Virtual Assistant In the City: THE DOWNSIDES OF WORKING FROM HOME

Being a virtual assistant, like any other careers also has its downside.

Just because we work from the convenience of our homes doesn't mean we are already exempted from the hassles of the outside world.

Mostly, it's a problem on the world wide web. But what are the downside of working from home?

The Downside Of Working From Home

Slow internet connection

The major problem of course of working from home is having an intermittent internet connection. Slow connection turns your 5-minute task to an hour. Or maybe more. It makes you miss deadlines. And it beats the "working from home" purpose because you have to go out and look for a better wifi connection from your neighborhood cafe because yours is not working. So is your backup.

Power out

If you work from a country or place that losing power every now and then is normal, working from home could be challenging. You ask your client if you can compensate for the lost hours and instead of finishing the task on time, you have to extend. What if there's a deadline to beat or a customer to talk to? Nightmare!

No SME

Working in BPO for a long time, I have no problem when an issue comes up because there are SMEs. Subject Matter Experts or people who knows every tiny bit of information about the tools you use and the process flow you follow. If you work from home, you can either ask your client who is most of time busy (that's why he hired you!) or spend time reading and watching tutorials. Honestly, working from home made me more acquainted with Google and YouTube. They're your unbeatable SMEs.

Lesser Holidays

You are exempt from most holidays because either your client is from another country or they just don't observe it. You work from home so you have no excuse of not being able to go to work anyway because your office is just a few steps away from your bedroom.

No social life

For extroverts, I don't think working from home would work. Aside from your pet or housemate, there is minimal to zero interaction with another living creature when you work from home. There is no office parties or events to celebrate. No one to talk to in the next cubicle because, well...there is no next cubicle.

More distractions, less productivity

Depending on your work system or your work area working from home has a lot of distractions. It's easier for the people in your house to talk to you, you can hear the TV outside, the dogs bark when there's someone at the door, you get the picture. The more distractions there are, the less productive you become.

When working from home, it's important to have a system and set rules for the people in your home to follow. They need to respect your working schedule and area. You need to stick to your priorities. But that's on another blog post soon.

Working from home may have its pros, but like everything else, there are downsides of working from home.

I guess the best thing to do now is to count the blessings and to to linger in this depressing feeling.
The advantages of working from home far outweighs the disadvantages after all.