The Isolation of Working From Home

Most people, if asked, would jump at the chance to work from home. It seems a much more convenient option than having to go into an office to earn a living. You don't have to dress smartly or deal with awkward clients or colleagues. However, there are also downsides of working from home, including how isolating it can be. If you're extremely busy with your work, you may not notice it at first, but if work slows down or you don't plan your time effectively, you can become aware of just how alone you are. When you work alongside other people, there are others to talk to and share your difficulties and frustrations with, which isn't the case when you work from home alone.

When you work in an office, you have a manager you need to report to and an established role and certain expectations that need to be met. If it's just you, working by yourself, it is important to be extremely self-motivated and to know what you want to achieve, as otherwise you won't get any work done. If you have chosen to work from home because you feel anxious around others, this will not help you deal with your anxiety issues and may only exacerbate them. If you've chosen to work from home, because you have a young family and want to balance work with raising your children, you may find it difficult to give everything to both areas of your life.

Even if you have a family, working from home can still be isolating, especially if you are around children all day and do not have any interaction with other adults. Thus, if you decide to work from home and want to avoid becoming too isolated, it is important to set aside time to meet up with friends and get out of the house. If you don't have many friends, it might be worth joining clubs and groups that will enable you to do so. Of course, there is always online interaction. Sometimes, when you're feeling lonely, you can end up in a chat room or on a forum talking away to like-minded individuals, though, ultimately, online interaction isn't quite the same as forming real-life relationships.

If you're introspective and prefer your own company, working from home may be ideal for you and the prospect of isolation a distant one. Everyone has different career objectives and different characteristics which determine how able you are able to work from home, how successful you are likely to be, how fulfilling you find it and whether you stick with it or end up looking for a job where there is the opportunity to interact more with others.