I mentioned at the end of my previous post that in my next post I would, in the interest of fairness and balance, talk about some of the possible pitfalls and disadvantages of working from home, again from the worker’s perspective. There are a few, although I have counters to some of them – I’m an advocate of working from home, so what do you expect? – but I have to admit, not all of them.

• It’s sometimes difficult to concentrate on work at home. Some say that they couldn’t – or, in fact, can’t – work from home because they would be – or are – distracted by the TV, the kids, their partner, or even the washing up. It can be difficult to get in to work mode at home, but if you are easily distracted, then you have to think of ways of reducing or eliminating the distractions, or finding ways of enhancing your focus on the work. For example, make sure your friends and family know that just because you’re at home, it doesn’t mean that you’re always available for a coffee etc.  This brief article pinpoints a few of the issues here: http://www.freelanceuk.com/news/2305.shtml. My partner recently told me that her sister, who works from home for a local authority, puts a business suit on when she’s working, and dons a name badge. No-one sees her, but she feels it necessary to break the link with home life in this way.
• Some feel lonely at home.  People constantly insist that I must miss the camaraderie of the office environment. I do, a bit…but I don’t miss the office politicking. It’s good to assemble around the water cooler and talk for a while, but I can do that on the phone. If I ever want to annoy people about West Ham’s burgeoning chances of qualifying for a European competition next season, there are any number of people I can phone who would be only too happy to explain to me the extent of my delusion. If you feel lonely while working from home, make more of an effort to be sociable in your leisure time.
• A lack of feedback and support. It’s good to bounce ideas around with work colleagues, and to get some ideas and hints from other people. It’s possibly not as easy to do that at home, but it’s really not that difficult to develop a network of like-minded people that you can phone and discuss things with, and develop a set of contacts to confer with if necessary.  Maybe people also feel that they aren’t getting feedback when they work for themselves at home, but you can get round that by making sure your clients give you feedback, or send some of your work to your network to get them to comment on the work.
• A bit of disruption at home. Clearly, if you want to have a comfortable working environment, you’ll need to find some appropriate space in your home, and that’s not always easy. You might need to install a dedicated phone line, buy some additional hardware, and get a nice roomy desk and other office furniture. It costs money, and it takes up space. If your home is a bit “compact” already, this might not be easy. It might not also be easy to cover the set-up costs involved, but start cautiously, buying second-hand furniture if necessary. I bought a perfectly good three-drawer steel filing cabinet a few weeks ago from a charity shop for £38. It suits me fine and apparently the money I spent on it will feed several little rabbits (I bought it from Hoppy’s Haven, in Deal, England) for weeks. It does what it needs to do; and I get to feel self-righteous.
• Additional costs of utilities. I don’t think I have a counter-argument here. During the winter, I do use more gas (for central heating) and electricity (for lighting) than I would if I were working in a corporate office.
• Lack of career progression and development. Working in a normal corporate environment gives your career a certain amount of structure: for example, career progression, promotion, and measurable development against targets. It helps you to build a picture of how well you are doing. It’s not impossible to do that yourself, working from home. You can set targets for yourself – e.g. number of new clients, revenue targets, or an improvement in client feedback. Career development could be measured in terms of the type of work you do – you might start doing fairly low-value work, but as clients begin to trust you, you might end up doing increasingly complex and valuable work – possibly more valuable than your previous employers would allow you to do. Send yourself on training courses, and award yourself a bonus – if you deserve it and the cash flow allows it.