Jo Raphael: Working from home – more pros than cons

There's a reason why people choose to keep working from home, writes Jo Raphael. Photo / Unsplash

OPINION

The early days of Covid were strange times.

I’m lucky enough to have a career where working from home was a smooth transition.

Computer, Wi-Fi and cellphone in hand and I was all set.

I had the pooch for company.

I could do a load of washing during a break away from the screen.

Every meal was home made, saving money on lunches.

We had already been using Zoom calls proficiently before Covid (although “you’re on mute” became a catchphrase during lockdown).

It had its downsides, such as sharing workspaces with other members of the household or making sure to stick to regular working hours, and not giving in to the temptation to stay logged on.

But most of all, I missed my workmates.

No matter how clever, the pooch’s witty banter just didn’t stack up to our raucous office.

But also during those strange times, we knew we had a purpose.

The stories we told were important. The dissemination of accurate and timely information was paramount.

We all pulled together, and not long after we transitioned back to our traditional newsroom environment.

But some of us still work some days from home.

It’s been a similar process for lots of workers, and some people have adapted brilliantly.

We reported at the weekend why some people have chosen to keep working from home.

Rotorua’s Pat Polharn, after two years of struggling to keep her shop doors open, started a beauty business from home and says now she is “so much happier”.

“I thought, ‘I have a spare room. I can easily work from home’,” she says.

“I just wanted to be stress free.”

Pāpāmoa-based florist Tracey Jeffcoat says her money, pre working from home, was eaten up by daycare and fuel, not to mention the time it took to travel, school pickups and drop-offs and navigating working hours to accommodate everything else.

But now she says working from home in her garage, refurbished into a florist studio, is an “absolute success story”.

She says Covid has increased the awareness and acceptance of businesses working from home.

I agree. Some businesses now have a hybrid model set up, where people can work from home for a day if they need to, or be in the office. It’s a system that works.

The more businesses that can support a flexible working-from-home model, the better.

It makes for a happier workplace because after all, that’s all we want in the end – a bit of happiness.