The Truth About Canadians Working from Home

With the pandemic becoming a part of our lives, working from home has become a norm. For some Canadians, this has improved their productivity and lifestyle. For others, working from home has been highly challenging. There are differences in opinion across Canada, with more populated cities like Vancouver and Toronto leading the conversation.

There's no clear answer to whether working from home is more productive or not. In the end, it all depends on your personal preference and the peculiarities of the industry you work in. Working from home has been entirely sustainable for virtual sectors such as the digital or short-term loan sectors.

Working from home has its pros and cons. Some of its pros are that you get to wear what you like, take a break when you want, and, more importantly, you’ll be saving a lot of commuting money in the process.

Downsides To Working From Home

Here are some of the downsides to working from home:

Too Distracting

If you have trouble concentrating, working from home can be pretty distracting. This is even more challenging if you have kids or pets. Kids and pets need constant attention, and they have difficulty understanding your work schedules.

If you work in a fast-paced service sector such as customer care, especially for a company that other people working from home use, you may end up with bad reviews. This can get you fired, which will lead to bad credit.

Besides, using your personal computer can get you easily distracted. You may either be getting skyped by a family member or receiving ads for unsecured e-transfer loans. The bottom line is if you are not a disciplined person, you will have a hard time working from home.

Less Productivity

If you weren’t working from home before the pandemic hit, there is a good chance you will become lazier than before.

Some Canadians reported that they started taking breaks at random hours or even dozed off during work hours. This affected their productivity and their overall equilibrium. This is even worse for those attending online schools within the same 24 hour time frame. These people also reported feeling so passive that they were late on their student loan payments and other bills.

When working from home, you should map out a unique schedule and stick to it. You can even dress for work to get in the spirit. This will help you to achieve optimal performance.

Lackadaisical Approach to Nutrition

Some Canadians have experienced severe weight loss since working from home. This is mainly because they can no longer share coffee and meals with co-workers. However, some have been doing just the opposite. Some have reported taking lots of snack breaks while working from home, which has led to significant weight gain.

Some Canadians even reported spending more money on food than ever before. Some are even taking out personal loans to make up for how much they have spent on food. This makes sense. Because of the limit on movement and outings, it's not the most bizarre thing to laze around on a couch and eat junk food all day.

No Social Life

For most Canadians, especially those in their 40s, work is also a place to fulfill the common need to socialize. Unfortunately, this age group has barely grasped the concept of virtual relationships. Hence, working from home and being locked inside due to the pandemic has taken a toll on them. This means that many people cannot release feel-good hormones essential to their well-being.

Working from home is great if you are not a social person, but it can be downright devastating if you are. As a result, there's been an increase in cases of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

Feeling Alone

A seemingly small backlash of working from home is feeling alone. Even if you enjoy long hours working by yourself, staying at home with absolutely no choice can still make you feel lonely. This can lead to suppressed emotions and even increase aggression. Before the pandemic, if you worked from home, you could at least go for a nice walk or go hang out at a neighbour's. Unfortunately, this isn't the case anymore. You now have to plan out going outside to get just groceries carefully.

This has contributed significantly to stress. As a result, many Canadians working from home are hanging on by a thread.

Is Working from Home for You?

Despite everything, working from home has been great for many Canadians. People enjoying working from home are also more productive than they were in-house. They are spending more time with their loved ones and producing good results. The pandemic has increased the overall revenue of most SaaS companies as they now record lower overhead costs. Thus, business owners don’t seem to mind the work-from-home trend. Some even encourage it.

At the end of the day, whether working from home works or not depends on you and the company you work for. Are you a work-from-home person, or would you rather be in an office? Knowing this can help you understand what kind of effort you need to make this period more productive.