Working from Home: Will it help?

Working from Home: Will it help?

Fed up of a 9 to 5 job? Is the constant honking on the roads and endless commute driving you crazy? If you are considering working from home, take heart, so are many others. But how viable is this option? 

The truth is that traffic is only getting worse. You get stuck everywhere and anywhere and at all times. While many of us don't have a choice and have to put up with it, there are a small fraction amongst us who can consider certain options.

Can you work from home?

For young moms and women constantly trying to balance home and office, travelling to and fro between the two can be trying. There are others with health constraints, who need the money but can't put in the long hours and travel of a full-time job. Can they work from home and would that solve their problems? We spoke to four young individuals who took to working at home and got a lowdown on the pros and cons of this choice.

Name: Roshni Nair McManus

Profession: Freelance Editor

Why the switchover:
The main reason for me choosing freelancing personally was the fact that my health does not permit me to have a gruelling 9 to 5 schedule. I am an insulin-dependent diabetic and I have to follow a strict diet & exercise regime without fail, in addition to monitoring of sugar levels at regular intervals throughout the day. This would be slightly cumbersome in an office setup with its rigid and structured schedules of work and mealtimes. Hence, since I have been associated with the same firm over the past several years, they understand my health constraints and have provided me with the flexibility to work from home. So, there is a mutually beneficial arrangement at play here.

Advantages:
The advantages are that you can plan your work, set your own schedules daily, take regular breaks when required, and be in control of your work. The key factor is flexibility and convenience.

Disadvantages:
The disadvantages are "once a freelancer, always a freelancer"!! If, down the line, you decide to take up a full-time position, firms do not look at your "freelancing experience" as relevant or worthwhile. Plus, it is always difficult to get back to the constricting 9 to 5 routine once you have been working from home. Also, you will not be entitled to the additional perks like PF, medical coverage or other benefits of a corporate "package".

Name: Shema John

Profession: Architect who has set up an office in the basement of her home

Why the switchover:
Being an Architect who had taken a detour into the IT world, I was desiring to pick my career as an architect again as that was my primary calling. I had the option of working at a large architecture firm but chose to work from home as I have two growing children who needed a lot more of my time. Setting up my own office has given me the flexibility and ability to fulfill my career aspirations as well as a home carer.

Advantages:
One can manage time as per one's discretion and be able to put in substantial effort into a project and yet have substantial time for home and children. The flexibility is a tremendous advantage.

Disadvantages:
The major disadvantage I feel I am at is unless I do not step out and diligently keep up with new trends, I could become obsolete in my profession. So a lot more time and focus would be required on networking within the fraternity and outside.

Name: M Sandeep

Profession: National Business Relationship Manager

Why the switchover:
I started working for a US-head quartered company which had started its India office in Nov 2003. Since the operations were small and we were looking at cost-effective measures of a mobile working office the option was a home office as even the US and UK sales force used a similar model. The second parameter was that I was into National Sales managing Partners who have a PAN India presence so it was not practical to have an office at all locations as we only had one partner.

Advantages:
The advantages are flexibility of time; saving on travel time to and fro office and home; improved and increased productivity; and savings on cost on office space.

Disadvantages:
The disadvantages are working alone at home can be quite boring; difficulty in managing face-to-face meetings with Operations, pre-Sales and post-Sales team (face-to-face interaction moves work faster when intervention is needed for any work -related activity); reduced or NO learning opportunities from peers, seniors which is only possible at a regular office; all work-related logistical activities need to be done by myself which is time-consuming; setting up a full fledged home off ice while taking care of it on a personal basis is quite an activity.

While Roshni, Shema and Sandeep continue to work from home, the last individual we spoke to worked from home for around 2 years but then decided to switch over to a regular office job

Name: Amarnath Bhagath
Profession: Worked from home while I was Sales Manager - India for SER Solutions Inc.

Why the switchover:
Working from home was thrust on me more than me taking it as a option as I was the only representative for the company in India. I worked for a large organisation called Avaya Global Connect before I took up the role at SER. As part of my job I was responsible for driving business for the company in the Indian market through partners.So I operated from home as it didn't make sense to rent out a business centre just for one person.

Advantages:
It helped cut down on travel time to and from office and home and fuel consumption; the flexible working hours enabled me to spend more time with my kid.

Disadvantages:
This mode of working is ideally suited for female workers who have small kids to attend to and would want a flexible workstyle so that they can take care of their young ones. Being at home, you tend to be over-relaxed, do personal work like go to the grocery store, sleep that extra bit,come out of routine jobs like getting ready on time, having bath on time,eating on time,...you also lose contact with the outside world if the job doesn't entitle you to travel out often.

Our take: "Look before you leap". For the two ladies, working at home was a personal choice and they seem to have taken it in their stride in spite of the disadvantages. While for the two men, it was a Hobson's choice. Sandeep isn't complaining and finally it's up to each person to decide what works best for them.

Popular work-from-home options:

• Writers
• Web/Graphic Designers
• Bloggers: Blogsites that pay per post are another means of working from home. How much you earn depends on how many posts you can send
• Data work : Filling up forms, typing, data conversion (pdf to doc, jpeg to doc), html tagging, copy-paste, medical transcription, tele-calling.
• HTML tagging
• Translation
• Tuitions
• Interior design
• Proof reading dissertations, essays, thesis, novels, screenplays, scripts, proposals, press releases, newsletters, resumes, cover letters, etc.
• Direct marketing
• Ad posting
• Run a library

A word of caution: There are a whole lot of websites that offer work-at-home assignments. Many of these may be scams. Watch out! There are many that ask you to pay. Avoid them like the plague.