Working from home is something I completely knew nothing about not until early last year that I was forced to work from home thanks to the covid-19 pandemic.
Like any other working environment working from home has its own fair share of demerits but here am mainly going to focus on the benefits that I encountered as an employee working from home.
With the third wave of covid-19 hitting harder and proving to be worse than the first two working from home now is inevitable most employers have already discharged their employees from their various working stations and tasking them to embark on working from home. I am going to highlight a few reasons why we might work from home for longer.
It’s economical.
Compared to working from the office, working from home offloads you some of the downsides of commuting. For instance, in Nairobi alone, at least 30 minutes is spent on traffic every day from work and back which with working helps you save time.
Ditching the commute also helps you support your mental and physical health, with extra time on your sleeves, you are likely to have time to eat a healthy breakfast, bond with your family and also help you on your priorities outside work.
Better work-life balance
Working from home brings an undeniable comfort as you don’t have to be confined to a specifically designated place that you have to work from. While working, you still have the chance to bond with your family, friends or other activities that your normal work schedule couldn’t allow you to.
Enhances productivity.
Away from the distractions of your workplace working in your own environment often makes you happy and boost your input as research has it professionals working from home are often more productive since there is always that freedom of adjusting working hours, knowing that you are your own supervisor there is always that drive in you and the desire to deliver is immense.
It’s more secure
The increasing number of Covid-19 infections are from day to day making interactions so unsafe for everyone. While outside, you never know who you will meet that is infected with the virus. And while we practise and put other measures in place, remote working has proved to be safer for companies to keep on delivering while ensuring the safety of their employees.
While companies may take more time to adjust, remote working seems to be here to stay. Whereas its still new to some companies, remote working gives employees who may have a hard time finding steady employment at an onsite job.
The opportunity to let employees work without close supervision with their line managers gives them the flexibility to do their extra activities, with the freedom they are able to deliver better results for the company.
Now that the pandemic is still here with us, adjusting to the new normal seems inevitable. Let us see what happens to the rest of the year.