Home is a safe, relaxing environment. That kind of security has lead many office-stationed workers to ponder transferring from their typical office to home, while still producing the same work. Their desire to work at home is fundamentally understandable. Any number of perks dwells there: personally-chosen beverages sit within arm’s reach, or at least only require a trip to the kitchen. One can watch television while working, listen to music, listen to the radio, or watching a movie. Numerous ancillary activities can take place with a work at home position.

However, people commonly do not consider critical drawbacks. Without an abundant amount of self-motivation, self-control, and willingness to dismiss the numerous distractions a household provides (e.g. television, internet, even video games), working at home can actually become a hindrance to positive production. For instance, procrastination can become a common occurrence. Without an objective overseer, an employee may find it especially easy to delay work until the following day. Then the day after that. Then, oh well, it can be put off a few more days, right? Until the boss needs the assignment in twenty minutes, and all the employee has written is “I don’t know.”

Freelancers, who work from home the majority of the time, learn the implications of distractions immediately; they also learn the drawbacks of not knowing for sure where their next paycheck is coming from, or when. Each client is contracted individually, and the relationship may only last a short span of time. Once the assignment is completed, unless the employer wishes to provide further work, freelancers must search for different sources to generate income and maintain a stable career.

Employees who remain at a typical office position do not have to worry about an ever-shifting source of income, because as long as they retain the same level of production, their jobs will remain secure. Annual guaranteed salaries are the norm; sometimes, so are incentives and bonuses. At a traditional corporation, promotional options become available to reliable employees who stay at their given positions for long enough and prove themselves accountable and trustworthy.

They must also scour tons of job-hunting sources to find new clients. Income may prove unreliable, unsteady, and frequently stress-inducing. Though freelancers are sitting at home, they may not have enough in their savings account to make a punctual mortgage payment. Who knows how much longer those walls will be around?

Freelancers are not the only category of workers who operate from home, however. People already associated with big companies, and whose positions usually entail office work, are discovering their obligations may be fulfilled from their house. This accommodation by a company, often referred to as “telecommunicative” work, can eliminate stressful commutes, allow pregnant women/new mothers to watch over their children without quitting work, and even allow disabled persons more opportunities to make worthwhile contributions.

A writer for Black Enterprise Magazine, Maria A. Reed-Woodward, noticed this trend of office workers transferring home and composed an article exploring the topic. The International Telework Association conducted a survey that found the number of teleworking employees grew from 41.3 million in 2003 to 44.4 million in 2005 and projects that number to climb to 51 million by 2008. Woodward quotes Jan Anderson, director of Midwest Institute of Telecommuting, who summarizes the general direction to which those statistics point: “There is a trend toward making jobs more mobile and permitting employees to have remote access to work from home.”

With all the employees staying at home instead of commuting, more and more of them will discover the various distractions always present within a house. At a typical office, the boss serves a very important purpose, apart from assigning specific tasks: he keeps employees focused on their work instead of playing Tetris all day. The possibility of enduring an angry boss?s reprimand for surfing the internet, instead of generating a sufficient amount of work, acts as a heavy deterrent for employees inflicted with an easily-distracted personality.

Yet if one believes that they will operate with equal efficiency if they work at home, a good idea is to gather some research from freelancers relating to daily operations, how they manage aforementioned ever-present distractions, and the general states of their careers as they work at home.

James Scottworth enjoys writing articles regarding home business. Previously he’s penned about how to get paid for surveys, and why taking surveys for moneycan be a great part time job for almost anyone.

categories: surveys,making money,working at home,home business,small business,business