With the current unprecedented situation, the world finds itself in due to the COVID-19 outbreak, millions of people across the globe are taking part in a gigantic work from home experiment, the likes of which has never been seen before and which could very well change the way we work for years to come.
To understand just how large this experiment is, it’s important to look at the work from home numbers before the outbreak, and the estimated numbers after. It was last estimated that over 5 million people work from home in America, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at least 29% of Americans have the capacity to work from home.
If we assume that these 94 million workers are now working from home, that’s an increase of 89 million individuals remote working!
Needless to say that for these 94 million Americans ditching the office for the home office, navigating the new work from home landscape is not without its challenges. Finding a balance and trying to stay sane at the same time can be difficult!
One silver lining of working from home is the time and cost savings on daily commutes. With studies showing that Americans spend around $2,600 per year on their commutes, and take around 27 minutes on average to get to their places of work, people finding themselves working from home can put that money in their back pocket and even snooze the alarm clock a bit longer than usual.
Also if you’re like me and lounge around in sweatpants and don’t have to make yourself presentable for video meetings whilst working from home, you may save even more money. For example, not bothering to blow dry your hair for 5 minutes each day will save you around $730 per year.
With a potential global recession looming, looking after the pennies will look after the dollars for you, so any cost-saving measures are not to be sneezed at!
If you find yourself working at home make sure you follow these top five tips:
- Ensure you have a dedicated work space – you need to be able to separate work and your relaxation space, having a dedicated space to work will also help you focus
- Stick to your hours – It’s important to remember to switch off, that’s not to say that in times of need you shouldn’t put extra effort in, but with work constantly present, it’s easy to fall into the trap of working when you should be relaxing, you don’t want to burn out after all!
- Invest in a good chair – if you’re going to be working from home for 8 hours a day, you need to make sure you have an ergonomic chair to look after your posture and your health.
- Schedule breaks and stick to them – It’s important to take regular breaks throughout the workday, trust me your eyes will thank you!
- Socialize with colleagues – Humans are social animals and we need human interaction. Make sure to socialize with your colleagues so you’re getting the social interaction you need and that you don’t find yourself a remote work hermit.
Working from home doesn’t have to be a burden, with the money-saving benefits work from home brings and as more companies see the positives, we could see a major shift towards more remote working during our lifetimes.