There are many jobs that require you you to be physically present at a specific location; child care professionals, pilots, plumbers, and chefs are just a few examples. On the flip side, there are also many jobs that do not require you to be physically present. Technological advances and the plethora of communication options on the market have made it possible for many to work wherever they can find an internet connection.
One problem is that many companies are stuck in their ways. Millions of people get up, drive to work, and sit in a cubicle staring at a computer screen for eight or more hours per day. Communication is done primarily through email, instant messages, and the phone. None of these employees really need to be physically present to do their job.
Slowly but surely employers are starting to realize that working from home can save the company quite a bit of money. I’ve written in the past about why companies should embrace work from home, but today I don’t want to talk about the benefits companies receive. Instead I want to talk about five benefits the employees themselves receive.
1) Save on Dress Clothes
If you work in an office building, more likely than not you have to dress up. While there are certainly ways to save money on this expense, there is no denying the fact that dress clothes are an inevitable expense for those who work in a formal office environment.
While working from home may not completely wipe this out of your budget, it certainly can save you a few hundred – or even thousand – of dollars every single year. You might still need a variety of dress clothes options for meeting with clients, interviewing for jobs, and formal events like weddings and funerals, but you will have much less wear and tear if you are not wearing them five days a week.
2) Save Time by not commuting
Time is a precious commodity – I even argue it’s one of the most valuable commodities. Commuting is nothing more than a time suck for most people. If you work from home full-time, you don’t have to worry about leaving a half hour or hour before you need to be at work.
Not only do you have to drive to and from work, but oftentimes you have to fight rush hour and congested roads. A recent Wall Street Journal article explained that decaying roads are a real problem in the United States. While this article talked about how increased time because of detours and congested freeways are costing businesses money, I immediately think of all the individuals who are losing valuable time sitting in traffic. If businesses changed their work from home policies they would not only save money but help ease ever-increasing traffic.
Some offer the solution of simply moving closer to work. While this technically would work, remember we are tlaking about jobs that do not require you to be physically present (even if current outdated policy does require you to be there).
Why move closer to work when you can…
3) Live anywhere you want
One of my favorite benefits of having a job that can be done from home is that in many cases you can work anywhere you can find an internet connection. This means that you aren’t limited to living in a single physical location. From time-to-time I look at job listings to see what skills are in demand. There is an increasing number of jobs that prefer you live in a certain location, but also are open to work from home arrangements. Having the option to keep your job while at the same time having the flexibility to move if your spouse gets a location-dependent job or if you simply want to move to a new city/state/country is definitely a positive.
Just remember there are some inherent risk that comes with having a job that can be done from anywhere, as I wrote in my post Why Plumbers Have More Job Security than Accountants. This risk comes whether you are working from home or sitting in a cubicle, though, so making the transition to work from home shouldn’t make you feel any more or less safe when it comes to job security.
4) Pick your own work environment
My company switched buildings a little over a year ago. Part of this new building were cubicles that had only three walls, and the three walls that did remain are shorter than the ones in the previous building. Interruptions happen constantly and you can hear people on the phone who sit three rows over. While people who promote open offices have good intentions, open offices can be difficult work environments if you need to focus on difficult tasks.
When you work from home you can control your work environment. You don’t have to grind away for decades in a cubicle hoping “one day” you will get one of those coveted offices. Instead you can set up your office at home any way you like. Perhaps you work better at the kitchen table or at a coffee shop. Whatever the location may be, if you work from home you have the opportunity to control your environment and work in an environment that allows you to work at maximum efficiency.
5) Save money on gas
I already mentioned the benefit of time saved by not having to commute to work. An additional benefit of not having to commute is that you save money on gas. While many of us factor gas into our budget as a necessity, there is no denying the fact that the bills add up and the money could be used better elsewhere, especially if you are driving to work to simply sit at a computer all day and phone into conference calls.
As I mentioned earlier, this could be solved by moving closer to your work. If you can do your job without physically being at an office building, I see no reason why employers should put this constraint on employees or why employees put up with it long-term. At the very least employers should consider allowing employees to work from home a couple days a week or have some say in their work arrangement.
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Does your career or small business have potential to be work from home? Do you think more office jobs will move to work from home arrangements over the next decade?
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Photo credits (in order of appearance)
Photo by David Martyn Hunt, Jonathan Mueller, jnyemb
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I started working from home last 3 years ago and I love doing it. Yes you’re right the number advantage of it is that you will save a lot in your clothes and you will manage your own time too.
Clarisse @ Make Money Your Way Good to hear about your experience working from home!
I think we’re benefitting from all of these currently, well maybe not #3 – but you get the point. These are many of the things that I love about working from home. We may not get paid vacation, but I get to work in my PJ’s if I want and have a cold one with lunch too. ;) We really do want to look at working from somewhere else like doing a house swap and go to Europe or something.
FrugalRulesThe fact that you even have the option to do a house swap and still be able to do your work is a huge perk. I definitely envy you for that.
All great points DC. I wish I could work from home at least part of the time. Besides saving time with having no commute, I also wouldn’t have to spend 15-20 minutes getting ready. All in all I’d probably have 45 minutes extra to be productive. You are very right that sometimes offices are not structured very well – when the sales guys get loud, I can hear them, and it can be distracting. I don’t know how they manage to hear people! I do hope to see an increasing trend of more work from home opportunities in the near future.
JourneytoSavingI think you and are in the same boat. I personally would gain a ton of time each day from not having to commute and all the stuff that comes with commuting (dress clothes, packing a lunch, etc.). I think we will see a trend because companies that offer these arrangements will likely attract better talent over time.
It is one of my dream to work at home. I’m tired of driving daily and wasting 2 to 3 hours daily. There is a big impact on your savings if you consider working in the comfort of your home.
MyDesire4There is definitely some big financial savings that come from working from home, not to mention the time. I think companies can save money as well from not having to rent out massive amounts of office space to house all their workers who essentially just end up sitting on their laptops anyway.
I cannot WAIT until I can work full-time from home! I am ready to be my own boss and work in my own little comfy environment. Not to mention, it would enable my dream life of living abroad and working remotely.. just thinking about that is all the motivation I need to keep chugging away toward self-employment :)
CSMillennialThe possibility of working remotely from anywhere in the globe is definitely a huge motivator in my opinion. Heck, even the possibility of working from home makes me want to develop my skills to be a more valuable employee that companies will be willing to accommodate with things like wfh arrangements. Additionally working on my side hustles and increasing location-independent income is always a goal of mine.
This is all so true. I think that living where you want is a great thing as well. We’re looking for a house now and we only have to consider how close it is to Greg’s work since I work at home. It definitely makes things easier.
Holly at ClubThriftyGreat point, especially considering how many dual-income families there are nowadays. It’s bound to be easier to find a place to live if you only have one person who has to physically go into work.
These are all great advantages of working from home. I also like that I can set my own hours and work as much as I want. If I want to work 60 hours a week I can do so comfortably from my home. If I want to take a little break and only work 20 hours a week I can do that, too.
SingleMomIncomeThat’s definitely an appealing part of working from home. If you control your work schedule you can also work 3 or 4 long days a week and take the rest off. That’s an ideal schedule in my opinion.
I don’t know – pyjamas are getting pretty expensive these days…?
moneystepper Haha good one.
As you know, I just recently started working at home. The fact that I can just wake up and throw my laptop on my lap and start working is definitely a huge positive. The amount of time that I am able to save is incredible, and I am also much happier as well :)
I also haven’t put gas in my car in awhile, although that will change when we go out of town this weekend.
SenseofCentsThat definitely sounds like an ideal situation! The days I do work from home I think about how I am able to sleep an extra half hour (or more), how easy it is to log in and log off at the end of the day, and in general how nice it is to control my environment. Makes me consider jobs and opportunities that can be done from my laptop at home.
I would like to work from home more than I currently do, but I would really need a dedicated work space to do so. With my wife and son home (soon to be sons), and without a place I can both separate myself and have a decent space to work, it’s tough. But I love many of the things that come with it, including not commuting, getting to start working right away, and setting more of my own schedule.
Matt @ Mom and Dad MoneyAh yes, I have a co-worker with four kids at home and it makes it very difficult to work. I think having a separate space is ideal, or just not having kids, which obviously isn’t an option for those who already have them ;)
I love working from home from for all those reasons. I think the one I’m still working on the most is being location independent and being able to live anywhere. I’m still sort of tied to the LA area because of what I do for a living, but I’d love to be able to live anywhere I want and still be able to do the same things. The ultimate freedom.
BeachbudgetYeah knowing what you do it seems easier to stay in one area, even if you end up doing a lot of work from your computer at home. I don’t blame you for wanting to try living somewhere else, though, and it’s totally possible.
I do really enjoy working from home! I don’t have to drive, I can wear whatever I want, and I can go home to visit family whenever and still do my work. I actually think about the possibility of moving to a country with a lower cost of living and making American money online. My debt would disappear SO quickly!
Erin My Alternate LifeThat is something I’ve thought about, too. If you can live in a country with lower cost of living for a few years and make money online, you could save a lot of money (or pay down a ton of debt). Definitely an idea worth considering.
Saving time on commuting would be the biggest thing for me. I take transit to work and usually it’s not too painful, but there have been days where I’ve wasted 15-20 minutes waiting for a late bus. Grrrr
OutlierModelPublic transit is definitely preferable when possible, but yeah I didn’t think about the whole late bus situation. I suppose that happens from time-to-time.
I was just thinking about this again yesterday after running into someone from my last corporate job at the grocery store. I do not miss ironing my clothes for work and paying dry cleaning fees for my suits. I do not miss paying $100 a week for parking.
And I certainly do not miss my tiny cubicle. Just as you pointed out, there were constant interruptions and I would always lose my train of thought. Who ever invented cubicles should be shot. (kidding of course).
TacklingOurDebtOh gosh don’t even remind me about ironing…so many hours of my life have already been wasted doing that and I just started working! The worst things about cubicles is that they have become even more open and impractical in recent times.
I would like to work from home just so that I can live wherever I wanted and travel frequently. That’s the biggest advantage to me.
MonaSez For sure! I would love to be able to travel and still make an income while I’m at it. No more requesting off work to travel.
I have the opportunity to work from home from time to time. I really enjoy it for all of the reasons you mentioned. Two negatives of working from home are that I use more electricity and I end up eating more than I do when I am at work.
ayoungpro Those don’t sound like very big negatives haha, unless electricity is a lot more expensive where you live.
DC @ Young Adult Money Just playing devil’s advocate. ;) Working from home is pretty awesome.
That’s a great list, David. I love working from home and would have a difficult time transitioning back to a traditional work environment at first.
DonebyForty Thanks! I think if I started to work from home full-time I’d have trouble transitioning back to a traditional environment as well.
Great post and you really do touch on many of the pros of working from home. i agree that it’ great that people who work from home don’t need to dress up for work and commute will save big bucks. Im not a big fan of the open office environment either. I could never get any work done so thankfully I don’t have to work in such a place. I suppose that environment for some is great and others torture.
CanadianBudgetB So true! I have a lot of trouble concentrating. I’ve considered booking conference rooms just to sit in and get some work done.
If you work for yourself there are also a lot of deductions, from your internet plan to part of your mortgage or rent if you use your house as your office. Savings can be big.
RFIndependence Very true about the deductions. I was also talking about working from home for an employer, which I believe can also result in a deduction if you use a room in your house as your office.
I commute about 80 miles round trip for work so I’d definitely love to work from home. I probably could do my work at home, but my employer would never allow it. They like to keep tabs on you. I wouldn’t mind a few days at home, but I think it would be tough if it was all the time. I’d like to have some interaction with people.
Andrew LivingRichCheaply Definitely need a balance of working alone and interacting with others. I imagine that when work from home becomes more acceptable that there would be many more conference calls, video conferences, touch-point meetings, etc. and probably the occasional live meetup just to have some face-to-face time. I commute 50 miles round trip so I’d be happy to get rid of that as well!
Having worked my current job in an office for almost two years, and remotely from home (across the country from my team) for seven months, there are definitely pros and cons. I sure don’t miss my commute time, having to dress up or the sometimes chaotic work environment. As someone who works in Marketing, though, there are downsides (brainstorm meetings and concept presentations I’m not there for face to face, things like that). I hope that more companies become more flexible and let employees choose what works for them. I think an ideal situation for me would be 1-2 days in office, and 3-4 home each week.
KelseyJass Ah marketing, definitely a different world compared to accounting! I think with the new voice/video technology there can be some more of that face-to-face time, but probably will end up being virtual a large majority of the time. I think coming together once a week wouldn’t be a bad idea, though I personally would prefer once a month haha – introvert!
One of the main reasons why I would love to work from home is to cut down on my commute – it takes up 2 whole hours of my day!
I think the appeal of living anywhere makes the lure of working from home very appealing. Friends of ours got the ability to work remotely with their high paying city jobs and they moved to a cheaper area and were able to buy a house. That type of scenario is ideal in my views.