There’s no denying that working from home has its perks, but it comes with many downsides too. This is something that people often don’t realize until they actually start working from home, only to discover that they’re left feeling overly stressed, burnt out, and isolated.
As a result, more and more remote workers are now looking for alternatives. They’re recognizing the many benefits that come from having a separate workspace outside of their home, and making this move sees them thrive in a way that they previously struggled to do.
Wondering if you would benefit from doing the same? Read on as Circle Hub explains the advantages of having a workspace away from home.
Reduced Distractions Lead to Increased Focus
Many people are surprised to find that some of their main reasons for wanting to work from home, such as being able to spend more time with their family or their pets, end up detracting from their workday. Sure, it’s great to be surrounded by people that you love. However, this can also be extremely distracting.
Other aspects of your home environment, from the housework that’s yet to be completed to your TV screen that’s crying for you to continue on with last night’s Netflix binge, contribute to this too. This is why so many find it difficult to focus when working from home. Procrastination is a very big problem!
Having a separate workspace outside of your home is a great way to overcome this. While professional workspaces come with distractions too, these are few and far between compared to what you would experience at home.
Plus, many workspaces, such as the coworking spaces available from Circle Hub, give you the option of immersing yourself in a completely distraction-free environment. Our private offices, for example, can be booked by the hour. Here, you’ll be enclosed in your own private workspace with nothing to distract you, enabling you to work to your full potential.
A Boost in Productivity
The increase in focus that comes from having a workspace outside of your home usually correlates with an increase in productivity. This is particularly the case for those who tend to work in various rooms of their home, rather than in a home office. Simply putting yourself in a professional working environment that’s organized in a way that boosts efficiency will have you working smarter.
If you’ve only recently started working from home, you may disagree. However, this is normal. Studies show that people tend to experience a short-term productivity boost when they first start working from home. However, after a while, this will begin to decline, and will continue to do so.
On the other hand, find yourself a separate workspace and the productivity boost that you experience when you first start working in this new environment will hold steady.
Choose a coworking space as your workspace and you’ll be able to bump up your productivity levels even further. Statistics show that 74% of people find that their productivity soars when they work from a coworking space.
This is largely down to how a coworking space will see you surrounded by other productive people. When those around you are hard at work, getting plenty done, this will rub off on you too. You’ll find that you’ll feel so much more motivated, allowing you to achieve your work goals in a shorter frame of time.
A Sense of Boundaries and Discipline
It can be difficult to be disciplined when you’re working from home. Home life easily spills over into work life, blurring the boundaries between the two. This may involve starting your workday later than you should, or overrunning at the end of the day. Either way, you may think that this flexibility is an advantage but, in reality, it’s more likely to cause you to feel overly stressed and burnt out.
If you have a separate workspace, you’ll instinctively create better boundaries for yourself. You’ll be able to focus on your work responsibilities at your workspace, before leaving them behind once it’s time to head on home.
This will do wonders for helping you to establish a healthy work-life balance. This is something that many remote workers struggle with. Over time, this will take its toll on your mental health, making it worth taking control of this as soon as possible.
Improved Physical Health
It’s not just your mental health that can suffer when you work from home. Your physical health is likely to be affected by this too, in a few different ways.
For starters, the stress and burnout that’s often experienced due to a poor work-life balance triggers physical symptoms. From headaches and nausea to fatigue and high blood pressure, these are all common among those who struggle to distinguish between their home life and their work life.
Another problem is the fact that, for many people, their home environment isn’t conducive to doubling up as a workspace. People tend to end up working from their sofa, their dining table, or even their bed. While this may seem comfortable at first, it’s hugely detrimental to your posture.
For example, one survey found that 75% of people who work from home tend to hunch over their laptops. This can cause everything from back and neck pain to leg and hand cramps. Not only will this affect your productivity, but it could also create long-term physical health problems.
Plus, as we mentioned earlier, having a separate workspace will help you to establish better boundaries and be more disciplined. This will actually free up a large chunk of your time. Being organized about how you spend your day will see you getting your work done in a much shorter length of time. This will give you precious extra hours all to yourself. You’ll be able to put this time toward wellness activities, such as exercising. Sign up to Circle Hub and, with our on-site gym, this becomes even easier!
Human Connections
While you might enjoy the sense of seclusion to start with, working from home can quickly feel quite isolating. A study carried out by the American Psychiatric Association confirmed this. They found that the majority of remote workers suffer from loneliness.
Sure, many remote workers can turn to Zoom and other such tech to communicate with colleagues and other people. However, in reality, this doesn’t make up for the lack of face-to-face connections that people experience when working from home.
This is one of the reasons why coworking spaces are becoming increasingly popular among those seeking a separate workspace. As opposed to leasing your own private office space, a coworking space will see you surrounded by other like-minded individuals. As discussed earlier, you’ll still be able to book a private office suite within your coworking space if needed but, the rest of the time, your workspace will consist of a desk situated among other desks/people. This means that there will always be others around you.
Some coworking spaces, including Circle Hub, take things a step further. We encourage our members to socialize and get to know each other. How? Firstly, by providing plenty of comfortable common areas where people can hang out. Whether you want to lounge on a beanbag while taking a break or chat with others while helping yourself to some of the complimentary refreshments on offer, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to make new connections. If you’re an introvert and struggle to reach out to others, we also host regular events where you’ll find it much easier to network, both professionally and socially.
Opportunities For Collaboration
In addition to reducing your sense of loneliness and isolation, another benefit to working from a coworking space, as opposed to working from home, is all of the collaboration opportunities that you’ll encounter.
Coworking spaces are usually filled with a diverse crowd. As a result, you’ll end up meeting people from so many different walks of life. All of the socializing and networking that you’ll do at a coworking space could lead to career-changing collaborations.
Not only will you be able to gain new perspectives and opinions on projects that you’re working on, but you’ll be able to provide the same to other people. This exchange of ideas can really help a person to thrive while also opening up new doors in terms of work.
Access to Professional Amenities
Statistics show that 80% of remote workers have, at some point, struggled to get work done due to a poor internet connection. It goes without saying that a steady internet connection is a vital part of working from home. However, this is something that many don’t have.
While an upgrade may do away with this problem, this comes with an increase in costs. This tends to be the biggest barrier for many. This is why they instead settle for poor connection speeds and the subsequent drop in productivity.
Find yourself a separate professional workspace, such as a coworking space, and there’s a good chance that this will come with reliable, high-speed WiFi. Many coworking spaces, including Circle Hub, provide the use of other professional amenities too, such as state-of-the-art printing services and a fantastic cleaning crew. You won’t find yourself set back by the lack of something so basic. In turn, this will boost both your working life as well as your mental health.
Signing Up For a Workspace at Circle Hub
While leasing your own private office will help you with some of the issues that come with working from home, you’ll still be left dealing with plenty of others. This is why more and more professionals are leaning toward coworking spaces. They tend to counter just about every problem that working from home brings, while also offering up so many other advantages.
What makes this even better is that many coworking spaces, such as Circle Hub, don’t require a long-term commitment. Our members pay a monthly fee, which they’re free to cancel at any time. This is the perfect way to dip your toes into coworking if this is a new concept for you, so that you can see firsthand how you fit into a coworking environment without having to fork over an annual payment.
If you’re curious about the workspaces available at Circle Hub and would like to find out more, click here to book a tour today!