Long-distance home workers get the blues
Home workers miss interaction with fellow professionals.
With improving access to the Internet and advancing technology, it has become more possible for Filipinos to work without actually leaving home.
Flexible working or working from home has become popular for both employees and home-based small business owners and those pursuing their passion to manage and balance their work and family life.
More Filipinos are also choosing to do freelance work online, such as editing web content, writing research papers, teaching English to foreigners, and designing magazines or brochures.
An American freelance jobs website saw an 89-percent jump on their registered Filipino users in 2013.
But there is a downside to working from home.
Global workplace provider Regus surveyed more than 44,000 senior business people around the world, across more than 100 countries, and revealed concerns over home working.
The latest research showed that home workers in the Philippines miss interaction with fellow professionals (66 percent) and pop out of the house regularly to stop themselves from getting stale (71 percent).
The report also highlights that 46 percent of the 443 Filipino respondents feel that their family members take their work less seriously, and are afraid of getting fat as they’re tempted to snack more, raising the question then: Is the freedom of working from home all it’s cracked up to be?
Other issues highlighted by the report include getting lonely, and resentment from family members for taking over a space in the house for their home office.
Here are the key findings in the report:
71 percent say they feel they are getting stale and need to schedule trips out of the house
57 percent of professionals report that they work outside the office more than half the week
46 percent are afraid of getting fat as they snack throughout the day
39 percent ‘get lonely’ and 66 percent miss mixing with other professionals
26 percent of respondents say that their family resent that they have sectioned-off a space in the family home and 46 percent think family members take their work less seriously when they work from home.
These findings raise concerns as small businesses provide a substantial contribution to economic development in the Philippines.
Small businesses generate 69 percent of jobs and contribute 32 percent of the total economic output of the country.
Flexible working arrangements open up opportunities for more jobs and starting small business.
Yet with any opportunity lies challenges needed to be overcome in order to sustain productivity and move towards continuous growth.
Regus Philippines country manager, Lars Wittig comments, “Flexible workers need a professional and fully equipped environment to thrive and be productive, working from home clearly isn’t the answer. When working remotely it is important for professionals to get out of their pyjamas, and out of the house to maintain their morale and wellbeing.”
“Working from a fully-functional environment, instead of a makeshift space within the family home, can offer professionals who work remotely the chance to mix with fellow business people and keep in the swing. Businesses providing their employees with access to a professional environment closer to home, reduce stressful commuting, but also help reduce frustration between family members and unwanted distractions such as excessive snacking which are rife at home.”
