Work from Home or Work in the Office?

Work from home is convenient, but far from easy. Many have struggled defining when work begins and ends when there's no physical boundary to help draw the line and say "I already clocked out", which is something that working in an office provides. Yet working at home saves us money and commute-time, but then office work provides more human interaction. There are so many pros and cons, the list goes on.

Pandemic Blues

Before munching in to the topic, let's first address this situation we are currently in. It's been 2 years into the pandemic and we've all adjusted in our own personal ways despite the deep, deep yearning for "normal". Things are still far from the clearing but it's something to be grateful for that more people are getting vaccinated and restrictions have lifted, allowing face-to-face get-togethers and travelling again. Many who had transitioned to a work-from-home setup are now being called back to the office too. Yayyy! or is it Nooo?

It's a bittersweet return to the old normal, there are some things to miss, and not, in working from home. But are we really eager to go back to working at the office? Is the new normal more convenient now? Let's discuss certain "work elements" and the advantages and disadvantages of both working from home and working in the office.

Work Space

If you've worked from home, you relate to the struggles of finding the perfect spot at home for a zoom backdrop, and finding a suitable work "desk" which happens to change from time to time.

Along with finding the perfect work space at home, stability is an issue we've had to struggle with not because we're picky with the work space we end up with, but because we sometimes need a change of scenery so we migrate to another part of the house.

Workmates

There’s a level of motivation and productivity added when you know you have fellow people working with you or just beside you. It's the general vibe that gets you in the zone. At home you work around others: someone cooking, watching tv, the dogs barking, cats meowing, kids shouting and whatever god forsaken sounds the house can produce during a meeting.

On the other hand, there are quiet moments at home, like when you work the night, there's a stretch of peace for ultimate focus which isn't something you can replicate in an office what with all the impromptu meetings and tasks, and your sprinkle of chikahan. 

Commute

There's no pros and cons here, commuting to work cannot topple over not having to at all. It saves time, effort and adds to your sanity not going through the daily 2-3 experience.

Daily Expenses

You would think that you'd save HUGELY when you work from home as opposed to commuting regularly to an office. Depending on your FoodPanda habits, it could be less than what you thought. Sure, we save up on commute money, we don't need to go out for lunch and/or dinner every day and that saves a lot. Not everybody cooks though, or, in the recent past, had the liberty to eat out at cheaper alternatives (karinderya). So we fall into the habit of ordering fast food or what-have-you from a restaurant plus shipping fee.

It seems a small deal for a day or two, but repeated throughout the week or month food deliveries consume surprisingly more than a month's groceries. So even if you take 3-in-1 coffee sticks every day instead of istarbeks it cuts down little. So for those who do cook and spend less on food deliveries, and lazada/shopee binging (is this a conversation where you need to address the severity of your retail therapy? hmmmm) then good on you, mate. You're probably saving a lot and flourishing with all that extra and have enough for a new something nice.

Conclusion

The thing about this article, it's not designed to get you to an endpoint that says this is better than that. It's really a discussion on weighing the pros and cons that you might not have considered before. Maybe you have thought about all the points in here, which is great! But thanks for giving my thing a read anyway! At the end of the day tho, we have to consider these points based on our own lifestyle and our own preferences, maybe our own personalities. (because some people really cannot work without people around, or vice versa)

Give it a solid twenty minutes to calculate the distance between the roads leading to your preferences from the choices you're faced with. That's if you're on the verge of new normal part 2. In any case, home- office- hybrid- I wish you all safety and wellness. Here's to whatever work setup we grow into!