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After Bloomberg reported a poll finding that 65 percent of workers would gladly take a five percent pay cut to continue working from home, it became pretty clear that there are some benefits of working remotely that money just can’t buy. For decades, Americans have normalized the 9 to 5. Sure, cubicles and offices have transformed into “cool” work spaces with open floor planning, lounge-like areas, bright colors and ping pong tables. But an office is still an office.
The many flaws with the working on-location system were exposed through the pandemic. People transitioned to remote work, the world didn’t fall apart, and it has many wondering: so, why return to the office? These thoughts can especially come up for those who discovered all they were missing out on by being away from their homes most of the day. Here are things we realized we took for granted once we got to work from home.
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Better Control Over Our Diet
A study out of John Hopkins University reposted on Science Direct shows that those who cook and eat at home tend make healthier choices and eat fewer calories than those who don’t cook. Home diners also tend to eat fewer calories on the rare occasion that they do dine out. But going to an office to work inevitably robs you of some of the autonomy over your diet. Even those who make the best experts to pack a lunch sometimes simply don’t have time to do so before heading out in the morning. Plus, it can be tough to determine exactly how much food you need when packing a lunch to go. If you under-pack, you could wind up hitting the vending machine. Being stuck at an office can make you feel powerless over what you consume. Working from home makes it so easy to make all meals and snacks at home.
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Touching Base With Loved Ones During The Day
Your children. Your spouse of boyfriend. Your roommate who is your best friend. Your dog. These are the loved ones who fill your home. Simply hearing their voice in the other room when they’re on a call, saying a quick hello between tasks, hugging in the hallway, joining each other on your lunch break or sensing one another’s presence is so nice. Even if you can’t fully engage while you’re all working from home, you and your loved ones feel each other’s presence and that can have a nice effect on the body. A study out of Luminis Health shows that being around people we love lowers blood pressure and being around strangers heightens it. So working at home, near loved ones, is truly good for your health.
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Escaping Road Rage
Keck Medicine of USC says the commute to work is bad for your health in a number of ways, reporting that those who commute to work can have sleep issues and higher levels of stress and are exposed to more pollutants than those who don’t need to drive to work. Keck Medicine also mentioned this interesting social side effect: those who need to drive to and from work each day are less likely to make social plans. There’s a sort of “limit” on how much time a person is willing to spend in the car every day, and many reach that limit (or exceed it) through just driving to work. Of course, having friends is important for your mental health, so this side effect of the work commute goes further than we may realize.
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Handling Chores Throughout The Week
Let’s be honest: when you’re at an office, there can be several periods throughout the day when you have nothing to do. You’re sitting around for 10 minutes while you wait for the person you’re meant to meet with to be ready for you. You’re sitting around while you wait for some software to update to complete on your computer. When things like that happen at home, you can use those 10 minutes to fold laundry, open mail, wipe down some counters and handle other chores. Working from home allows you to slowly, day by day, tackle little errands throughout the week. Going into an office means those chores pile up all week along, and wind up monopolizing your weekend.
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No Office Dynamic Distractions
If you spent years working in an office before the pandemic, you might not have realized how much space all of the office social dynamics rented in your head. There was that chatty coworker who would hold you hostage in meaningless conversation for 15 minutes if you passed her in the hallway, so you were always dodging her. There was that one coworker with an attitude problem and every time you spoke to her, you had to work so hard to not give it back to her. There was the gossiper, and talking to them meant finding masterful ways to acknowledge what they said without participating in the gossip. All of this rented space in your mind. Working from home, you get that space back. It can feel like a big relief.
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Control Over Your Ambiance
The décor of a room greatly impacts your mood. There have been countless studies conducted on the ways different colors and shapes affect how we feel. Just one example, published by the National Library of Medicine, shows the color blue is associated with feeling calm. But when you go to an office, you can’t control what colors they use to decorate the space. You can’t control much at all when it comes to the ambiance. In your own home, you get to make décor choices in a way that makes you feel calm and focused. At the office, the most you can do is decorate your little desk – and sometimes they don’t even allow you to do that.
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Saving A Little Money
The second you step out your front door, it can feel as if you’ve lost control over your spending. Even if you are thrifty and smart about money, leaving your home means finding yourself in situations where you just need to spend money to get by. You have to pay for parking and possibly toll roads. You have to pay for gas. Maybe the work attire you wear when leaving your home requires dry cleaning, so that’s a cost associated with working out of the house. You buy a coffee every day from the café in the office building because you don’t have access to your coffee maker. Everything – even the little things – is so much more expensive when you’re out. Working from home can lead to a lot of savings over time.
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Letting Your Work Speak For Itself
This is another downfall of working in the office: there are a lot of distractions that cover up who the actual good employees are. Those who aren’t completing projects on time or in a satisfactory manner can find all of these other tactics to somehow still be the boss’ favorite. They can offer to grab the boss a coffee or set up the break room for a staff birthday party. They can find opportunities to pay the boss compliments throughout the day. They can gain favor with some coworkers socially while turning them against who they perceive to be their “competition.” There’s a lot of bullshit that goes on like that in an office. But remove the office, send everyone home, and the only way any one can really prove their worth is by…working. Working well, and working on time. Suddenly all of the fog covering up who the best staff was is gone.
