By Winnie S. Valdez
Government agencies adopted work from home scheme because of the Enhanced Community Quarantine over the entire Luzon for the Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation. Working from home for some employees is a dream job, a comfortable work spent in their own home for it can increase vitality and reduces stress. Working from home conjures different images to different peoples’ minds. Some people believe that working from home will get nothing done, while others believe that workers will be happier and more productive. Telecommuting also called telework, teleworking, working from home, a work arrangement in which the employee works outside the office. The majority of the work happens through cellular phones, computer and online. With text messages, video chats, conference calls, and wireless Internet, they can constantly stay connected as though they were sitting in the office, rather than at home. As a result, the location of the person is no longer as important, as long as they have a signal and reliable Internet connection.
Advantages of work at home are: People who work from home have an easier time eating healthy foods with family members and striking a manageable work-life balance. Working while eating right and nutritious food, having more time with family can help employees feel less tired and increase productivity. Employees who worked from home experienced 25 percent less stress. The advantage of being at home is it’s much easier to keep a healthy diet. People save a lot of stressful hours that would have been spent commuting. They can adjust their working environment to a convenient work ambience that match their preferences and needs. Comfortable work environment makes them more efficient, more creative, relieves the amount of stress, gives a happy and healthier work-life balance, more relaxed and boost morale.
In the normal situation when employees left the office, the work actually ended, but today agencies are adapting work from home scheme, most of the people can work wherever they are at any hour. In an office, there are so many potential distractions, with co-workers knocking at the door, interruption from colleagues. Working from home can minimize those distractions and increase time to focus on work that lead to completion with fewer mistakes. For Agencies/Employers telecommuting can limit employee’s absences, increase productivity, and save expenses. By adopting work from home scheme it saves money because they use their own computer, pay electricity and other utilities.
Disadvantages of work from home are: Text as a communication mechanism is hard. They can’t see body language they don’t know what’s going on in someone’s life on the other side of the chat window. They have much less insight into someone than when they’re around them in the office all day, plus they don’t even know if they are even physically there. Intentional empathy should always be present. Some employees result to be unproductive when they are unsupervised. Home-based work comes with its own distractions, TV nearby, especially if other people or even pets are nearby. Huge disadvantage of work from home is poor signal and poor internet connectivity.
At the end of the day their productivity and overall success depends entirely on their preferred work style and the type of work they do.