In 2012 I had the opportunity to attend an event held in the city of Medellin called Emtech Colombia1. On that occasion, in a conference given by Kent Larson2 and Carolina Osorio3, they talked about the future impact of smart cities and working from home. I was deeply struck by some of the advantages they indicated about working from home, among which are the flexibility of schedule, the ability to work from different places, the reduction of traffic jams and the reduction of transportation costs.
While many talk about the wonders of remote work and take it to an extreme, indicating it as the best way to work, few look at the disadvantages that can come with it. One of the concerns I had, and still have, is the impact it may have on the psychology of the freelancer and the interpersonal relationships they may have.
Since 2009, I have had the opportunity to perform Work from Home thanks to my profession which is a software developer. Therefore, I would like to point out some considerations from the point of view of the worker, which I consider important when working from home given my experience.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR WORKING FROM HOME
Having a space that is respected by the family: Generally, the freelancer performs his activity from the comfort of his home, surrounded by family members. I believe that this is one of the most important aspects when working from home because the family assumes that the employee has all his time at his disposal. For such reason, if one is working from home with relatives, it is important to make them notice that a schedule is fulfilled, and that the same or greater concentration is needed than if one were in an office.
Flexibility of place: Working from home is not only possible. It can be done from different cities or countries if they have the minimum conditions required by the company to perform the work. If the teleworker changes country, then he/she must consider the time change. For example, let’s suppose that the freelancer works from 10 am to 7 pm in the country where he is, but is fulfilling his normal schedule from 8 am to 5 pm according to the country where the company is headquartered (or where the freelancer was hired).
Availability: On the one hand, the freelancer must perform their tasks as if they were in one of the company’s offices. Working from home should not be an excuse to prevent them from carrying out their responsibilities in a timely manner. There is a great diversity of tools that help in this objective to carry out meetings and coordinate goals. On the other hand, availability is vital because you must be connected by the means offered (such as email, chat, VoIP, among others) by the company to perform the work and be able to respond adequately to assignments.
Cost and time reduction: One of the obvious advantages is to save some money by not having to physically commute to a workplace, either by spending money with your own car or public transportation. Likewise, the commuting time to the company is reduced to zero, and on many occasions, this helps to avoid stress.
Backup: In case there is a problem with the electricity supply or there is no internet service, there must be a plan to solve this inconvenience because the tele-employee must do his job. It would be unreasonable that the freelancer is concerned the problem to the company and not to fulfill his daily duties.
Psychology: This is one of the most important and least mentioned aspects when talking about working from home. When a company offers to work remotely, it generally offers two days a week. However, in special cases there is working from home on a permanent basis. It is in these last cases where the freelancer must have a strong psychology because, as time goes by, working in isolation without having contact with coworkers, especially if they are known, is very frustrating.
Interpersonal relationships: An aspect that goes hand in hand with the previous point is human interaction. When working remotely on a permanent basis, there is an impersonality in task assignments for the freelancer. This must be handled with a good tact by the company and in coordination with the freelancer so that the latter feels part of the company and always gives the maximum effort in their work.
In the aspects mentioned above, there are advantages and disadvantages which are subject to the context in which Working from home is agreed. Many people would say that it is wonderful to be working from home, but care must be taken in the way in which this activity is developed because it can be, in the long term, very disappointing. As the popular saying goes “all that glitters is not gold”.
1http://es.technologyreview.com/emtech/colombia/12/
2Kent Larson is the Director of the Changing Places Research Group at MIT Media Labs. More information is available at http://www.media.mit.edu/people/kll
3Carolina Osorio is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, where she develops techniques for designing transportation and operations systems. More information at http://cee.mit.edu/osorio
