Working from Home: Demystifying Myths
Questions and disbelieves
‘Halo friend’. Nice to have you here. We’re just going to examine the concept of working from home, especially in the Nigerian context. How do people see you if you say “I work from home”? I’ve seen that look of “you no really get work” from people when I say “I’m working from home”. So ready, steady, let’s go!
Is it possible to work from home?
I’ve been a remote/virtual/online/internet worker for the better part of my career. I taught students online, now I work for a corporate organization and have to deliver value mostly from my room. Sometimes from my car, at the eatery, just anywhere I find convenient. For me it is possible. Twitter agrees perfectly with this, that’s why it asked its workers to work from home ‘forever’ if their work so permits. Let’s just flip the front and back faces of this coin.
Upside
Work is about getting something done. That thing essentially adds to the overall progress of the unit/department/organization/business. ‘Commuting’ (transporting) is not part of work, at least I don’t yet see the value it adds to any business except in the transportation industry where it is the business in itself.
Sometimes the actual work is about doing an email, attending a meeting, following a process through, making a presentation, writing codes or documenting a process/event. I think anyone can do these from anywhere, right? You save useful time (the most important human resource ever, time), money, and, you focus more on the meat of the work when you’re remote. But there’re downsides too…
Downside:
One major drawback of virtual work is that some businesses don’t know how they can do aspects of their work remotely yet. You also can’t regulate the work times of people, and it pinches both the business owner and the worker too; some people have to work deep into the night when at home. On other days they may not have to do anything.
The biggest drawback for me is the speed at which relationships are being built. The ice is broken faster when people see face-to-face. The bonding is quicker.
Myths demystified
You can work from anywhere as long as the business process permits. If you’re not moving physical files, cooking food, digging the ground or working with an immovable tool, you may work from home. At least the Internet and the COVID-19 made us see these possibilities better.
Corporate, religious and even social organizations all have opportunities within the remote space.
Adios Mon Amie!
