2. When you work at home, you never have to fight traffic to
get to work on time.
Being stuck in traffic is never fun, and it’s
even less fun when it means you’ll be late for work. If you’re working
at home, you don’t even have to think about it. Your longest commute is
from your bedroom to your desk.
3. A work at home job is portable. Your partner has
been offered a great promotion with a huge raise. The only problem is
it’s 600 miles away. When you work at home, your job is portable. You’ll
never be forced to choose between your partner’s job and yours again.
4. You’ll never have to miss another school recital
when you work at home.
One of the absolute best reasons to work at
home is that you’re more available to your children. School plays,
teacher meetings, volunteering to chaperone class trips – you can do it
all, without your boss wondering where your priorities are.
5. You can have that three hour lunch with your
college roommate. You haven’t seen her in years, but she has business in
town tomorrow. Your boss probably wouldn’t appreciate you taking three
hours for lunch – but when you work at home, that’s not a problem. No
one’s watching your clock to make sure you don’t take an extra fifteen
minutes.
6. You can work at home during the hours that make the
most sense for you.
Maybe you’re not a nine to five person. When
you work at home you can work six to two. Or midnight to five in the
morning.
7. You can take a midweek weekend when you work at
home. Love to ski but hate the weekend crowds? When you work at home,
you can schedule your days off on your own schedule – so you can take
advantage of mid-week specials at your favorite ski lodge or spa.
8. You’re not limited by hourly pay when you work at
home. No one has yet made a law regulating how many hours you can work
in a week if you work at home. That means more money in your pocket if
you’re willing to put in the extra hours to get the work done.
9. You can cook dinner while you work at home in the
afternoon. Tired of having to choose between convenience foods and
eating at midnight? You don’t have to when you work at home. You can get
dinner started while you work.
10. You don’t have to dress up for work when you work
at home.
11. With the rising costs of fuel, your commute can be
a huge expense – in dollars and in time. Working from home decreases
your gasoline costs as well as wear & tear on your vehicle. Assuming
a minimum commute of 30 minutes per day, that saves you eleven hours
per month, or 132 hours per year. Plus, there are no traffic jams on the
way to work, and you don’t have to listen to early morning radio jocks
unless you choose to
12. With a computer, the internet and a phone, you can
be almost as connected from your house as you can from any office.
There is significant growth in both small business ownership and in
telework (or telecommuting), or working from home for someone else. It
cuts down on office costs for employers and helps foster better
life-work balance for employees. Many companies currently have telework
options, and many more are exploring the possibility.
13. Decreased clothing costs. You really can get away
with one good outfit of your choice and a few separates since you’ll
only be “dressing up” for meetings. The typical work from home outfit:
sweats (shorts in summer) and a t-shirt. The beauty of this uniform –
it’s easy to care for (wash, dry & wear) and works equally well for
gardening, walking, boxing up your online auction orders, and writing
the great American novel. A week’s worth of work from home outfits at
any good discount store: $60 USD. Some people profess to get
professionally dressed just as if they were going to the office, but
that just seems silly to me.
14. Increased productivity. There are no co-workers
dropping by to lament their dating, dieting or drinking dilemmas. Of
course, you must refrain from e-socializing, but it’s easier to ignore
an email than it is to dodge a whiny office-mate on day 2 of Atkins or
the office party dude who wants to rehash his weekend. Plus, there are
fewer dumb meetings where everybody’s late or unprepared and nothing
gets accomplished. With online meetings, email and the phone, you may
find you don’t need meetings at all.
15. Childcare issues are easier. Depending on the age
of your children and the nature of your work, you may still need a
babysitter, but probably not full-time.
16. Leftovers make great, easy lunches. No need for
brown bags, just heat & eat. You save money and even if you’re not a
great cook, it’s usually better than fast food or snack machine
offerings. If you usually go out for lunch at work and spend just $10,
that’s $50 a week saved.
17. You can set the heat/air temperature to your
liking. Ditto music.
18. You can be productive during work breaks—throwing
in a load of laundry, unloading the dishwasher, watering the garden. Of
course, you have to avoid the impulse to clean and cook and wander
around the house aimlessly, but usually after week one, you learn to
separate work duties from home duties pretty easily.
19. Sodas don’t cost $1.25 each. Your refrigerator
never takes your money or gives you Mountain Dew when you wanted Diet
Coke. Coffee does not require making a choice between $4 a cup, or
“free-but-tastes-like-mud”.
20. Freedom, in most cases, to set your own hours and
work when you want to work. You can work when you are most energetic,
whether that’s 10 am or 10 pm. You can take off to run errands or go see
your kid’s school play. It becomes about your productivity, not about
your “face-time” in the office.
