So why work from home? Why do some people decide to take the plunge (in some people’s mind) and decide to move their office either part-time or full-time to their extra bedroom, kitchen table, study, breakfast nook, or other reasonably suites space in their home? There are several common reasons people voice and no doubt unlimited individual personal and unique situation reasons. Let’s look at some top stated reasons first. Do any of these strike a chord with you?
Saving Money
A penny saved is a penny earned. Right? Well working from home saves a lot more than a few pennies. If you are a small business and don’t really need a store front to sell stuff, don’t have a lot of employees, and don’t need clients to come to your office much, a home office can make a lot of sense. With today’s cool technology tools, you can pretty much do anything at home as you can in a cubical/office/corner office/whatever. You can meet with bosses, clients, leads, project managers, assistants, and colleagues right from your desk using web conferencing or video chat tools, collaborate with clients and colleagues using Google docs and other online synchronous collaboration tools, and give and receive files using Google Drive or Dropbox type tools just like you were in an office and someone dropped a folder on your desk. The thing is, you don’t have to pay the extra overhead: rent, lights, computers and office equipment, furniture, Internet fees, phone fees, insurance for employees, tools, vehicles, equipment, business services, salaries, and on and on. Yes, of course you need these things in your home office and every office has its overhead, however, you don’t need to provide these things for a whole other office space. Some of it you probably already have at home – like lights, heat, and the Internet. All of this and more makes up your overhead – or the many indirect expenses necessary for and contributing to the continuing well-being of your business. How much extra are you adding to your home utility bills by officing there during the day? Some, but not that much. And, you can account for a big portion of the extra expense through your taxes.
In addition, think about the money you could save on commuting fees (gas and car maintenance, public transportation, parking, etc.) Some people find that they can save money in other areas, such as after school childcare, dog care, aging parent care, and so forth. Many find that they can get a full day’s work in by the time the kids get home eliminating the need for afterschool daycare! (The savings in commute time alone might make up these extra hours for some.)
According to GlobalWorkplace Analytics, if those with compatible jobs and a desire to work from home did so just half the time, the national savings would total over $700 Billion a year. (Yes, that is a B as in billion.)
Eliminating the Commute
If you live in a big city, the hours spent in traffic on the highway with road ragers may be a huge incentive for moving home. Even just eliminating this adventure a couple of days a week can improve your sanity! According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average commute time in the U.S. is 25.4 minutes. If you live in a big metro area such as LA or DC, it can be twice that or even more! First, translate your commute time to your billable hour rate. Really – Do the math! Let’s say your billable rate is $50 an hour and you spend 30 minutes in the car (or bus or train) each way. That is an hour a day – or $50. Counting major holidays, you have about 251 days a year to work. Let’s say you get an awesome 3 weeks for the beach, you now commute 236 days a year assuming you are in perfect health and take your vitamins so never get sick. If you do the math at $50 an hour and actually work (and get paid for) that extra hour each day instead of drive/bus/train, you will end up with over $11,000 more in your pocket. This doesn’t even include the cost of your gas, car maintenance, parking, train or bus fare, tolls, etc.
Gaining Time
With less commuting hours, not only will you earn the extra cash, you will save the wear and tear on your health. According to Princeton Professors Daniel Kahneman (Winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics) and Alan Krueger in their paper: “Developments in the Measurement of Subjective Well-Being”, the morning commute was at the top of the list of least enjoyable things in a person’s life – topping work, relationships, housework, and 15 more common daily activities. Additionally, if you are disciplined (yes, a very critical characteristic for successful work-at-homers), you may find that you are much more focused than at the office, especially if you have a job that requires focused, uninterrupted attention to the task at hand. Many professionals that work from home find that they have fewer interruptions (time wasters!), fewer drop ins (time wasters!), fewer meetings (time wasters!), fewer breaks (time wasters!), fewer non-work related chats with coworkers (time wasters!), and on and on. When they are at work, they are actually producing something. So, work gets done in fewer hours. Think about how long it takes to refocus on your task after you have been interrupted. Of course, the home office also has its own interruptors; however, at home, you are more in control.
Given the same amount of production, what would you do with an hour or two more a day? Play with the kids? Walk the dog? Exercise? Cook a healthy dinner? Watch old movies? Dive into a hobby? You really only hear from bored retired people that they have too much time on their hands.
Increasing Productivity
Another way a home office saves money and time is in productivity. Time is money – remember, time is worth your billable rate or how much you get done in a given hour of your salaried work. Think about how much time (billable hour) is wasted at the coffee pot, chatting about your coworkers latest cat disaster, attending unnecessary meetings that provide you with nothing you didn’t already know, and so on. Without these distractions and waste of your billable hour, you can end up adding to your bank account significantly, especially if you are paid by the hour. Even if you are paid by the project, more time means faster projects and faster projects means 1) happier clients, and 2) the ability to take on more projects – which means, of course, more money. Now often these distractions are a part of the social aspects that make work fun and satisfying, but work-at-homers can still get social without digging into their billable hour. Skilled professionals who have mastered working in their home office can trade these wasted hours in for money or time – either (or even both) is probably not a bad deal. Then they can plan their social time.
Self-Bossing
If you have the drive, initiative, and discipline to work from home, then you no doubt have what it takes to be your own boss. No more micro-managing, arrogant, non-communicating, lazy, favorite playing, under-appreciating, overworking, overbearing, incompetent, and “You-Fill-In-The-Blank” bosses. Of course, not every boss is bad. I have had some amazing bosses who are both friends and mentors. But this is no guarantee. Officevibe created a pretty telling infographic that suggests some most problematic characteristics of bad bosses include controlling, dedecisive, stubborn, resistant to change, leading by fear, micromanaging, favoritism, visionless, arrogant, angry, emotional, and blame throwing. Just about anyone in the workworld have experienced at least a few of these boss issues.
To a large extent, home-office-workers can pick their own schedule, their own projects, their own work habits, their own work styles, and their own daily work environment. They can boss themselves. For talented workers, this is a big plus. If you aren’t that talented yet, well personal development is in your control!
Why work from home? In short, there are as many different reasons as workers; however, many successful work-at-homers state that they are saving money and time, love not having to commute in traffic to the office, have become more productive, and boss themselves.
What Do You Think? What are other motivators for those of you who are thinking about or already working from home? Why work from home? We would love to hear your thoughts.