is a productive worker” still proves to be very true, with recent studies such as the one conducted by a University of Warwick professors demonstrated how happiness directly impacts ones productivity with their study of over 700 participants.

Of course, there are a number of reasons why working from home can result in happier employees such as:

The health implications of a stressful work environment can also lead to more sick days and employees leaving their roles sooner than they would otherwise. A survey found that home workers take on average 1.8 sick days a year, compared to 3.1 days for office workers. Employees working from home are also less likely to infect other staff members if they are ill.

As well as the direct impact that employee happiness has on a company, the ability to work successfully from home can prove a range of extra skills many office employees can often lack. The ability to manage one’s own time without being overseen by a manager, the ability to manage your own workload and communicating effectively over other mediums such as email, Skype and phone are valuable assets for every employee to have. Once you have proven you can motivate yourself to work from home (which in itself can often be a feat!) you are far more employable to companies around the world who require remote workers.

Depending on the kind of role you are employed in, there is a very high chance that working from home can also lead to you becoming better at what you do. For example, if you are a writer, IT technician or tutor working from home, you are more likely to be able to “shut out” the world around you easily compared to being in an office. Many people find distractions such as talking, radio, traffic noise or people walking around (which is of course a regular occurrence in the office!) to be distracting, whereas you are likely to be able to limit these if working from home, and find a space to do your work well.

Although there are many benefits to working from home, there are some pitfalls to be aware of too. How do you cope with distractions such as family and social media? Can it lead to loneliness and isolation? Here are some top tips to avoid the potential pitfalls of working from home.

Working from home is not only an excellent opportunity for those who need a more flexible working experience, but it means higher productivity for employers too. As well as being happier, hard working and less distracted, home-workers cost significantly less than office workers, with teas, coffees and leaving presents alone costing £350 a year; and that’s not taking into account the cost of office space, transport and training.

Provided you can successfully avoid the dangers of feeling lonely, and can manage your time well, working from home is an excellent opportunity for many businesses, and in words of Nicholas Bloom, is a “Future-looking Technology”.

Happiness and Productivity: Understanding the Happy-Productive Worker Warwick, 2015

Why Working From Home Is a ‘Future-Looking Technology’ Stanford Business, 2017

Homeworkers More Productive Than Office Based Staff Auto Time, 2014