On July 25, the Government of Rwanda announced that it was extending the existing Covid-19 preventive measures for an extra five days to reign in the spread of the virus. This meant that the City of Kigali and 8 other districts will still be in lockdown till July 31 when the new measures will be announced. Chances, however, are, the majority of us will continue to work from home for the foreseeable future, even if the lockdown is lifted. As the pandemic fatigue hits home, many feel they are tired of working from home or they feel stagnated and distracted. As such, many are fast forgetting the benefits of working remotely. Many find an excuse to get a pass and drive around, so they can get away from the suffocation at home when some don’t actually have much to do outside. In case you have quickly forgotten, working from home comes with many benefits, with some experts advising that in future, companies and public institutions should give employees the choice of choosing to work remotely or not, given the benefits. Below we explore five key benefits of working from home. Time saving The first and most obvious benefit of working from home is saving time. If you can plan your day well, keeping all factors constant, you will have a lot of time to accomplish your tasks. Think of all the time you used to spend moving from one place to another, stuck in traffic jams and on lunch breaks, all this is saved and dedicated to other productive activities. For those who have kids, since they are also home, you will not be losing time dropping them to school and picking them later. Now sit and calculate how much time you have to yourself. You will be amazed. Improved work-life balance By now we all know that working from home comes with flexible schedules; just make sure that you don’t abuse the flexibility. If you overdo it, then you will find yourself postponing things you are supposed to do for flimsy reasons. However, if you are a good planner and an effective worker, you can start and end your day as you choose, as long as you make sure that you accomplish your tasks and achieve your goals. You can make time for your personal stuff and still accomplish your work, which is different from when you have to report to work every day, at the expense of equally important personal things to do. No commuting stress Whether you own a car or not, commuting to and from work is one of the biggest challenges every worker had to cope with before the pandemic. Making it to work at 7am, or earlier for some, was always an extreme sport. Stuck in the jam with a boss on the other end of the phone line, rushing to pick or drop children in between a busy work schedule, getting stuck in a bus in a traffic jam yet you need to be at work in a few minutes, all this stress went with the pandemic. On average, commuting costs many people between an hour or two in a day, depending on the distance- time you could use for other activities. Working from home saves you from the stress of worrying about the speed of that moto. Saving money Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of working from home is saving money which was otherwise being lost in commuting and on fuel for those who drive, as well as other expenses incurred while away from home. A study done in the U.S showed that average Americans who worked from home saved about $4,000 (Rwf4m) working from home in the first pandemic lockdowns. The money was saved on gas, car maintenance, transportation, parking fees, clothes and meals while big corporate companies like Twitter, Square, Shopify, and Facebook, to name but a few, reported saving on expenses. Look back at the pre-pandemic period and quantify the many expenses, which can now be deemed unnecessary, which you no longer incur? If you can calculate it, certainly you will wish to always work remotely. Family bonding For many who have families, lockdowns or work from home guidelines were a blessing in disguise. Studies showed that working remotely and with flexibility led to happier life, particularly for employees with families. Before the pandemic, many would attest how their work schedules made it impossible for them to make ample time to spend with family and children. What is even more interesting? Even those who used work as an excuse to get away from home were left with limited options as cities came under strict lockdowns prohibiting movement. Whether you wanted it or not, you had to stay at home and find ways of bonding with your family, as opposed to coming home to say hi, shower, change and go back to work, which had literally become the order of the day. For that particular group, it was hard from the start but by now they should be used. Think twice about these benefits if you think working from home is boring.
