08 Nov Work from Home: Everybody’s Doing It

Do you work from home or would you like to?

You’re not alone. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey Characteristics of Employment, Australia, August 2015, found that: “Almost a third (3.5 million) of all employed persons regularly worked from home in their main job or business”.

While that includes people who mainly work elsewhere but regularly do some work at home, at least 20 per cent of the 3.5 million – or around 700,000 people – indicated that their home was the location of their primary workplace.

Of course, that figure is more than two years old now, and we’re fairly confident it’ll be even higher when they do the next survey.

Other studies and reports from around the world suggest that this is a growing trend, facilitated by fast-improving technology and encouraged by a society that is more open to change and different ways of doing things.

There are plenty of pros

It’s really not hard to understand why working from home is an attractive option.

If you talk to anyone who does it, they’ll most likely give you one or more of these reasons:

•        Their work-life balance is better
•        Their day is often less stressful
•        They can control and reduce distractions
•        They have greater flexibility
•        There’s no-one looking over their shoulder
•        They don’t have to dress to impress
•        There is no commute!

If you run your own business or do freelance work, it might not make financial sense to do it any other way, as paying rent for even a small office space – along with a second lot of utility bills – is a very different proposition to being able to claim home-office expenses on your tax return.

And for those running their own small business, there’s the bonus that you can now write off eligible assets under $20,000.

There are some cons, too

Working from home is the best thing since sliced bread for some people, but doesn’t suit everyone. For example, if you need the structure of a traditional workplace to motivate you and keep you focused, it’s probably best not to work from home alone.

Some of the other downsides of working from home are:

•        You can never escape the office and go home
•        It can be messy, with work stuff ‘infiltrating’ several rooms of your house
•        It’s easy to ‘go to work’ so you might be tempted to go back to work after dinner
•        You might not be comfortable having clients in your home
•        You can miss the camaraderie and stimulation of interacting with others

Most of the cons can be managed, if you have the attitude and discipline, and can set up the right sort of home-office environment.

A Stilla Cedar Studio solves everything

We noted that more and more people were working from home, and had a bit of feedback that some were opting to use a shed as their dedicated workspace.

Of course, we’re never going to discourage anyone from using a shed, but we thought ‘we can do better’ … so we did.

Imagine that your home office could give you all of the pros of working from home while eliminating many of the cons. That’s achievable with a Stilla Cedar Studio.

Rather than taking up a room inside your house, and potentially spilling out and encroaching even further on your living space, your home office can be totally separate.

You can physically (and mentally) go to work by taking a few steps out your back door and across your lovely garden, take a proper lunch break by leaving the office, and completely close the door behind you at the end of the day and go home again.

And we think you’ll want to invite people around for meetings. Prospective clients are sure to be impressed by the practicality and appearance of your dedicated, personal work space.

We’ve got the solution

As well as all the pros of working from home, and all the cons we just turned into pros, our range of studios is – like all of our cedar products – attractive, durable, and easy to install.

We’ve also got you covered with fully-engineered plans and drawings that are ready to submit to your local council to streamline building approvals.

Check out details of the four studios we’ve created and picture your new life in the new year with a new home office.

And AGAIN, no commute!