The 10 Pros and Cons of Working at Home Online

Working from home has become the new trend ever since the pandemic. Thanks to apps like Zoom, Slack, Google Meets, holding virtual meetings online has become the new norm and more and more companies are now realizing that the same amount of work that was done from an office can also be done from home. Not only high-skill and major qualification jobs but huge number of online jobs are also available from work from home. In this post, we’re going to list various pros and cons of working from home along with a few jobs that people can take up whilst at home.

Top 10 Jobs

1. Social media assistant – Social media assistants are individuals who work alongside a social media manager. Social media managers and assistants are responsible for posting content online on a company’s social media handles. They have to come up with exciting campaigns, trends, answering questions and comments posted by customers etc. We are currently hiring a social media intern. Apply here!
2. Content writing – Content writing has become one of the most work from home choices for a lot of people and the main reason being a huge demand for this work. If you love writing, then you can find content writing jobs for websites, blogs, social media handles, etc.
3. Graphic designing – 2021 is the age of digital media and creative visuals. Brands need designers to create colorful visuals for their brands and all you need to design are a few design software making it the perfect work from home job opportunity.
4. Bloggers – If you are passionate about something, then starting your own blog is a great way to earn some income whilst sitting at home. If you love cooking, then you can start your own blog and share your recipes with the world through your blogs.
5. Data entry – Data entry jobs are easy to do and can easily be done from the comfort of your home. All you require is a working device. Data entry jobs entail you feeding information or data onto a software that’s provided to you by a company.
6. Translators – If you are fluent in more than one language, then you can easily find a job as a translator. Suggestive of the name, translators translate text or audio from one language to another. In order for you to become a translator, you must be fluent in written and verbal forms of communication in more than one language.
7. Travel agent – Freelance travel agents book flight/train tickets along with hotel reservations for their clients. Travel agencies are always on the lookout for talented individuals who can convert their travel packages.
8. Online tutors – You can conduct classes online where you teach students various things depending on your skills. It could be a language, an art form, math, anything that interests you. You can conduct these classes on virtual platforms such as Zoom, Google meet, Skype and many more.
9. Website developer – If you know coding and can easily make websites then this is a good job opportunity for you. Brands are constantly looking for developers to develop their websites that are attractive, entertaining and informative.
10.  Affiliate marketer – Affiliate marketers are individuals who promote a brands products/services through their blogs, websites or social media handles and get paid a commission every time a sale is made through a unique link provided to them by the brand. Individuals can join various affiliate marketing programs such as Amazon affiliates and many more. Market America offers a great opportunity if you’re curious about becoming an entrepreneur. Find more details here.

These are just some of the many work from home jobs that are available for you to take up online.

Top 10 Pros

1. Flexibility of work – For those individuals who can choose their own working hours, working from home is a huge bonus. You may like working at night instead of during the day. Working from home makes that possible.
2. Customized work environment – We can all agree that the work environment can sometimes get very formal. When you work from home, you create your own work environment. You can listen to music whilst working which otherwise would probably not be possible if you were working from an office. Plus you can sit anywhere in your house or place that you like when working from home.
3. Cozy clothes – Isn’t life better when you can work in clothes that are comfortable? You can wear your sweatpants or shorts and no one would be around to tell you otherwise.
4. No office distractions – Although you may miss your colleagues, sometimes it’s just too difficult to focus on your work when you have other distractions around. For individuals who love to work in peace without anyone disturbing them, working from home is a blessing in disguise.
5. Save money on travel – When it comes to working from an office, employers and employees must travel to their workplace which usually costs money. Transportation costs are none when you work from home which means that you can save more money which you probably wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.
6. More time with your loved ones – If you are a pet parent or a parent then you know the joy of being able to spend more precious times with your loved ones. You no longer have to miss them at your workplace as they’ll be around you throughout the day.
7. Avoid office politics – Working in an office means you can’t avoid office politics. You may not be friends with everyone you work with and meeting them everyday can add stress to your life which can be easily avoided when you work from home.
8. Have more productive meetings – Conducting online meetings is an easy feat thanks to the many apps that are available. Regular office meetings can go on for a longer time unnecessarily and thus reduce productivity whereas in online meetings you can host a meeting with 10-15 employees and finish it within 15 minutes or exit the call when your work in the meeting is finished which may not be possible in the office.
9. Wider employee pool – In an office situation, employers are bound by geographical restrictions whereas when you work from home, you can expand your horizons and hire employees who live in different cities or even states.
10. Save money on coffee and lunch – If you are someone who grabs a coffee or a lunch from outside everyday then you know how much money you have saved since you started working from home. Making your own lunch or coffee is significantly cheaper than buying one from outside.

Top 10 Cons

1. Willpower – When you work from an office you know that you can’t binge watch an episode at work. This changes when you work from home and since you can choose your own work timings and the distractions are so many, stopping what you’re doing to focus on work requires willpower.
2. You may miss out on important work calls or messages – In an office environment, reaching you is easy. One simply has to reach your desk or send you a message on an office network. When working from home you may have stepped away from your work screen for a few minutes and missed an important call or message.
3. Power naps – While power naps are good for your motor learning skills such as typing and for alertness, your employers may not think so. Moreover, you run the risk of turning a 20-minute power nap into a 2hour sleep session wherein you’ve ended up missing a deadline and get yelled at by your superiors.
4. The difficulty of sticking to a routine – Without a proper functioning routine things can easily become chaotic. When working from home, you have a set time period and an order in which you get your things done. Your office routine and your home routine will probably never be the same making it difficult to stick to a proper routine.
5. Work life balance – When you go to an office, it’s very easy to separate your home life from your work life but things change when your office comes home. It can get difficult to keep both these things separate which could hamper your work or your home life.
6. Isolation/ loneliness – If you live alone and are isolated from the world then the feeling of loneliness can easily creep in leading to bigger mental health issues which if not addressed on time could be detrimental to one’s health.
7. Potential burnout – One advantage of working in an office is the work life balance. Once you leave your workplace for the day there’s a physical distinction between work and home but these lines are blurred when employees are working from home. Many employees have to put in the extra hours without any extra pay under the guise of working from home which can cause fatigue, stress and exhaustion.
8. Cost of working from home – While some companies may pay for the wifi or broadband connection you use at home, they won’t incur the additional costs that you have to take up. Electricity bills go significantly higher when employees are working from home which can cost you extra.
9. Decreased staff morale – It can be difficult not seeing your work colleagues for months at a time. Even though we may not get to meet them everyday, there’s a working culture and surrounding that you create at your workplace and while maintaining staff morale can be easy at the workplace, doing so at work is difficult.
10. Poor Internet connection – You may live in an area that has poor service and while it didn’t bother you as much when you used to go out for work, it may impact your work in a huge manner since you started working from home. Slow Internet connection could mean less productivity thus hampering your work.

In Conclusion

Work from home has become the new working environment thanks to the pandemic. Whether you may choose to continue working from home or choose to go to an office when the pandemic is over there are certain advantages and disadvantages to both these things which will be missed no matter what choice you make.