Last week Boris Johnson made an interesting comment about those people who work from home – saying it was a “skiver’s paradise” and that all people do is gorge on cheese from the fridge. His comments came after many London based workers have been encouraged to work from home to relieve some of the pressures on the London transport network during the Olympics. This prompted a discussion on LinkedIn regarding the pros and cons of working from home, and really got me thinking.
When I am not delivering training, I work from home and have never had an issue with distractions (such as cheese!) whilst doing this. I am lucky to do a job that I love, and find that the peace and quiet of working from home allows me to focus on tasks more easily than when I worked in an office environment. However, I think if I was at home all the time, I may go a little crazy and crave human contact – even though my MBTI profile suggests I am an Introvert.
The debate has often been around monitoring the productivity of those working from home (although arguably those who are unproductive at home may also be unproductive in an office environment) and the health and safety issues potentially attached. One of the issues I think organisations need to consider for those working from home can be the long hours people work – without a commute into work, I am often at my desk by 8am and work through until 6 or 7pm without thinking about it. I am also guilty of checking e-mails at weekends, or in the evenings as I walk past my computer. Of course, this is not just an issue for those who work from home but, in the age of smart phones, is becoming an accepted norm – that everyone is contactable all of the time.
So, I would actually challenge Boris’ description by saying one of the things those of us who work from home need to think about is improving our work/life balance. And maybe treating ourselves to a little bit of cheese!