Working from home in Ireland: living the dream

Image by fras1977 via Flickr

Imagine waking up in the morning and not facing the horror of the daily commute. Imagine sauntering into work after a leisurely breakfast at home with your family. Imagine at the end of the working day simply shutting down your PC and being home in no time at all.

No road rage, no traffic gridlock, no hassle….

It sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? But according to estimates it’s already a reality for more than 60,000 Irish people around the country – at least for part of their working week. Every year more Irish employers are realising the productivity, cost and lifestyle benefits associated with letting their employees work from home.

Information and communications technology today makes the option of e-working from home more affordable and accessible than ever. With a computer and a broadband Internet connection you can often work from home just as effectively as you could at the office – sometimes even more so, because you avoid the myriad distractions typical of an office environment. A lot of work can even be done off-line, then e-mailed to clients or colleagues over a standard dial-up connection, and you’d be amazed at how many jobs are suitable for home working, at least for part of the time.

Working from home can be the ultimate win-win situation. It gives you the flexibility to find that work-life balance that’s oh so elusive in today’s Ireland, and provides your employer with a more flexible, more productive, and happier employee. But before you hit the net on a fact-finding mission to convince your boss to let you work from home, remember that it doesn’t suit everyone.

Start by asking yourself why you want to work from home. Make a list of the pros and cons, and ask yourself if working from home would really suit the way you work and fit into your lifestyle. Some of the pros could be flexible working hours, greater job satisfaction, more efficient use of your time and elimination of the daily commute. Cons might include things like isolation, lack of direct human interaction, less immediate feedback on your work and a “blurring of the lines” between your work and family life.

There are plenty more on both sides of the equation – consider your own situation and think about what working from home would be like for you. To work effectively from home you need to be disciplined and self motivated. There’s nobody looking over your shoulder to make sure you get the job done… and although you’ll avoid the usual distractions of an office environment, unless you’re disciplined they can be all too quickly replaced by home-based distractions.

As the roll-out of broadband infrastructure in Ireland continues apace, employees become increasingly disgruntled with lengthy commuting times, and employers realise the cost and productivity benefits associated with it, e-working is set to become a reality for more and more of the Irish work force. If you’re one of them, give it a try… you have nothing to lose, and so much to gain.

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