Author: Vikki Lynn Sorensen

Late last year, my company moved to permanent work from home after three years of being remote which started during the pandemic.

As excited as I was for this decision, I was also instantly sad. I’m going to miss it. I DO miss it! There’s something to be said for going into an office, bouncing ideas off one another, seeing people outside of your home and feeling like you’re connecting with humanity. (Ya know, if you like humanity.)

So I decided to make my own pro-con list on the whole work-from-home subject. Keep in mind, these are just my opinions comparing 23 years of in-office experience to 3 years remote experience.

Let’s get the cons out of the way first:

1. Training is harder remotely – I’m a smart girl and can definitely learn via online. However, there’s something to be said for someone being live, in front of me and being able to see exactly where I’m pointing to when I have a question. Quite often, my folks will come to be for help because something went wrong only I’m not physically seeing how they got there in the first place.
2. Supervising is harder – Being confined to an office sure makes it easier to find that one person who always seems to be missing from their desk. Usually, Mr. or Ms. Roam-A-Around can be found either in a bathroom or the breakroom. Now, I have no clue where people are at.
3. Lack of team work – Not being in an office means it’s harder to promote a team atmosphere and easier for folks to develop a “every person for themselves” attitude. Being face to face can often product a sense of compassion, empathy and comradery that is otherwise lost when one is secluded.
4. Distractions are abundant – I’ve sat in countless meetings and trainings where someone’s dog was barked, someone’s child needed immediate help, a baby’s diaper needed immediate changing (yes, it actually happened along with the commentary from Mom on how bad it smelled), the UPS or Amazon person came to the door…just to name a few. Distractions often make it hard to stay on task and harder still when new concepts are being developed or discussed.
5. No immediate feedback – When we were back in the office and I needed help from a peer, I would go to them and get help. Now I instant message or email…wait…and sometimes wait some more….and then I wait again. Rarely is any situation quickly resolved that involves more than one person.
6. Communication can be misconstrued – Without seeing my face and hearing my voice, it’s all too easy to misinterpret an instant message or email. This happens all the time. I give information and in my head, I sound sweet. However, if someone is having a low self-esteem day, they’re reading it in a completely different voice and before you know it, the checkered flag has dropped and the argument has started.
7. Missing celebrations – Celebrating a birthday or special event virtually isn’t the same as getting everyone together in a breakroom for a slice of cake and taking a moment for some fun. I’ll miss the office parties the most.

Now let’s talk about the pros:

1. No traffic – This is an obvious one. Less wear and tear on my car. No more white-knuckle driving through blinding snow storms or bad rain. No scraping ice from my car at 5am or hour-long drives home.
2. More budget-friendly – No more eating out for breakfast or lunch. (Yes, I know it’s possible to bring these things to save money but I’m including it anyway.) No more Starbucks runs for a $6 or $7 cup of coffee. No paying for gas traveling back and forth to work.
3. Opportunity for greater concentration – If you’re able to have a space away from family and any distractions, being able to control your office space can produce greater concentration for better productivity. For me, I am able to have my home office at the temperature I like and play some classical music. And no smelly cologne from Ms. Cigarette Smoker Who Likes to Wear Heavy Perfume to Cover Up the Fact That She Smokes!!! Ugh! I will not miss gagging on someone’s perfume or cologne. My sinuses won’t miss it either.
4. More family time – Without having long commutes to and from work, you get to spend more time with your family. I’ve had more dinners at the dinner table working from home that I ever had driving back and forth. Even getting an extra 30 minutes each evening matters where family is concerned.
5. It’s a healthier lifestyle – Working from home allows for more control over what you eat, more time for exercise and some important self-care. Your office day is literally only 8 hours which means there’s more “day” for you. I’m more apt to take a long walk on my lunch. Or after a hectic, stressful meeting, take a stress break and spend some time with my dog. Or, every once in a great while, have a good 5 minute cry out before the next meeting starts.
6. It’s a healthier environment – We can’t ignore the fact that working from home means less exposure to germs and illness. No more offices with poor ventilation systems turning them into one huge Petrie dish nurturing sickness and disease. I don’t miss the cacophony of coughing, nose-blowing or sneezing. I don’t miss germs flying around from folks who cannot or will not stay home when they’re sick.
7. Less absentee-ism – This is another one that cannot be ignored. Honestly, when I was sick, I hated going into the office. Being sick was more about not wanting to be around other people and just wanting to be home than the illness itself. So when Covid did catch up with me, I actually still felt able to put in a few hours of work and save my PTO for something fun. Don’t get me wrong – if you’re sick, it’s best practice to do what you need to do to get well. For me personally, however, I’m now apt to work through a migraine that would have kept me out of the office (bright lights, icy cold temps, perfumes clogging my sinuses, loud buzzing of office life) in the warmth and quiet of my own home office.

My list is pretty much neck-in-neck as far as pros and cons go. But one pro I didn’t list has become very important to me – I get to choose to live anywhere I want. Next year, I’ll be buying a house with my sister and it’s so nice not to have to worry about the commute to work – at least for me. There is a certain freedom that comes with working remotely that I didn’t expect. I’ll always miss the office. And I hate that I find myself more a homebody with each passing moment. It’s harder and harder to get me out of the house to socialize. I would imagine I’m not alone in that.

So work from home or go back to the office – which do you prefer?

Last look at office life….

Home office!