People who work from home may be within walking distance to their bed, but according to a recent study, that is probably a good thing because home-workers are left more exhausted and stressed than those who commute to the office.
According to research by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, those who manage their workload from home find it difficult to switch off their family life in the background. In fact, working from home often makes domestic disputes worse, the study discovered.
The study investigated the working habits of 3,000 people who worked from home and in the office. Professor Tim Golden, who led the study, found that although working from home seems like the easier option, people are left feeling more frazzled than they would if they had commuted to the office.
"The more work and family demands conflicted, the more people suffered from exhaustion," says professor Golden. "Those with already high levels of work-family conflicts suffered higher exhaustion when they spent extensive time working from home."
Despite the mod-con luxury of technology that allows us to be in constant contact with our work colleagues in the office, people sat at home find it hard to switch-off their family life and juggle their daily workload.
"Those with low levels of conflict between work and family seem able to benefit more from telework than those individuals who have high levels of conflict between work and home," the study says.
British 'Teleworkers' are on the rise in the UK, with around 3.1 million people working from home everyday. Although the study suggests higher stress levels and family disputes, the Telework Association disagree.
"Teleworking is one of the few cases which deliver a win-win scenario for employers, employees and the self-employed. It improves the output of employees, both in quality and quantity, whilst improving the work-life balance of the individual," state the TA.
"So at every level, individuals, business, industry, society or even the whole economy, it brings benefits. Some of these are highly quantifiable, such as cost savings, whilst others, such as the quality of life, may be less tangible but are certainly no less important."