- Believe it or not, the road to health, happiness and longevity while holding down a full-time job may not be larger work cubicles, stand-up desks, frequent breaks and a nice office view.
- Health, happiness and longevity at work are more likely not found at work, but in your own home.
- Keep reading to find out why.
The word has been out for quite a long time; in fact, it’s been out since …
- The advent of high-speed Wi-Fi and data lines
- More powerful laptops and
- Remote sign-in capability
That word is, in a sense is remote, as in working remote.
And while the three factors listed above have become the keys that unlock the office-based shackles of the common worker, there is a large and compelling amount of positive payback that a worker can (and does) enjoy when they are based at home as opposed to an office space.
Studies have shown that working at home provides office employees with a variety of advantages that would all but never be realized while in an office setting.
- Less overhead is involved as a person who works remotely usually does so from home, and thus spends less on
- Gas
- Food (for lunch)
- Laundry/dry cleaning of office-type clothing
With this established, remote workers are often more productive, better utilizers of time, better at saving time, and as a whole, happier and more likely to be depended on for retention by their employer.
Of course, with happiness comes a better and stronger opportunity for an ex-office worker to enjoy better health. Yet that can only be achieved if all the pieces of a work-at-home environment are correctly in place for the worker and the employer.
First the basics: Setting up your home office to be the least stressful.
According to an NBC Better website article, 5 Things That Can Make or Break Working from Home, beyond the hardware of computer, printer, modem and a dependable online resource, communication is the most important aspect of an at-home worker’s day-to-day existence. Without it, an at-home worker is fairly much in the dark about what is happening within the office.
As the article states: Communication is tantamount in importance to remote work environments, as you won’t be able to talk to each other face-to-face. You’ll need to establish clear protocols for ongoing communication, including who’s responsible for what types of communication and when, and be as proactive as possible. Emails, chats, phone calls, and even texts should be used, as appropriate, to convey information as concisely as possible. All it takes is one misinterpretation to wreck an entire project or get the team behind schedule; in fact, one-third of all project failures are presumed to be due to miscommunication.
The Forbes article goes on to give a short list of other necessities for a successful work life outside of the office. They include:
- Company software: If you’re working from home, you’ll almost certainly to rely on remote support software to correct any technical issues you face, project management software to keep tabs on your current projects, chat applications, and dozens of other apps to stay connected and productive. The quality and usability of those apps could easily make or break your experience. If you’re dealing with frequent downtime, huge portions of your day could instantly become dead time, and if you have to navigate through hardware or software issues on your own, you could grow frustrated and fail to meet your personal goals for the day. Poor communication software, too, could interfere with your team’s ability to stay in contact — which brings us to our next point.
- Team communication. Communication is extremely important in remote work environments, as you won’t be able to talk to each other face-to-face. You’ll need to establish clear protocols for ongoing communication, including who’s responsible for what types of communication and when, and be as proactive as possible. Emails, chats, phone calls, and even texts should be used, as appropriate, to convey information as concisely as possible. All it takes is one misinterpretation to wreck an entire project or get the team behind schedule; in fact, one-third of all project failures are presumed to be due to miscommunication.
- Your personal motivation: Your ability to motivate yourself will play a major role in both your productivity and your satisfaction while working from home. If you’re the type who needs praise and reassurance from others to feel successful, the arrangement may be hard on you. On the other hand, if you thrive in an environment where you can set and achieve your own goals, you’ll likely be even more productive and satisfied once you’re on your own.
- Your workspace: Your workspace plays a bigger role than you might imagine. You’re likely to feel distracted if you end up sitting on the couch in front of the TV, and you’ll have a harder time separating personal time from professional time. However, if you have a dedicated workspace with limited distractions and a comfortable desk, you’ll be able to perform better. Changing your work environment occasionally, such as going to a café or library, can also be a refreshing change of pace.
- The flexibility of the arrangement: The flexibility of the arrangement has an enormous bearing on its eventual success. Being able to set and/or customize your own hours can help you find the perfect schedule for your personal preferences. Deciding to come into the office occasionally can also help you balance the pros and cons of working from home. Making adjustments to things like communication best practices can help you recover from past mistakes and become more satisfied and productive over time as well. In short, the more room you have for change and improvement, the happier you’ll end up being in the long term.
Now the (health) benefits of working at home.
To be honest, health benefits in this article really should be in quotes. This is because “health” and “benefits” are, for the most part, subjective. And whether or not an off-site worker experiences “health” and/or “benefits” is just as, if not more, subjective.
Here’s the reason(s): Working at home certainly is not for everyone. If you are the type of employee who needs continual feedback, you might feel marooned at your own spare bedroom’s desk or while seated behind your dining room table.
Sure, you’re at home with the doors and windows open, bringing in fresh air. The squirrels are playing in the backyard and somewhere distant, someone runs a lawn mower. This is all very homey, comforting and more than enough to make you feel relaxed as you start in on your projects.
The problem is you’re not relaxed. You feel left out from work because, in fact, you are left out as long as you work from home:
- You don’t know what meetings are going on, particularly those that your boss suddenly crops up regardless if you’re present or not.
- Structure, targets, plans and goals, etc. may have been altered without you knowing or worse yet, without anyone thinking or remembering that maybe you should be introduced to those same changes just as those in the office were.
- Equipment failure can occur, such as dropped Wi-Fi, broken software, down servers – all of which stress you out to no end, putting not just your day’s work in jeopardy, but your entire career as a stay-at-home employee.
If you suffer from any of these challenges -- or any other challenges associated with home-based work, you might want to reconsider going into the office from here on.
Remember the idea of working at home isn’t to succeed at working at home. The idea is that you can still be productive and a good team player while working at home. That, by all standards, is the success.
Now, if you do not experience ill effects of working at home, particularly those listed above, then the benefits of being bedroom, living room or kitchen based can be huge for your mental, emotional and physical health.
Stress levels will lower, ideas will flow much more easily, productivity will increase, and if everything works out perfectly, your absence from work will become a mere afterthought both to you and your office-bound workmates.
With that said, writer Carrie McKeegan recently published an article for Inc. that outlines the health advantages working from home can provide. In Working Remotely Can Be the Best Thing You've Ever Done for Your Health--If You Follow These 5 Tips, the article breaks down the 5 best tips you can employ to make your at-home work experience positive and long-lasting.
As McKeegan points out, working from home, from a health perspective, can be either a blessing or a total curse, even after you have the fundamentals of a computer, software and online access in place.
Once the basics are down and a worker gets used to the atmosphere of working from home, they become able to actually positively change their lifestyle through healthier meals, more exercise, and a better work-life balance.
The article states that the last thing an off-site worker should do is feel chained to their home offices. Instead of using the time they save from a lack of a commute to get fit, they rarely exercise and eat granola bars all day.
Instead, according to McKeegan, home-based employees should adhere to the following:
1. Develop a routine -- and stick to it.
When working from home, it's easy to roll out of bed, fire up the laptop, and get to work. After all, what is more luxurious than working in your pajamas?
Resist the urge! Take the time to dress as if you were going into an office. Keep a routine for your work day, with a start time and an end time, and include breaks during the day. Set a timer to make certain you take a break every two hours or so.
The same should go for your evenings and post-work hours. It's tempting to feel like you should always be on, but working at night contributes to burnout. Try to clearly separate your work time from your home time to help prevent overextension from occurring.
2. Schedule time for exercise.
While there are great benefits to not working in cubicle city, one disadvantage is that it's easy to never get up from your seat.
Block out time for some exercise. Even a simple activity such as a noontime walk can do wonders to prepare you for the remainder of your workday. Or use an online app to do yoga or Pilates. Just be sure to book it in your calendar, so you actually exercise!
3. Purposefully configure your work environment (no working in bed allowed)!
Don’t lie on the bed or sit hunched over on the floor when doing your work. Seriously! That's the fastest way to back and neck issues, not to mention a lack of focus.
Having a proper work environment is vital. Dedicate a space in your home (ideally a separate home office) that is just for working, not an area that is repurposed later in the day.
Also, try to remember that outer order creates inner calm. Maintain this calm by keeping your work environment uncluttered so that your mind will be uncluttered, too.
4. Eat a healthy lunch.
A huge benefit of working from home is having 100 percent control over the food you're eating. In an office environment, buying lunch can be costly and unhealthy, and packing lunch can be a monotonous chore. Working from home gives you full access to daily healthy options.
Some tips include: Make use of a slow cooker, and make soup that you can eat warm each day. Keep cut-up veggies and fruits on hand for snacks. If you love cooking, take the time to cook your lunch. The results will not only be a good healthy meal, but can also be a relaxing break before beginning your afternoon.
5. Make plans for after work.
There are two key benefits to having plans at the end of your workday: First, you're forced to end your day on time and leave your laptop behind, and second, it guarantees you social time, which is hard to find if you work alone from home.
As McKeegan states, with the extensive research available about the optimal office environment, it's shocking how little thinking and planning is done to help the millions of people who work remotely (usually from home). The benefits of working from home are significant, but the risks are considerable. So, ensure you take some time to be purposeful with your work setup. Your health and your career will thank you.
Conclusion
Many authorities within the working world believe that home-based work will soon be the new normal of office life. While any one worker who does work from home will eventually take accountability for themselves and their work performance, the trend to keep workers at home should continue to grow throughout the business environment.
Too much corporate money spent on office spaces, employee parking, and repayment for other employees who take mass transit to and from work, as well as office equipment such as computers, phones, copying machines, software licenses and costs for internet access, might soon cease to exist as more of the workday’s onus is put on the employee’s shoulders.
In the end, this is more than likely a positive development in the future of employers and employees as employers who have their workers home-based can immediately translate into lower operating costs. Meanwhile, the employees are happy since they can now work in a calm, familiar and casual environment, which invariably is their home.
For more information, look into these articles:
- 8 Strong Questions You Should Ask during a Job Interview
- The Importance of a Positive Mindset during Your Job Search
- The Best Cities for Job Seekers: What Cities Are Trending and How to Expand Your Search
