Working from home has both its pros and cons
Programmers and designers, journalists and financial consultants, translators and technical support staff – what unites these people? The main tool. If in the era that our children already consider prehistoric, some of them needed a typewriter, others a drawing board and a ruling pen, and others a pile of dictionaries and reference books, now everyone just needs a computer with internet access.
As "Russkaya Germaniya" notes, the internet has not only made our work faster and more convenient. For many, it has changed the very meaning of the word "work": it is no longer a place – "to work" – that you need to go to every day. Nowadays, work is carried with you.
Social networks are full of tempting stories about how some web designer builds websites for clients around the world while sitting under a palm tree in Thailand. No one is surprised by the image of an ever-busy manager balancing debits and credits in a business lounge at Frankfurt Airport during a layover between New York and Tokyo. And many have an acquaintance you can call and hear: "No, I'm not at work, I'm at home, but sorry, I'm busy – working."
Today's employers would not have been able to solve the issue of coronavirus quarantine with minimal losses by sending their employees home with a work laptop under their arm if they did not have experience working "over the internet." According to Karriereführer.de, by 2016, every third entrepreneur in Germany was running their business from a home office. And Germany's main statistical portal Statista.de states: if in 2014 only 22% of companies allowed employees to work partially or fully from home, by 2016 that number had risen to 31%, and by 2018 to 39%.
Nowadays, employment contracts often stipulate that an employee has the right to work from their home couch one or two days a week, and there are more and more vacancies where going to the office is not required at all: offering full-time work, 38-40 hours a week, sitting in your bedroom with a cup of tea and scratching the ear of a purring cat on your lap.
The pioneers in this field, of course, were programmers and IT industry workers in general – people fused with the computer and living online. For them, it truly doesn't matter where their physical body is: in the head office, in another city, or even somewhere in banana-lemon Singapore. The main thing is that their brain and their work are on the internet, meaning always connected.
But other professions are also increasingly catching up. If even doctors, who seemingly need to be at the patient's bedside, are actively developing telemedicine with online consultations, then what are we talking about?
The benefits seem obvious for both sides. The employer saves on office space. Some companies can afford not to rent an office at all: if one employee is in Moscow, another in Munich, a third in California, and everyone communicates via the internet, you don't need a physical office. But even those whose employees only enjoy remote work a couple of days a week are not at a loss. Even one or two days when the office is empty make the bills noticeably more pleasant: lower electricity costs, cleaning costs, and overall office depreciation. Even such a small thing as free coffee in the office kitchen turns out to cost a pretty penny, and every day when employees drink coffee at home rather than in the office saves something.
In the home office, your neighbor
might be a beloved pet
For employees, the home office system should seem like a godsend. A person can manage their own schedule. You can plan your day much more flexibly. You can sleep longer, you can avoid wasting time commuting to and from work. You can take children to school, run errands for groceries, take a break to receive a package or meet a plumber. You can, finally, not waste energy on "appropriate appearance" and work from under the blanket in your pajamas!
And there is another benefit, especially important for residents of Germany, who are always concerned about taxes. Now we will step away from abstract discussions about conveniences and opportunities and be extremely specific.
If you work only from home and your employer is located, for example, in another city, you can save quite a bit on taxes. Business consultant Elena Wilke, working in Berlin and Munich, explains: if you buy something with your own money – from a pen to a computer, from a desk to a subscription to a necessary program – you can include it in your tax return as work expenses and avoid the tax burden. You can also deduct your home office from taxes.
The office must be a separate room in your apartment, you must indicate its dimensions, and the tax office may actually come to your home with a tape measure to check. You have the right to deduct the rent for this part of your apartment and all purchases for work purposes from taxes – but not exceeding 1250 euros.
If you are an office employee and this is stipulated in your contract, but you work from home 1-2 days a week, you cannot deduct the rent for the room from taxes. However, everything you buy for work – furniture, computer, and even paper clips and pencils – you can freely deduct.
There is one exception: teachers. A teacher ostensibly works at school, and a workplace is assigned to them there. But since a teacher must check homework and prepare for the next lessons after the school day ends, they too can deduct part of the rent for their home office from taxes.
Everything seems fine. But according to surveys by Karriereführer.de, 63% of entrepreneurs believe that permanent remote work is not suitable for all employees: many relax too much. 46% complain that without direct and constant contact with colleagues, employees' work does not go well. 31% say that when employees work from home, it is sometimes impossible to reach them by message or phone.
And this opinion is not only held by employers: even employees themselves agree that it is harder to concentrate at home. Many are hindered by distractions: try working when children are running around who always need something. Or simply when there is such a tempting coffee maker nearby, and on the internet, besides work files, there is a lot of interesting stuff.
According to coach Anna Langova, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between work and home life, even if you work from home. Set yourself working hours during which no one at home has the right to disturb you. The concept of "mom/dad is working" should become law. If you "go to work" at home, dress as if for work: even if it seems silly to sit at home in a suit and tie, it will immediately help you get focused.
Meals should also have a separate time and place: you should not eat at the computer; it will give you nothing but gastritis, while a break in the kitchen will help clear your mind. And it is necessary to alternate work and rest. According to many psychologists, the most effective work schedule is 45/15 or 50/10, that is, ten- or fifteen-minute breaks every hour.