WFH : The Upsides

Starting this week we were back to a working from home set up and this is because of the sudden surge and rampant spread of the Delta variant of the CoVid-19 virus. I am not entirely sure about it but they say that this variant of the virus is more easily to be passed on compared to the first one, like the virus needed some more enhancement.

The rise of the cases was just really bothering and our company just decided to limit the physical contact among the employees and clients, hence a partial WFH scheme. It's partial since half of the working week, we will be reporting in the office and half of the week we will be working from our respective houses. And of course, this is on a per batch basis so the office will only be at 50% maximum capacity on any given day. And it will be easier to trace the transmission of the virus if ever an employee contracts it.

And in line with this, let me relay to you some positive observations in different aspects of life that I have experienced while working with this setup.

Wardrobe

We do not have a prescribed uniform in our office so every workday, I have to pick and choose an appropriate attire to be dressed up with. Although the dress code is a pretty lax business casual, it's quite tiring and a bit expensive to wear a different outfit every single day.

Some companies have those so-called "clothing allowance" in place of their uniforms, but our company does not have that kind of perk.

Given, neat and good articles of clothing are our investment to ourselves so we should not hold back on them but if you are working 6 days a week, it may, later on, become an issue especially if you care about your "fashion sense".

So in a WFH setup, this is not an issue since people won't really be looking at you aside from the occasional video chats. You can just put on any clean shirt and you're good to go. I'm attending meetings with just a shirt and boxers. I just make sure that the camera won't get what it should not see.

Time

Working from home can save a lot of people some precious time of their life. Sleep for example, while working from home, I can just wake up just in time for the morning briefing instead of the usual 5:30 in the morning just so I can prepare and do some chores before going to work. That's 2 hours or so extra hours in bed.

My commute to work is around 30-50 minutes depending on the traffic, so in total that is around under 2 hours back and forth. In a WFH setup, I can have those extra 2 hours to do whatever I want to do. It may seem small but if you add all those up, that's a big part of your life saved.

Money Saver

Aside from time, working from home can save you some money. They may not be that big because they may offset the use of your electricity while at home and all those overheads but in actuality, you can really save some money while working from home.

The expenses I incur when commuting to work are enormous and they will be slashed off when working from home, that's a huge saving for me and for others as well. The lunch/snack money I spend while in the office can also be saved because I can just eat whatever food we have at our house.

Breaks

Breaks are also an important part of any activity especially working. While in the office you can take some breaks here and there but it's not that relaxing compared to when you are working in the comforts of your own home.

I am working right from my own room. I have a table set up near my bed and when my back hurts a bit I lie down for a quick break and I come back more ready to go. Just be sure to come back and not fall asleep. You will be playing a dangerous game then if you close your eyes for a prolonged period of time.

Set alarms if you need to. Just in case. Better safe than sorry, you know.

Convenience

No question, this one is really constant for the pros when working at home. Everything I need is right at home. And since I am working as an IT guy, I really don't need much, just give me a laptop and internet connectivity and I am good to go. I imagine that this will not be the case for many people but at least for me, I find it convenient working from home.

Sense of Safety

And of course, I think this tops the list for the pros in working from home especially that the main reason why we are working from home is this pandemic. I don't really care about what others say, staying at home for me is still the best way of protecting yourself from the virus. No matter how small your office is, you will not know and you will never be sure where your coworkers have been. At least in your own house, you can limit the foot traffic and the contact of everyone in it unlike in the office.

With that, there is that sense of security and safety that you feel compared to working in a semi-public place like the office.

Hey hey from home!

Once again, thank you for stumbling upon my article and my page. I started out with this article writing the pros and cons of working from home but as usual, I got lost in the middle and just decided to make this one the positive side of my work from home experience. Of course, there are also those negative sides, or the cons and I will just list them down in a separate article so we can keep this one a bit short so it will be friendlier to the eyes and I won't see a TL:DR kind of comment.

And speaking of comment, I would love to hear your thoughts, about this article, about your WFH experience if you do have them, about me if you'd like. Kindly drop them down below in the comment section. You don't know how much I love reading your comments. They just mean so much to me.

As always, I would like to show my appreciation for your support with a heart felt and a meaningful toast, to you and me, to us...

Cheers!!!

References :

img 1 : https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-03-21/Will-the-coronavirus-pandemic-make-work-from-home-popular--P2UECVqpbO/index.html