Possessing a job that allows one to work at home is undeniably appealing, and for good reason. Employees can designate their own start times, structure their own lunch hours and break sessions, run errands whenever they wish, avoid overwhelmingly long commutes with crazy, road-rage-fueled drivers, and find numerous additional aspects that make work at home careers so enticing.

However, people commonly do not consider critical drawbacks. Without an abundant amount of self-motivation, self-control, and willingness to dismiss the numerous distractions a household provides (e.g. television, internet, even video games), working at home can actually become a hindrance to positive production. For instance, procrastination can become a common occurrence. Without an objective overseer, an employee may find it especially easy to delay work until the following day. Then the day after that. Then, oh well, it can be put off a few more days, right? Until the boss needs the assignment in twenty minutes, and all the employee has written is “I don’t know.”

Depending on one’s job field, income can also be hindered by working at home. Freelance writers and designers, for instance, are unable to foresee which clients will contact them in the future. They can possess unequaled amounts of talent, but if they do not contact the right people, or delay contacting said people, their opportunities will be severely limited. Plus, applying to jobs over the internet has lead to employers regularly skimming resumes instead of scrutinizing them, or even simply dismissing them before even taking a cursory glance.

Freelancers must earn their income based purely on the amount of work they produce, not necessarily how many hours they spend doing the work. However, employees at financial firms, for instance, may receive salaries based on their positions in the firm, not necessarily their relative talents or production rates. Employees of large corporations can climb the proverbial “ladder” simply by sticking around long enough to reach the next rung. Freelancers do not possess that kind of security.

Freelancers do not have that kind of security. When searching for those possible clients, the internet has become the most common medium for submitting applications. But this medium has multiple setbacks, specifically that employers briefly skim applications and resumes, and summarily dismiss them upon encountering one error or one minor unmet requirement. Many perfectly acceptable freelancers go unnoticed simply because of the abundance, bordering on excessive, amounts of applications employers receive from one posting on Craigslist, causing them to arbitrarily ignore applicants.

Freelancers are not the only category of workers who operate from home, however. People already associated with big companies, and whose positions usually entail office work, are discovering their obligations may be fulfilled from their house. This accommodation by a company, often referred to as “telecommunicative” work, can eliminate stressful commutes, allow pregnant women/new mothers to watch over their children without quitting work, and even allow disabled persons more opportunities to make worthwhile contributions.

In the December 2005 issue of Black Enterprise Magazine, author Marcia A. Reed-Woodward quotes Jane Anderson, director of Midwest Institute of Telecommuting regarding the steady rise in telecommunication jobs. Anderson claims “There is a trend toward making jobs more mobile and permitting employees to have remote access to work from home.” Her claim is supported by statistical data contained within a survey by the International Telework Association. The survey found that “the number of teleworking employees grew from 41.3 million in 2003 to 44.4 million in 2005 and projects that number to climb to 51 million by 2008.”

Those numbers are awfully reassuring for people who dream of their boss saying, “Yeah, sure, you can work at home.” But those people must first consider how well they function when left to their own devices, without supervision or direct motivation. Knowing the boss can slink around the corner at any given time is an extraordinary deterrent; it keeps employees from spending too much time with Tetris, Facebook, or fantasy football.

Because of the benefits and detriments of work at home, if an employee who currently sits within a traditional office wishes to transfer to their home office, I suggest consulting others who operate from that position. Talk with freelancers who deal with daily distractions and unsteady, unreliable paychecks, just to certify whether one’s personal habits are suited well for work at home.

James Scottworth loves to write articles regarding home business. Previously he’s penned about how to earn money taking surveys, and why taking surveys for moneycan be a great part time job for almost anyone.

Tags: Business, home business, making money, small business, surveys, working at home