Week 1: Could your home office kill you?
I would
like you to read the article Could
your home office kill you? published at http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20131204-could-your-home-office-kill-you and
comment on/discuss it. Besides, describe your study room/home office. Are you a
homeworker? If not, can you imagine working from home? Will more people work from home in the foreseeable
future?
I can't believe that someone got a claim after tripping over dog. Under normal circumstances that would not happen, unless you work as a vet, courier or work in a pet store. I do not know why employers agree to that kind of job, when employee is completely healthy. I can imagine that there is no office or so, but I think that the contract should be created in this way, that employee takes full responsibility for himself, while working at home. I realize that's harsh statement, but I cannot imagine to employ someone on that terms.
ReplyDeleteI realized long time ago that a good seat, which is healthy to your spine, is worth any kind of money. So I bought one, very expensive, which is not only comfortable, but puts my body in proper position. I also have 2 monitors with proper high, so I'm not tired after working for longer time and I do not feel pain. I wish I had my home chair at my work. It's not bad, but compared to mine, it's very uncomfortable. For those, who are thinking about buying one – go for it! It’s an investment in your health!
While I was a freelancer I used to work at home, but now I have full-time job, so traveling to work is a part of my day's routine. I think it's good, that people work in one place not only because it's more efficient(face-to-face conversation is better than video conference or writing e-mails to each other), but it also creates social bonds. While working home for longer period of time you can miss human contact, which could lead to depression. I don't think that in the near future we will have more home-jobs, because flexibility, quick decision making and discussions are too important to many kinds of job and it's hard to manage while someone is sitting at home
First of all I want to say, that during my dog-strolls I am having brainwaves quite often. If you are working in "creative" line of business - like programming, research, development or somethink like that, you don't need to sit down and work. Your work alternate with your other activities. I am a good example. Two - three times a week I'm going to my office and in other days I work from home. It happens that I have to work all night or even 24 hours with one bound. It is not connected with your healty but with your character and personality. My boss accepted this way of working and even said that my efficiency is on the rise since I am working that way. It is comfortable for me, my wife and my boss as well.
DeleteWorking at home? No, it would not work in my situation. Despite I can't work from hpome since I need a special infrastructure to perform my daily work, I can't even imagine staying all days at home. I think it could be very depressive. I like going to the office and see there other people. I think home office for me could be good only in special cases - I would be happy to stay at home when I have a worse day or feeling sick. Sometimes I don't need a day off, just day at home. Then I could be happy working from home but as I said - only occasionally.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if employer should be responsible for a safety of the worker in same range at home as in the office. I don't think so. I think he should help the employee, for example by buying proper chair, desk, etc., but that's all. If you prefer working in a risky mess, then go on. But on your own risk.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteFrom my perspective working from home is a great benefit from which I often use. I can say that I would not want to work from office all the time after almost 3 years of working most of the time from home. This is a way of work that suits me. I had been working for most of my professional life onsite in office and sometimes it was frustrating. Even if I have nothing to do I need to sit in chair and wait until clock ring 8hrs of work. Now if I have nothing to do I can make a laundry or go for a walk with my husky dogs during lunch. I save a lot of time on not traveling to office each day.
I have that great opportunity that my work is not needed onsite. I can do whatever client ask me to do from all over the world… I only need my cellphone to have internet. If this condition is met I can work even from cafeteria or mountain peak – I did that last year when I was in Polish mountains Tatry.
There is also a big disadvantage of that type of work and not all want to cope with it. You can become an “invisible man” for your friends in work and your boss. This is sometimes a very big disadvantage that most of people that work from home have to watch out. When you become invisible for company than you career can damage from that fact.
From my experience I can say that if you want to be “seen” and not become invisible you need to go to office once per week. This will give your boss and your friends in office chance to speak to you in face and not only via email or any other network communicator.
Sławek, aren't you miss sometimes office atmosphere? I believe my motivation could be threatened if could be able to work from home... :)
DeleteWorking at home has its advantages and disadvantages. It is good to work from home beacuse you have your stuff around, you can lay down if you want to. I think its bettter to create at home becasue when I think about some ideas for graphic I offten do some streaching, lay on my bed, go through magazines. The athomphere is better - I love the interior of my "office", I arranged everything the way I like it. The fridge is near so I can eat some good stuff whenever I wan to, it is comfortable to cook something. Plus nowadays it is extremely easy to work from home because we have the Internet. Main disadvantages are that I don't have people around me and I cannot talk to them about the ideas or even do some small talk - it is always enjoyable. One must admint that when working in a group some great stuff can be produced , we can all learn from each other and in that way develope. Another thing is abou the clothes - somethines when I now I am going to stay at home and do some projects I don't feel like putting some great clotes on and I spend the whole day in my truck-suit.
ReplyDeleteI agree with @SławomirSalwin that you can sometimes become invisible fo other coworkes and it can effect the judgement
All in all working from home is not for everyone, one must have a lot of slef disciplime to do so:)
I You're absolutely right about the problem with sharing knowledge. I think working from home makes it much more difficult. You don't have the possibility to personally chat with your coworkers (and doing it online requires more effort) and sometimes you don't even know they may have ideas that you could find useful.
DeleteAssurance for homeworkers by the employer money which can they use to purchase ergonomic equipment and proper instructions of working conditions is a very good idea. Smoke detectors, sufficient ventilation? I do not know if it's not too much..
ReplyDeleteProbably remote working has a lot of advantages - inter alia saving time on commuting, deciding about time at which you must to start of work, breaks, and the lack of permanent control by the employer. What is good for one may not be as beneficial for others. Despite these advantages, it seems to me that I couldn’t work this way - the whole day at home. For a long time it would be more punishment than a privilege. I like to talk to people, to stay in their company. Like you Agnieszka - I know that this kind of job isn’t for me.
I don’t have a separate room to work or study at home, only a small desk on which is a computer monitor plus laptop. With good use of space will be also additional place for a book and a cup of tea. I recently bought the most comfortable armchair which I found in the store, so my comfort of work has significantly improved.
Many of people commenting here are talking about opportunity to work at home. As far as I understand this article, the bottom line is who's responsible for injures obtained at home while working.
ReplyDeleteIn fact this whole article was horrible for me to read, as a former editor. It's not a news, rather a feuilleton without any personal statement with too much dose of onet-like garbage information. Really, really hate it.
America is such a place, where some people really cannot understand, that if you had a nasty trip on your way home it is your fault, not the society not alarming you on time that there is a banana peel on the road. There's no way any employer has the right to interfere with personal workplace at home. I can see no logic behind such discussions.
Americans are raised in this 'demanding attitude' where one can fill a case for massive compensation on, for example, permanent damage of mental health in solitary confinement (after being prosecuted for DUI). No wonder, they are trying to make some good money on (literally) every discomfort in their life.
DeleteBut returning to the topic - one have to be extremely disciplined and organized to be able to work efficiently from home. I, for example, cannot imagine myself as efficient and deadline-reliable employee while working at home in my current position, where I have to extract information from my coworkers, process them, and pass on forward. Not only home-office is a significant barrier in communication, but also I certainly would not be able to concentrate and distraction-free, while the perspective of watching YouTube, playing some games, loud listening some music or taking a stroll is available.
I am not fan of home office, so I can fully agree with Natalia. Home is place for rest and privacy, NOT ANOTHER WORK PLACE. I think that long-term home office can be very harmful as well as for single person and for whole families. I do not work that way and I hope that I won't work that way.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a homeworker and I'm glad. Even when I have to work at home I usually get my laptop and go at to work at a coffee place. Concentrating at home is just to hard.
ReplyDeleteBut for people asking about pros of working at home: there is a good book advocating working at home. It was written by folks from 37signals (of the Ruby on Rails fame) - it's called REMOTE and its worth reading. If you don't have a time to read the whole book, at least look at the accompanied website and watch the videos.
I never worked at home at my full time job. I'm glad that I didn't. As alt_pl said - I do believe that home is a private place that should make you feel relaxed. On the other hand I think that if you have a house that is big enough, you can divide it and make a separate room to work in. A small office. That way you are able to distinguish between your home and work time. But I know that even this would’t be a good solution for me - I just cannot focus on work at home - I’m getting distracted all the time. Just like Ludwik, when I need (or want) to work after working hours (e.g. on some private project) I tend to go outside. When it’s warm enough I like to sit in a park, when it’s chilly - I go to the nearby cafes or travel by suburban railway (the sound of train wheels makes me focused, calm and productive).
ReplyDeleteMy personal opinion on working remotely from home is that it is not a good idea as a permanent way of working. At least for me. When I had this opportunity to stay at home and work remotely, I took it since I had to deal with some other important stuff during the day (seeing a dentist). I just couldn't focus on work for the remaining part of that day the way I could at the office. Little things mess up focus on work, like setting up the laundry or similar. After all I felt guilty that I haven't done enough and wanted to make it even, so I worked more than 8 hours. It still felt just bad, that maybe I could do more at the office. I'd just rather go to the office and re-schedule my appointments. I think that even if I had a job which is completely remote I would have to go outside of my apartment to some kind of rented office to work there without disturbance.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to taking care of safety - hey you're on your own - just take care of it or die and get your own Darwin award. If people can't then maybe, they should just go to the office?
Sorry i'm late but I had an intensive weekend... :-) I used to be a homeworker and i guess most of us was. There is no other better start for IT guy than in his own home office. I used to act like I was a professional Freelancer lmao. Creating websites and stuff, nothing special, you know exactly what I mean. Yeah it was a sweet time, really nice to stand up in the morning drink coffe, wear SOMETHING and start the new day of programmer. Today I would kill myself if i had to sit at home all alone and try to fix some code or anything... That is a horror :-) Not for me but i know guys who still does that and I really feel sorry for them. They have problems with their emotional side and contacts with other people. It's unhealthy when you are alone. One of these guys I know, back in the days was a really funny guy, now he is unbearable, not anymore a funny guy, just a sad "businessman". But on the other hand i still know persons who works at home because of their family and they keep their workplace really clean and they have their own "organization culture" which involves their families which are part of their working day. That's nice. Anyway i wouldn't recommend to anyone sitting in their so called home offices and trying to do work ALONE.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, remove working and working from home are more advanced ways of working than classical office work, we can even say its more "mature" ways. If we can agree with that statement then logically such worker should take full responsibility for his\her health and work conditions.
ReplyDeleteIn this case such owner acts as entrepreneur, as business holder and therefore nor his\her employer no government is responsible for his\her work conditions or health.
At present there are more and more people who have the opportunity to work from home. There are numerous benefits from such a situation, for both the employer and the employee. There are no costs related to the office stuff, like desk, computer (assuming you work on your own one), and office space. The employee, in turn, saves money on public transport or petrol, not to mention the time spent in traffic jam.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I believe working from home may be a great solution for people who prefer living outside cities. Imagine working for a big corpo from a cottage house in the country (and earning a salary adequate to the ones people in cities do). :-)
Personally I do not have the chance to work from home at the moment, but I do not regret it. I really value contact with people and working from home would equal depriving me of the opportunity to socialize with people!
I used to work at home when I was younger but it did not work out for me. I a homeworking person has to have a lot of determination and self-control. There are so many distractions at home that I find it impossible to work like that every day. I think a homeworker would have to live by himself in order to be efficient home employee. Form employer perspective I would never hire homeworker because I don’t have this much trust in people.
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