Are home workers more productive?

More and more people are leaving the office in favour of working from home. And is it any wonder! You only need to do a quick search in your internet search engine to see that there’s been numerous studies carried out, highlighting the potential benefits of working from home. Whether you work for yourself or are looking to work from home as a paid employee, the one major question that arises whenever home working is mentioned is this – are home workers more productive? And, if so, why are they more productive?

Home workers ARE more productive – if they’re the right kind of worker

Those numerous studies you’ll find online all state that most home workers ARE more productive. However – and it’s a big one – they’re only productive at home, if they’re able to work on their own initiative and if they’re highly motivated.

If you’re the type of worker who needs someone to check up on you, take the lead on what needs doing and generally reassure you, working from home is probably going to lower your productivity levels. And let’s face it, you’ll probably not be the sort of person who wants to run their own business either!

Home working will only work if you can manage your own workload, organise and prioritise it AND get yourself suitably motivated to carry it out.

Why home workers are more productive

There are several reasons why we are more productive at home. These range from mindset, through to environment. Here’s the most common reasons:

#1: You control the noise and distraction levels

Working in a busy office with other people inevitably leads to higher noise levels and various distractions. At home, you can easily shut the door on noise, distraction, and the world, if you wish.

#2: Flexibility in hours and work the hours that best suit your natural rhythms

Working a 9 – 5pm day doesn’t suit everyone. Working at home allows you to be flexible with your time. You can select a working pattern that suits your natural rhythm and the commitments you have at home – if you wish to work late nights or early mornings, you can do so.

#3: You can organise and motivate yourself

We each have our own motivators and our preferred way of organising our workload. Targets based on a set number of phone calls, bringing in x amount of sales and even competing with your colleagues, don’t always motivate us to do our best work.

#4: The environment is more inspiring

At home, you can work in an environment that’s based on what sparks your imagination, creativity and motivation. Most offices are a lot more sterile and unappealing, as they’re designed to provide a ‘suit-all’ environment for a wide variety of colleagues.

#5: Routine and conditioning

Working with our natural rhythms allows us to follow routines that best suit are needs. This may include taking regular breaks, working in focused, short sharp bursts of activity, and even taking daytime naps.

Finally, it’s worth considering the type of work you’re doing. We all have tasks that aren’t our forte, and this is where our productivity levels will drop – regardless of whether we’re working from home or in an office.

Some would argue that home workers will show an increase in productivity, quite simply because they end up working longer hours each day. If you work for yourself, this IS likely to happen, but often, it’s because we love the work we do AND the environment we’re doing it in – and it’s these underlying reasons that inspire us to work harder and more productively.

What are your thoughts around productivity and working from home? Do you agree with the points raised above or do you believe there’s another reason we’re more productive, when working from home? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – so why not share them in the comments box below!