The covid-19 pandemic has caused many businesses to increase the use of working from home. Although we may now be coming closer to having the opportunity to work in an office again it looks like this trend may be here to stay. Samun Omer, one of our bookkeepers, wanted to share the upside of working from home, as many organisations plan for the next stage:
Although for many of us who moved to working from home it may have felt overwhelming initially for many of us there are many benefits that come with it. I want to share some of the positive side of working from home.
Short term cost benefits
Save money on lunch: A lot of us opt on buying food rather than taking a packed lunch to work, by working from home we can prepare what we want when we want it.
Save money on Commuting: A lot of us spend a lot of money on car fuel, bus passes or train tickets and all this isn’t cheap in the UK.
Efficiency
- No Travel Time: Save time you spend on travelling to work or work-related events,
- Don’t have to get dressed up: Save the time you spend on getting ready (ironing, polishing your shoes, putting on make-up etc.)
- Less Distractions: Less distractions (at least in theory!) from sale calls, and colleagues at work
- Increased flexibility: Increased flexibility because depending on your role and your managers attitude you could work at any time during the day, you do not have to rely on your office hours to get things done.
Wellbeing Benefits
- More sleep: You could wake up a little later because you don’t have to travel and get dressed for work
- Reduction in stress: Getting to work on time is a task of its own. Lateness is often addressed as an unprofessional trait and many of us stress each morning to avoid it.
- Time for exercise: In our daily routine many of us seem very tired towards the end of the day and can’t take time off for exercise, by working from home you can have more flexibility to exercise.
- Family bonding -Many people suffer from the guilt of not spending time with their loved ones, working from home gives us a great opportunity during breaks to bond with our partner, pets and children
Long-Term benefits
- Reduced office rent: Many businesses spend lots of money on office rent along with all the other costs that go with it, as an employee you may even be entitled to receive a tax free working from home allowance.
- Less expense on office clothes and accessories: Many of us spend lots of money a year on fancy office clothes and accessories, this could be avoided with reduced office time
- Cheap Accommodation: Many people opt to rent accommodation in central locations because they want to be close to their workplace. Increasing the opportunity to work from home may mean you can rent or buy in a cheaper, and possibly more picturesque, area.
- Environmental impact the reduction in congestion, improved air quality and reduction in carbon emissions from reduced commuting could have a real benefit to the local and global environment.
Ultimately there are of course some well-being and business reasons to ensure that in the longer term colleagues, customers and suppliers are able to meet face to face. However, rather than rushing back to the office it is worth taking the opportunity to consider some of the alternative options to a traditional ‘office space’.