working from home, good or bad?

 When I first heard of working from home I thought it was going to be the next big thing. You roll out of bed get a cup of coffee and you're working. You don't have to go anywhere, you may not need to shave or really deal with very much personal appearance. You just get on your computer or the phone and away you go. And if you're going to have a video meeting at 10:00 a.m. you can run into the bathroom and get all made up just in time for the meeting. So it sounds pretty productive and it gives you more personal flexibility.

Currently here are some thoughts on when it may apply and how well it works.

If you do lots of individual work where you're basically turn in tasks and they're highly identifiable, then working from home may be a big win for the company and for you. They need to get stuff done quickly and they know exactly what you need to get done. So you're able to get up and quickly get to work on stuff on a daily basis without wasting time and traffic and stressing out over getting ready. Even if you take a longer breakfast relaxing staring out the window at the birds you're still putting in more time because you're not spending a half an hour or longer in traffic. You start your day relaxed energized and ready to go rather than stressed out and frustrated.

It also works better if you're a self-starter and highly motivated on your own. If you need coaxing or need the sense that you're under the watchful eye of somebody and working from home is going to be a great way to goof off and waste time. If you take yourself and your job seriously and working from home makes more sense.

If you live alone or in a situation where you're going to be alone throughout the day as you work then it makes pretty good sense. Unless your spouse is working in the same company that you're working at, they're just going to be a distraction.

 If you have kids at home or a lot of pets then working from home is going to be suboptimal. If you're on a phone meeting and somebody's having a birthday party in the background it sounds totally unprofessional.

 Here's the simple benefits of going into an office. When you're in the office there are other people at the office you're all doing the same work. So that just helps people focus on the same tasks. If someone's having all kinds of distractions and family problems it really stands out at the office. In other words everyone working in the office helps everyone focus on the work of the company. Also you feel like you're part of something by going to a specific location. In today's world with chat and texting and emails and phones it's pretty easy to communicate electronically with somebody even if you're just down the hall, but going to the office still gives you the option to walk into somebody's office or over to their cube and talk to them in person. Talking to people in person is the most personable way to communicate.

 So there a long list of pros and cons. And it's probably a good idea to look at your personal work style and your current situation as to whether it would really work effectively for you. But these blanket statements that the entire company can work from anywhere at any time are unrealistic and depend on super dedicated well organized and self-motivated individuals, which most of the world is not.