Most of our partners are based from home, although obviously they also spend a lot of time out and about seeing clients and marketing their businesses. Whilst there are challenges involved in working from home, there are some fantastic benefits as well.
Cost-effective
Rather than spending rent on expensive business premises, working from home enables you to avoid that and only spend on whatever extra heating, lighting and electricity you use by being at home through the day. You can also off-set some of those costs from a tax point of view.
No commuting
Most people have a commute of some description. Some are easier than others of course, but just imagine not having to sit in rush hour traffic, squash on to the Tube or train, or queue for a bus.
Plus it’s not just about the unpleasantness of a commute, or the fact that the same journey at rush hour can take three times as long. If your journey to work takes 30 seconds rather than 30 minutes, that’s a lot of extra working time in a year. Or longer in bed…
Working in your pyjamas?
This one’s a bit of a cliché and actually I never do it as I definitely work more effectively when I can get into the right mindset, for which I need to be fully dressed as I wrote about in my previous article 7 ways to become really effective working from home. But some people work just as well in their PJs and if it works for you, then that’s definitely an advantage you have when working from home as opposed to in an office.
House administration
If you’re working from home, you’re there to receive parcels, can let in the meter reader, arrange for a plumber or electrician, supervise contractors working on your house, look after the dog, and any number of other activities.
Manage your time
If you work in an office you are usually bound to certain hours. If you work at home you can work to whatever timetable suits you. Do you work effectively very early in the morning? No problem, get up at 4am, work for a few hours, then have the afternoon off. Have responsibilities that constrain you during the day? It’s fine, you can work into the evening. Feeling tired and want to take a break? It’s fine, you can make up the time later or at the weekend.
If you’re interested in talking to us about becoming a partner with face2faceHR, do get in touch.