Instead of fluorescent office lights, there’s a soft light coming in from your living room window. Instead of your rigid desk chair, the familiarity of your sofa. Here, there’s no rush to close your five open YouTube tabs as your boss walks by. No neighboring Skype conferences. No freezing air-conditioner, no muffled techno from your coworker’s earbuds, no disapproving once-overs from the office fashionista. Actually, you’re not even wearing socks. You’re comfortable. You’re getting stuff done. And you’re in home office.
The Stay-At-Home Trend
Working from home, sometimes called “WFH,” has taken the world by storm. The fact that it has an acronym alone shows that it’s super relevant. And that’s not just my observation: according to this article from Bloomberg, there’s been a 40% increase since 1996 alone. It comes in many flavors: from officially “telecommuting” to just “working remotely.”
Why We Love It
A day spent working from home is not just a standard office workday in a more casual setting. It’s a new kind of day altogether— One where work gets done, but so does life. It’s spaced out differently. You’ll have bursts of productivity followed by periods of distraction, procrastination, and inactivity. In essence, it feels natural. It’s this element of humanity that has made the world fall in love with working from home. Rejecting the mundane and monotonous for the independent and relaxed—who wouldn’t see the appeal? It hits a nerve: our desire for flexibility and freedom. And our need for multiple YouTube tabs.
Why It’s #Problematic
It’s not shocking that WFH has been met with productivity problems. While self-reported studies site productivity increases of up to 90%, there is a lack of research saying it’s a good replacement for traditional office work. After experimenting with WFH, the realities of strained communication and lack of focus and discipline are clear. This realization is already having an effect on workplace policy: companies—perhaps the most famous example being IBM—have begun to roll back this perk.
Striking a Balance
As we’re shifting away from blue- and white-collar jobs and into blank collar ones, we need to reevaluate the role of WFH. It’s acceptable, but it’s no replacement for sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with coworkers. There’s something to be said for the creative atmosphere, the reliable structure, and the defined workspace. It averages out to be about as productive as a partial day’s work—something unsustainable long-term. Keep at it long enough, and your life could turn into something like this hilarious New York Times humor piece.
Put simply, the WFH poses some tricky questions about our culture of work and ideas about productivity, and striking a balance will take time.
Anyway, back to work. Here’s a giant collection of WFH gifs.
