The Pros and Cons of Remote Working


The opportunity to work remotely is becoming more and more present in companies that do not need their workers to be present at their office desks in order to complete their tasks. Some companies, of course, are not able to give permission for working remotely, due to their need for workers being physically present at their job posts. However, employees who mostly work on their computers can easily get permission to work remotely, from a location that best suits their needs. 

With the development of information technology, employees get plenty of advantages in their jobs. For instance, they have opportunities to get their daily activities completed from another location, or from the comfort of their homes. Moreover, employees who are working remotely may be present at all meetings virtually over the Internet. 

Different companies are beginning to follow this trend and to change alongside with the development of IT technology. Cosmic Development is one of those IT companies that follow the trend of remote working and offer it to their employees in order to make them feel more comfortable while performing their daily work tasks and activities. No matter whether you are a software developer, a digital marketer, or a virtual assistant, feeling enjoyable at work is one of the advantages that come with remote work. Employees can choose a random location in the world, travel and work at the same time, without neglecting the required job activities. And all thanks to the new technologies and the existing option for remote work. However, working remotely can also have negative sides, regardless of the advantages it implies. Read below to discover the pros and cons of working remotely.

Pros:

  1. Have Freedom and Flexibility
  2. Acquire New Skills
  3. Save Money and Time

Cons:

  1. Be Physically Present
  2. Miss Social Gatherings
  3. Face Many Distractions
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Pros

1. Have Freedom and Flexibility

One of the best advantages of working remotely is the opportunity to have freedom and flexibility. Having freedom while completing your job activities means to be able to choose your own working hours. That way, you will be able to choose the most appropriate time of the day to finish the daily tasks. In addition to freedom comes the flexibility of working remotely. Not many employers give their employees the flexibility to work from another location. Employees prefer and choose those companies that offer flexibility as part of their job requirements and perks. Being able to work from a remote location enables workers to organize their time and tasks according to their needs. Employees who have remote jobs can proudly say that they can choose different work locations on a worldwide level for each month thanks to the flexibility that their remote positions entail. 

2. Acquire New Skills

Working remotely is a positive circumstance that helps employees become better workers. Through remote work, employees become more independent workers and develop new skills. Some of those skills are also known as entrepreneurial skills because they encompass organizational and managerial skills. Just like entrepreneurs, remote workers need to know how to organize their time and daily activities, in order to get them finished on time. Without managerial skills, remote workers might get stuck in loads of work due to spending their time on procrastination. Time flies very fast when one is working alone and isolated, without feeling the pressure of work and the office atmosphere. Therefore, remote workers must acquire these new skill sets, if they want to become better at finishing their assignments on time.

3. Save Money and Time

Another advantage of working remotely is the ability to save money that otherwise you would spend when going to work at an office. For instance, holding a remote job will help you save money on transport. Traveling each day to an office may result in high transport expenses. Working remotely will save your money for transport and will help you avoid having such high expenses. Moreover, traveling to the office is also a time-consuming activity, especially when there is a big distance between your home and your work office. Remote working can help you save your time on traveling, just like it helps you save your money on transport. Working from home or from a remote location may result in lower expenses and no hours spent on a daily commute. 

Another aspect of the money-saving advantage of working remotely is the ability to work in comfortable clothes. This implies that you can choose to wear pajamas and sweats while working from a remote location. Wearing such clothes is impossible if you must work at an office. Therefore, working remotely can also help you save money on clothes.

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Cons

1. Be Physically Present

One of the main disadvantages of working remotely is the disability to be physically present at an office in a working environment. A remote position means isolating yourself from other people and sitting alone in front of a computer. This may prove to be good for introverted employees who prefer their own company. However, it is bad when extroverted employees are working remotely and are unable to be present physically at their office. The physical presence gives employees a feeling like they are part of a team and that they belong somewhere. Being isolated when working remotely takes that feeling away from employees and they may feel alone and be avoided by other coworkers.

The remote work also prevents employees from being physically present at team meetings at the office. With the development of technology, nowadays employees may be present at meetings through Skype, Slack, etc. However, there is an enormous difference between being physically present at a meeting at the office and being included through online platforms only for several minutes. 

2. Miss Social Gatherings

In addition to the meetings, working remotely also prevents employees from being physically present at social gatherings organized by the company where they work. A disadvantage of holding a remote job is the disability to be present at social gatherings, such as after-work parties, coworkers’ birthday celebrations, holiday celebrations, etc. By missing such events, remote employees may begin feeling socially excluded from their teams, due to the inability to hang out with them outside of working hours. Social exclusion may prove to be a huge problem in long-term employment. Working remotely increases the risk of isolation and internal dissatisfaction due to the failure to be present at social gatherings. The desire to be part of such gatherings may cause the employee to leave the current job, even though there are many pros of working remotely.

3. Face Many Distractions

Another disadvantage of working remotely is the level of distractions that may occur in a remote location. When working from an office, the working environment does not allow employees to spend too much time on procrastination. Instead, they go to the office and begin working in the same instance. They spend 90 percent of their time on work because the atmosphere in the office subconsciously makes them work more. Working remotely, on the other hand, may prove to be less productive, due to the numerous distractions that may happen in the remote location where you work from. Working from home, for instance, may bring distractions and interruptions from other family members. Moreover, another remote working location may have another set of distractions, such as other employees, conversations, meetings, Internet problems, etc.

Man working remotely
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The employees are faced with many more pros and cons of remote working, depending on their personal preference for work location. In most cases, remote teams have more benefits from working from another location than working in a regular workplace. Remote workers believe that they are more productive when working in their desired environment. That way they can choose their locations and hold a balance between work and life. Moreover, employees who love traveling for months can work remotely from a different location each month and conquer new horizons while responding to their work assignments on time. Remote workers also save a lot of time which otherwise would have been used on the commute from home to the office. Furthermore, employees who are working remotely and their employers can get additional benefits in their communication skills. Are you a remote worker? If you have more pros or cons of remote working you would like to share, send us a comment.


Sources:

medium.com/remote-work/the-pros-and-cons-of-working-remotely-d526d7a34b0d

toggl.com/out-of-office-why-go-remote/

careercast.com/career-news/remote-work-pros-cons

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