Top 10 Disadvantages of Working from Home

Willpower. Gotta get jamming on this new project, but Netflix says you still have 4 episodes of Tiger King to watch…

Difficulty sticking to a routine. The order you do things at work is almost never the order you do things at home. It can be tough to mirror your schedule and processes once outside the office.

Missing important calls or pings. Oops, my phone was on do not disturb and I missed a meeting! Or my boss slacked me and asked to prioritize something else and now it’s 4:45pm …

Calling UberEats anyways. You thought you were saving money, didn’t you? Blam-o! $20 minimum and a $5 fee for the higher rated Thai place. Should’ve remembered to buy bread …

Power naps. This could arguably could be in advantages … unless it accidentally lasts 45 minutes after your delivered double entree Thai lunch.

Boredom. Those office convos? Kinda missing Susan’s cat stories, eh? How long can you go without seeing another living human being?

Working slowly. Sometimes the office has an energy. Sometimes your home does not.

No second monitor. How did I ever work without two giant screens looming above me??? All 74 of my tabs are essential!

Iffy WiFi. At home or in a cafe, when the wifi start to spaz and you switch locations a couple of times but honestly spend more time parking and ordering a 6-shot mint mojito coffee with coconut milk and 16 grains of sugar than doing work.

Waiting for an answer. You need to ask a super quick question, but it’ll impact how you do something for the next hour or even the rest of the day. And there’s no response. (Cue “The Waiting.”)The Office Michael Scott call me ASAP as possibleFOMO at Home.

FOMO at Work.The grass is always greener on the other side.

When you’re at work, nothing sounds more amazing than a toasty day indoors with your favorite blanket. When you’re at home, you reminisce about making jokes with your co-workers and wonder if the coffee machine made good coffee that day.

Either way, it’s important to choose the environment you’ll be most successful in. As you begin to work longer and build more experience, learning to focus in any surrounding is a valuable life skill, and will only help your professional career in the long run — especially as remote-first companies are gaining traction.

If you’re still newer to the remote workforce, start by simply finding out where you do your best work and why.