Overrated: Why You’ll Hate Working From Home

In Defense of the Office

Working from home sounds like a dream come true.

But it’s really not.

An unlimited vacation sounds great but can actually result in employee dissatisfaction. Similarly, working from home comes with many drawbacks.

Even if you have the freedom to work remotely, you should work from anywhere except from your home. Here’s why:

You’ll Procrastinate — Because You Can

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. — Parkinson’s Law

Procrastination is debilitating. You’d have thought that it gets easier with age. But it’s equally tempting to procrastinate now as when you were in high school. With the privacy and comfort of your home, it’s challenging not to procrastinate. You lose the momentum that being around colleagues would have held you accountable to.

Ever notice how:

It’s easier to work at the office?

Read at the library?

Fall asleep watching late night TV on the couch?

Author and designer Jack Cheng calls this idea habit fields. His point is we find it naturally easier to do the same stuff in the same environments.

I was familiar with relaxing at home. It was a battle to break that inertia every day.

So if you have the fantasy that you can just get paid to watch TV from home while you “handle emails,” think again. You’re going to get fired.

More and more often, I found myself often working until 9 or 10PM. And still, I got less stuff done each day than I would have at an office or a library. It was ridiculous.

Even making a to-do list seemed like a monumental challenge. Why do that, when I can load an episode of Fresh Prince while I eat breakfast? And then lounge on the couch and watch another one, and another one…

Sucky weather also becomes particularly debilitating. The Canadian winter got me into a slump. It’s so easy to stay inside, bundled up in a bathrobe, when I have an option. It’s heated in the house and it’s cold outside. But this is by far not the best choice. Before I know it, I’ve binge-watched six episodes of The Office. I’m hating myself for wasting time, and I’m stuck wondering how and why I feel so helpless in the face of this work. I used to be productive!

Working from home sounds great on paper. It gets old, fast. And if you have a tendency to procrastinate, it is not particularly fun to live through.

What I would’ve done differently:

I met up and talked to my friend about this challenge, and he was adamant that we speak once a week for 30 minutes. During this call, we would talk about my sales pipeline. I would also share my calendar with him so I could review my to-do lists. This structure sounds like it robs valuable freedom, but it actually empowers me. I realized how much more I could get done. My frustration evaporated and I felt like I could do work again — I had to.

If you’re not comfortable asking a friend to do this, try a service like Stickk.com. Invite one or two people to keep you accountable.

You’ll Feel Sloppy Because There’s No Reason to Look Sharp

“Before you knew it, you had devolved into a sloppy version of yourself, with unkempt hair (oh, skipping a washing day, no one’ll see it anyway), alternately clad in muumuu-like roopoosh outside, and messy house clothes inside.” — Azadeh Moaveni

Moaveni was writing about her experience with her roopoosh. Spending all day in the house has a similar effect. When you’re working from home, you have less incentive to dress up since no one can see. You realize you can get away wearing your PJs all day. That’d be fine, except for the part where you wonder why you feel so sluggish and too cozy to get anything done. (It’s a first world pain, but it’s still a pain.)

Fashion has long been considered a superficial aspect of life (and it is). Yet there’s no denying that it influences how we feel. Psychologists Hajo Adam and Adam D. Galinsky explored how clothing affected the way we think their paper for the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. They coined the term coined the term “enclothed cognition”. In one of their experiments, they had respondents put on a white coat belonging to a doctor. They noticed the cloak had a positive correlation with students’ their abilities to pay attention.

What I would’ve done differently:

When I was working from home, I’d roll out of bed and start writing or check emails. This wasn’t a good idea. I should’ve beelined straight for the shower right after waking up.

Look, this sounds so obvious, but if you’ve ever worked from home you know how easy it can be to get away with half the day having not showered. Showering is crucial.

In order to force myself to do this, I would have done my first hour of work at a coffee shop. Once I built up momentum in the morning, it’d be easier for me to get stuff done in the afternoon.

There’s (WAY) Less Human Contact

No one is an island. Mood is contagious, which is why good leaders pay so much attention to office culture. Both strong and weak ties at the office affect your happiness and sense of belonging. Fresh ideas are really important.

When you work from home, you run the risk of living in an extremely, extremely small filter bubble. You’re isolated. And you control so many variables (e.g., environment, who is around, etc.). If you work with obnoxious team members, then this sounds great. But if you like the people you work with right now then you’re actually going to miss them.

When you’re isolated, you also have fewer unexpected moments — which means fewer happy accidents. In this survey conducted by Regus, 62% of respondents who worked from home feel they are getting stale, 38% responded that they got lonely, and 64% miss mixing with other professionals.

It’s really awesome when a friend also works from home and you work together. But that doesn’t happen nearly as much as you might think. (Or you might procrastinate together, which is less awesome but more fun. PlayCatan ate entire days.)

I don’t have a child or a pet, but I imagine being around one of these will make a huge difference as well. Something to consider!

What I would’ve done differently:

If you like going to local industry events, get out of the house and go to an event or two every week.

Or, take the time you would’ve spent at the office water cooler, and email people that you find interesting. Get in touch with them. I emailed someone asking if they had transcripts for their podcast. That person would eventually become one of my clients. When you work from home, you’re free to spend more time making these connections — so do it.

If you miss being around people and also don’t have a child or pet, work at a co-working space or pay quick visits to the coffee shop. Become a good return customer that people like. (Meaning tip well, make small talk occasionally with the staff, and don’t stay for more than 1.5 hours per drink. Don’t take calls here, take them at home).

Is it working for you?!

Be honest with yourself. If it’s not working for you, go back to your company office, or find a co-working space. A co-working space is more expensive. But, you’ll work a lot more, which will increase your productivity and revenues. (If you’re freelancing, you might also meet people that become your clients or can refer to you to some.)

Anna Colbatch has a good set of rituals for working from home without going nuts:

But putting this system together is a lot of work! For me, I’d rather just commute. I live in the suburbs, and I crave the excitement of downtown. Plus I reclaim time lost on the commute by reading on the train. (I likely would’ve lost that time procrastinating if I were working at home.)

Now, I have a desk at a client office. I preserve the freedom to take a day off or go to the office late. My habits improved, almost effortlessly, as I changed my environment.

In spite of the comfort, or perhaps because of it, I can’t see myself working from home ever again.