Why you should consider working from home – the benefits

Earlier in 2017, the City of Cape Town announced its plans to introduce flexi-hours and an option for working from home to help reduce the city's traffic.

The plan comes after many other companies in South Africa and the across the world started allowing employees to work from home.

Why have companies started doing this? Well, it not only saves them money when it comes to office space, but it also ensures that employees don't waste their lives away in traffic.

"Apart from alleviating congestion, spending less time on the roads will improve employees' productivity and lifestyles significantly," said Brett Herron, the city of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for transport. 

Let’s look at other benefits of working from home:

- You don’t have to worry about waking up super early to make it to the office on time

Having to drive in traffic can be a nightmare. To avoid this, some people leave their houses early to try beat traffic and make it to work on time. The great thing about working from home is that you don’t have to deal with traffic or even wake up early.

- You don’t need to budget for transport to go to work

Working from home comes with the benefit of not having to worry about setting aside some of your salary for transportation to your work place. This can save you petrol money, mileage on your car, and car service fees.

- You don’t have to worry about budgeting for lunch

We all know the temptation of buying lunch at the office. At home, you can simply eat what is in the house.

- You don’t have to deal with noise in the office

Working in a busy office can result in distractions, because you don’t work alone. These distractions can see you lose a lot of production time. But when you are at home, working alone, you can devote all your attention and time to working.

- You can put in more hours of work

One of the major benefits of working from home is that you can do your job wherever and whenever you want. You can even work late hours without worrying about getting home late.

- You can spend more time with family

This is especially a bonus for parents. Being around the house to see your children will help strengthen your family relationship.

- You can work in your pajamas

The cool thing about working from home is that you can practically work in anything and from anywhere in your house. If you are one of those people that just loves being in their pajamas the whole day, you can do so while working. You can even work from your bed, or even from the beach - depending on the type of job you do.

Also read: Seven things to consider before turning your home into a B&B