By Ankita Purohit
10 Benefits of Working from Home for Women and Making it a Success
Working from home has been in the hype lately, which didn’t exist decades back. Most firms are technologically sound and are welcoming this step as an effective measure to so many things. To many people ‘Work from Home‘ is still an alien term, who either do not know what it is and why it is implemented or its whole lot of benefits.
When we talk about women folks, it brings in even more benefits and joy to them. I am going to list the benefits of working from home for women in particular, and how to implement it successfully.
1. Less distractions, more focused – You do not have anybody around who distracts you by conversations, phone calls, gossips, crowd, and so on. Your home gives you the silent environment where you can give your hundred percent. If you have kids and/or a joint-family, you must reserve certain hours at the most suitable time. This should be in a separate room where people are not allowed to enter till you are done with your work.
2. Minimized commute – You do not have to wake-up early so as to get ready and drive all the way through your workplace. This will save your petrol expenses as well, that would have otherwise asked you spend lots of bucks.
3. Increased productivity – Since you have saved a lot of time (2 to 4 hours, bothway) in dealing with the heavy traffic, you may actually invest that time doing work at home. You may also start utilizing that time in doing other household work such as cooking and cleaning.
4. Utilize your breaks better – You may consume your tea-time or coffee-time breaks with something even more relaxing, such as a ten-minute power-nap, or dancing, or playing your favorite musical instrument, or a brisk walk. The possibilities are countless. You will notice a significant improvement in the area of work you do.
5. Low expenses – It is not just about saving your money on petrol but also while buying a coffee or a lunch for yourself. Since, when you are at home you will cook food, and it obviously saves a lot of money. Even employers are at benefit if they allow their employees the option of work from home because they do not have to arrange commute for them. Lease, water, coffee, electricity, furniture, office supplies, etc. are other kinds of expenses that the employer can save. This is the reason why many employers hire freelancers as well, other than their regular employees.
6. Work-home balance – This is beneficial particularly for women who have kids and other family members to take care of. It is also possible that they do not live in the remote area and where the transportation isn’t easily accessible. They are free to work during the most convenient time, like when everyone sleeps, or when kids go to school, and so on.
7. Lesser stress – Whether you work in a rotational shift or not, you have to give those fixed working hours to your workplace. It would be less stressful if you consider working from home because you do not have to put on stress about those scary deadlines. You now have whole 24 hours period where you may adjust your work in separate time-frames.
8. Work anytime, any place independently – Working at home does not literally imply that you have to design your home exactly as work space you get in your office. It could be at your relative’s place, a cafeteria, or a hotel room that you booked in order to hang out with your buddies. Since you need just a high-speed internet connection, a laptop having good processing speed and an operating system, you are for sure good to go.
9. No (sick) leaves – It is estimated that nearly 78% of the employees who go for unscheduled sick leaves usually deal with stress or personal issues. This costs the employers about $1,800 per employee per year in the United States. Working from home reduces the likelihood of such kinds of leaves, hence reducing the employers’ cost as well. This is because even those who are actually medically sick, or even who have had surgery recently, can adjust their time in such a way that their work is being done in some manner.
Think about expecting mothers who take sick leaves in-between at several occasions. They can have this option of working at home as well, without worrying about so many leaves they might take and affecting the organization in any way. This is the key reason why women opt for not being a regular employee and enjoy as a freelancer these days.
10. Avoid office politics/gossips – Terms like office politics and gossips aren’t cup of tea for everyone and each one of us does not feel comfortable if it is too much inside an organization. The best bet to this is start working at home and you no longer have to care what sort of mind-mess most people get involved in.
How to make it a success?
Time management is the key. A woman needs to be very strict when it comes to working, even it is done at home. Initially, it might sound relaxing that you are free to schedule your work anytime you want. But if you actually start doing this, you will soon realize that a fixed routine needs to be followed without fail so as to be more productive to your employers. You might think that after doing all your household work, that typically involves getting up, cleaning, cooking, sending your children to school, you may start your actual work. But the thing is, you are going to get exhausted at the end if you get overly involved.
It is best that you prepare your breakfast and lunch in the morning itself. Reheat the lunch when you get hungry during the daytime and serve it to yourself as well as other family members, if they too live with you. Divide your cleaning part into several time-frames. This could be done while you take 10-minute breaks in-between. If your children are too small and don’t go to school, you must hire a nanny who looks after, or family member(s) who live(s) with you, while you do your professional tasks.
To some people, the option of working at home does not sound productive because they lose their usual routine out of laziness. Others’ profession demands regular visits at workplace, such as hospitals, police stations, railway stations, and so on. So, it does have some limitations.