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The Myth

Everyone gets tired of waking up and going into the office every morning, day in and day out. By the time you push your way through that revolving door, you’ve already had to fight with an alarm clock, a lack of enough time, and traffic. Oh the traffic. If you live in a city with a bad commute, you’re probably frustrated and annoyed before you even start working.  No doubt you’ve thought about how relaxed and comfortable you’d be if you could just work from your living room in your pajamas every day.  But don’t go storming into your boss’s office to demand a flex work arrangement just yet.  You may be in for a bit of a surprise.

The Reality

I spent almost 4 years working in your typical corporate office before quitting a few months ago and working from home since then.  I must say, the first couple of months at home were glorious.  I woke up whenever I wanted.  I didn’t have to leave the comfort of my own place.  Instead of drudging my way to a conference room in the mid-afternoon, I ended up jogging to the gym to get in some great workouts.  I was completely free, and it felt great.  Truth be told, it still does.

But there’s always a catch.

When I first started working from home, I made it a point to go out and socialize often.  In fact, during the first month that I started working from home, I was socializing more than I ever did when I worked at an office.  But that didn’t last long.  I became more and more isolated.  Going out became the exception rather than the rule.  I really started having to work to be in contact with other humans.  It became a bit lonely and a bit boring.  The routine of it all set in.

Human contact

Humans are social creatures.  We’re not made to sit in front of a computer by ourselves all day, having no contact with anyone else.  By working in an office environment, you get to have constant interaction with others, even if those others are the types that you may want to avoid.  Just by the very nature of being in a co-located work environment, you’re getting a good amount of social interaction.  Often enough, you get to spend time with some really cool people, too.  Your co-workers can quickly become your friends, and spending 8 hours at the office goes from being a chore to a pleasure.

There are a few other things you miss out on when you work from home.  There aren’t as many impromptu happy hours.  There are no office perks like company picnics and outings.  The food selection is much, much weaker.  There are no more two-hour lunches with your team members (not that you should be doing that on a regular basis anyway).

Summary

Ultimately, by giving up the toil of working from a centralized location, you gain a little freedom (and the ability to blast your music as loud as you want), but you give up some human interaction.  So if you’re the type of person that likes being by yourself and your thoughts and the television are more than enough to keep you company, there are really very few downsides to working from home on a permanent basis.  But if you’re like me, and I’m guessing like most others out there, you may want to think twice about giving up all of that interaction.

If you’re lucky enough, your company will let you work out a schedule where you can choose your own hours and your own work location.  Ideally, you’d be able to go into the office two or three days a week and work from home the rest.  After all, having a glass of wine while you create that Excel spreadsheet does go a long way towards your mental well-being.