According to a survey conducted in 2016, only 47 per cent of people in India prefer to work from the office every day while 53 per cent would rather sit at home and work and telecommunicate if required. A lot of these people are unaware of the disadvantages of working from home. While 95 per cent employers who offer work from home opportunity believe flexible working helps their business grow and enables their employees to be more productive, as an employee it is not always to your advantage to be working from home rather than an office space. While many believe that working from home gives them the advantage of having control over their schedule and gives them more time for parenting and personal pursuits but this is far from true. In most cases, you either end up compromising on your work or compromising on your personal life and giving more time to your work.
Here are nine disadvantages of working from home and why you should avoid it:
1. Children and family demand more attention
According to Lifehack,this is one of the biggest disadvantages of working from home.In India, over 60 per centpeople face the problem of children or family demanding more attention from them while they work and many of them either end up working late or not being able to give their 100 per cent attention to it.
2. Difficulty concentrating on work
The second major factor that many people face while working from home is that they find it difficult to concentrate on work and constantly get distracted one way of the other. While the family is just one factor that breaks their concentration, other concentration killers include noise from family or neighbourhood activities or them getting distracted just by looking outside the window and observing the beautiful view of their backyard or their children playing. 
3. People don’t believe that you are actually working
Besides regular distractions like background noise, there are also people at home or who drop in unannounced and then not leaving you alone as they havea hard time accepting the fact that you’re actually working at home (or trying to) and not just sitting on your computer.
4.Lack of Office Equipment
Nearly 33% of the people who work from home also don’t have the necessary access tooffice equipment such as high-speed internet, fax/copier machine or a high-end laptop which also adds to their distress while working from home as they have a hard timereplicating their work environment at home.
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5.Access to Documents
Besides not having access to the necessary office equipment, many also face problems as they don’t have constant access to documents that they need while working. While the majority of documents these days have virtual access or a soft copy that an employee can access, many still prefer to keepaccess to sensitive company documents paper-only or want to make sure that its safe on virtual or electronic format so they keep it on aVirtual Private Networks (VPN) or secure cloud access which can only be accessed via registered office computers.
6. Lack of community and differences in culture
Besides distractions and lack of equipment or documents, many also are not able to work alone and need regular face-to-face interaction so as to get feedback or to brainstorm on their ideas. 
For them, working independently or in isolation with just a computer screen to keep you company is vastly different from the hustle and bustle of an office and they crave for that noise and regular feedback so as to improve their work.
7. Low reliability and retention
When a team is working from home and you remove the presence of an authority figure or manager form the equation, things can turn catastrophic as there are few people who either don’t work and/or don’t let others work. Many times you also lose work and have to pay people their retainer back as the people working with you have not finished work on time and you have missed your deadline. With your team not giving work on time or submitting substandard work, you also lose face as a client doesn’t think you are reliable and won’t retain you for any future projects.
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8.Loss of productivity
One of the other major disadvantages of working from home is a loss in productivity as people tend to get distracted by comforts that they get at home. These include things like their temptation to take mid-day naps, or taking “breaks” by watching Netflix, or playing virtual games or even spending some time on their smartphone. This decreases one’s productivity and leaves their work at the mercy of them not giving in to their temptations and just rushing through their work at the last minute.
9.Ergonomic Issues
Withouta properly equipped home office which has a proper desk and decent office chair your back, neck, and shoulders will eventually suffer and lead to back posture. This will also lead to slouching, health issues and more pain as you will constantly seek more comfort and your work will suffer from constant breaks and distractions.
You can avoid a majority of these disadvantages of working from home by taking your work and/or team out of your house and into coworking spaces like myHQ which offers you an office environment away from home.
They have a network of 100+ coworking spaces and creative work cafes and you can choose a workspace as per your mood and choice. myHQ work plans are flexible, visit-based (pay only for days you visit) and hence, are a boon for remote workers.
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Are you looking for beautiful and inspiring workspaces as an alternative to working from home? Want to connect with other remote workers and entrepreneurs? Download the myHQ app today!
