Permanent Work From Home
Hey everyone, we are back with another important and helpful blog post. This one is certainly important because it is linked with all of our livelihoods. Recently you must have heard of the phrase permanent work from home or remote work. This is what we are going to talk about today. Remote work or permanent work from home as we know it is a bad idea for the long term.
My thesis and observations are from both the employee and employer sides. But what I have observed and researched is that permanent work from home will benefit the employer and the highly paid top-of-the-food-chain employees. It will not be beneficial for the low and maid-paid employees, along with some high-paid employees, and for the freshmen and interns, it will be a nightmare. So let’s get into the details of the fact that permanent work from home is a curse.
Expectation VS Reality Of Work From Home
Yes, permanent work from home has some perks, but these are short-term, and the grass is always greener on the other side type of things. I will write from my own experiences, and I apologize in advance if any employee or employer gets offended because of the opinions and experiences I write in the post. I am not pointing out anybody, but I am just stating the facts and what they will lead to in general. Experiences can vary from person to person and company to company. So let’s see what you get from this predicament we call permanent work from home.
Travel Expenses Expectation
Yes, we save travel expenses when we permanently work from home, which is the second biggest save from the home trend. Commuting is a stressful thing today, and it’s even worse if you travel via public transport. Not having to travel to your office daily can save you some money and save you some mental capacity to focus on your work.
Travel Expenses Reality
Do you expect your company to pay you the amount they use to save you from travel expenses? No, they are not going to. Every company will give you the same excuse that you don’t have to travel to our office, so you don’t need travel expenses. The company will also say you don’t need accidental insurance either, so we don’t need to pay for that either. These are the 2 biggest expenses from your paycheck you could have saved but let me tell you. Your company is not going to let you save that. Instead, they will save that money themselves.
Location Independence Expectation
You can work from anywhere, your home, a cafe, the bus, or even while on vacation. You can continue to meet deadlines and check in to any issues your company may face, wherever and whenever. This is a great way to show dedication and critical thinking that you kept your cool and got the job done, even when you could have been occupied with other things at other places.
Location Independence Reality
Can I work while I’m on vacation? Are you kidding me? If I own a business, I will find some time to work on it while even on a vacation trip or anything. But if I am a normal mid-level employee, I most probably won’t. Still, suppose I am working from home. In that case, the company will have the leverage to ask me to check into anything they want while I am on vacation, occupied with a family event or any other necessary work during which I can’t focus on work.
Work-Life Balance Expectation
Work-Life balance looks almost guaranteed in permanent work from home. You and your employer can agree on the most feasible hours for you to work and don’t have to eat out of having to depend on junk food for launch time or preparing a lunch box. You can get home-cooked meals every day from home, which will lead to better gut health.
Work-Life Balance Reality
Do you think your employer is going to let you choose your hours? No, they’ll never. You will be working with a team, and Your employer will choose the feasible time for a team, not an individual. Home-cooked meals? Yes, you will get those. But now your lunch break will be shorter because you’re not sitting with colleagues, discussing plans. You will only have to finish your meal and get back to work ASAP. Your children will be there to show you what your wife goes through every day. If you are a single guy who lives alone, your gut is still screwed because you’ll have to buy and store the junk food before sitting in front of the computer unless you cook for yourself.
Time Management Expectation
You will save time from traveling and getting stuck in traffic as well. You won’t have anything to bother you from working and keep your focus on your task. This will lead to increased productivity, and you will get the job done better and quicker. You can track your time using software like timecamp, and these will track your time and give you and your employer a comprehensive list of what you have achieved throughout the day.
Time Management Reality
Yes, you will save some time from traffic, but your house chores will get in the way. You will hear the phrase, “Can you get some groceries from the store.” And Yes, your family will only think about the groceries while you’re working, not when you’re playing PUBG. You don’t want to be tracked by timecamp. It’s an employee’s nightmare. Every site you visit is recorded. If you stop moving the mouse and typing, timecamp will stop counting seconds. Your time on social media is not considered producing by time camp and is not included in your daily work hours. Just think what your reaction will be if you’re a social media manager.
Saving Money Expectation
You will save money because you mostly don’t have to commute to the office every day, you don’t have to eat at restaurants. You won’t get late for work. You won’t have any risk of car or bike accidents. You will be safe and save money on all these expenses. Plus, you already have a computer and an internet connection, so you are all set to permanently work from home. Right?
Saving Money Reality
Wrong, your company will have to get a better and more expensive computer and internet connection. The company used to provide you with PCs and a high commercial internet connection, and now you have to get that yourself. You won’t save money from not having to commute and not needing accidental insurance because your company will deduct that amount from your salary, with a simple excuse that you don’t need it anymore. Permanent work from home is only taking the responsibilities from the employer and burdening the employee. In the end, an employee’s expense will only increase.
Are You Ready For Remote Work?
The current global crisis does require you to work remotely, but what about after that. Remote work has already saved so much money that they are trying to make it permanent. You may be ready for remote work and enjoy remote work, but it’s not the same for everybody. What about the freshmen who are looking to get experience while working under your wing. But now they can’t because you are not at the office and you’re unable to guide them the way you should have been.
You may have a good computer and a good internet connection, but think about how you started? Not all people get a great start with everything handed to them. Some have to get out of the house and work for it. Inexperienced people will have to upgrade their computer and internet connections to get an internship or an entry-level job. This will be an issue for the financially underprivileged.
Is It Great For Freelancers Or Is it?
Freelancers, a class of individuals that prefer to permanently work from home but not for any employer but themselves. They are prepared for the remote work trend, and in fact, they are already doing it. They have their workstations set up and their freelancing profiles all in great shape, but is a permanent work from home good for them for a global work trend?
Employees may not have the business sense of their employers, but they do have it. When an employee has to purchase their equipment themselves and get a pay cut just because they don’t need travel allowance and accidental insurance anymore, they will think. Like, if I have to pay for all of this myself. I should work for myself as well. This will increase competition and will cause freelance rates to go down. Another win for employers and another loss for employees.
Final Conclusion
I believe that permanent work from home should be a choice, not a condition. The current times need remote work, but the markets will recover, and times will get better. This is what you should look forward to and prepare for. Permanent work from home is not for everybody. Not everybody is ready to work remotely 12 months of the year. Yes, it saves a lot of the employer’s money, effort, resources, time, and responsibilities, but it only does that at the employee’s expense.
Many entry-level employees depend on getting out of the house to learn from the outside world and develop their skills. Working from home will not be applicable for everyone. Permanent work from home is not feasible for everyone, and if you think permanent work from home is terrible, then you don’t know that studying from home for children is even worse.
