It's not all bad: 9 things to love about working from home

If you can avoid the evil circle of the fridge, the TV and your bed, working from home has its perks.

Here's a round-up of nine things to love about the new reality that has been thrust on many Australian workers.

'My family-of-four has just brought Bruce the Irish Terrier home, and he’s made a huge, immediate impact on our isolation'

1. A sense of control

One of the scariest parts of the coronavirus crisis is there is much we don’t understand and can’t control, which is not good for our mental health. But working from home brings an element of choice: we can set when we work and what we do with our spare time. We can get the washing done, listen to our own music and supervise the slow cooker.

“We know that people feel more anxious when there’s less certainty,” says Professor Jennie Hudson, Director of the Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University.

“Having more control over your time and daily activities and a better balance between home and work can make us feel calmer. There are also plenty of mental health benefits to missing peak hour traffic and being outside of office politics.”

2. No more commute

Everyone we spoke to was unanimous on this – losing the journey to and from work is the big winner. Workers are not only gaining time, but reducing congestion and pollution.

Nat Sutton is a strategist at Telstra who is into week two of indefinitely working from home. She's gaining two hours a day by not commuting. “I have more time and time is a gift,” she says. “My house has never been tidier! I’ve also noticed I don’t get sick when I work from home.”

3. Better communication (sometimes)

Not only do we get to find out which of those meetings really could have been emails, working from home could lead to other healthy work communications practices. Nova producer Tom Ivey went into lockdown with the rest of his radio colleagues after host Richard Wilkins tested positive for coronavirus.

As he has young children and limited space, he has been producing the show from the front seat of his Toyota Yaris, which he says is “not ideal”. But he can still see positives. “There’s no awkward office conversations by the water cooler, or unnecessary banter,” he says. “The boss doesn’t knock on your door at inopportune moments.

On the flip side, people are reporting meeting their neighbours for the first time and companies have introduced wellness checks, virtual drinkss and dial-in lunches in order to stay connected.

4. Happy pets

They either have more time at home and out on walks with their owners or more of them are finding new homes as people seek furry company for the long hours indoors. My family-of-four has just brought Bruce the Irish Terrier home, and he’s made a huge, immediate impact on our isolation.

5. No-excuses fitness

The run on indoor bikes and treadmills shows that plenty of people are exercising on their own terms at home. Gyms and personal trainers are also getting into the act: Orangetheory has released daily emergency home workouts for members, influencers including Kayla Itsines and Sam Wood are ramping up their equipment-free workouts and loads of free meditation, yoga and fitness content is trending on Instagram and You Tube.

6. A comfy wardrobe

Putting on activewear and ugg boots while forgoing corporate hair and make-up saves time, money and lots of energy. Professor Hudson says wearing what we want can also help us feel more positive about our day and our job.

7. Eating better food

You can cook a jaffle where the cheese hasn’t been manhandled by Steve from accounts and the gunk on the toaster is all yours. Or you can make a gourmet noodle soup to show-off in the virtual lunch meetings. And with your favourite restaurants now home delivering, there’s never been a better excuse for luxe lunching.

8. Boosted productivity

Countless studies say it aint “shirking from home”. Working from home can lead to lower overhead costs, less turnover and higher productivity, as people work without distractions and potentially dig in after hours.

Nat Sutton says she is more productive – but was migrating to the computer out of hours, finding several others still online. She now sets a timer to make sure she switches off, stores her monitor in a cupboard and has regular outside spells.

She advises setting up a dedicated workspace (she uses the ironing board as a standup desk) and sticking to a routine.

9. Long-term workplace flexibility could be the real silver lining

If this huge unplanned experiment is a success, barriers to working from home could be overcome and the potential cultural benefits are enormous. Flexible working could enable a more diverse workforce, could encourage changes to policies and we could even become nicer.

“We have the capacity as humans to be less individualistic and instead help others around us,” says Professor Hudson. “If we can harness that, that’s a huge positive.”