What is Your Reason for Wanting to Work from Home?

December 12, 2007 | Posted by Kat

I wanted to share the results of this poll that is being run on WorkAtHomeArticles.net regarding the top reasons why people want to work from home. When you get a chance, stop by and participate in the voting yourself. So far, the voting results are what you see above and I thought I’d provide some personal dissection of each of these choices:

“I want financial freedom”
Personally, I don’t associate working from home with a direct path to financial freedom. I equate the lottery with financial freedom. If you did another survey of people who already worked from home asking them if they had reached the promised land of “financial freedom” or not, I would bet that the ratio would be lopsided to the latter. Simply making the switch to work from home won’t assure financial freedom. Maybe this survey choice is better associated with wanting to work for one’s self. “Self-employed people make up less than 20 percent of the workers in America but account for two-thirds of the millionaires” according to the Millionaire Next Door. Most people who work from home actually work for others.

“I hate getting up early”
I can relate to this reason, but I’m surprised it ranked so high. I personally like to work late and get up late, starting around 8:30 or 9:00 with my workday.

“I need to earn extra money to make ends meet”
I’m assuming they’re surveying people who want to take their full-time job and convert it or replace it with one that is 100% working from home. I’m also assuming that the average work from home job earns as much as one that is office-based or potentially less. With that said, I don’t see where there is an opportunity to earn extra money working from home. If you have a day job, whether you work in an office or at home, you should be focusing 100% on that job. The extra money options start at night and on the weekends. You can do that without a WFH career.

“I want more time with my family”
Makes sense – no qualms there. My wife loses about 70 minutes a day with Lizzie and I (maybe that helps with sanity?)

“I want a flexible schedule”
Working from home certainly can provide flexibility in one’s schedule. I think the give-and-take in the flexible hours is generally mutually beneficial between the employee and employer. I’ve always loved this comment about a previous employer of mine made by one of it’s previous employees:

“I spent 12 years at [Company X]. The whole “homeworking” idea was a sham. Largest part-time workforce I’ve ever seen. If I had a nickel for every conference call I was on where someone flushed the toilet, was standing over a putt or was about to finish that third martini on a Wednesday afternoon, I’d be retired!” He goes on to say, “My favorite was this guy knew who moved to Cabo to open a strip club and “work from home”..yeah..right…”

Personally, I think that it all comes out in the wash. It is normal for employees to be working crunch nights around-the-clock on a deadline, flying out Sunday so that they can meet a customer first thing Monday morning, or delaying a vacation due to a critical project.

“There are limited job opportunities where I live”
This is one of the top reasons that Telecommuting is a wonderful arrangement. Another variation of this reason is that “There are unlimited places where I can live“. I like knowing that I can pack up the house and relocate seven states away if I wish to, and still keep the same job.

“I hate my boss/co-workers”
I think this line of reasoning has more to do with wishful thinking. If you hate your boss and co-workers then you should be quitting. Working from home won’t solve that problem. Working with them remotely only means that you don’t need to look at them.

“I’m basically a lazy person and dislike being told what to do”
Working from home certainly will reduce the ability for management to provide constant oversight, but if you’re lazy, that condition will eventually hurt you wherever you are working. You need to win the lottery or inherit a lot of money to remedy that.

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