Brokers working from home not only achieve a better work-life balance, but may actually work harder, according to new research.
Brokers working from home not only achieve a better work-life balance, but may actually work harder, according to new research.
In a recent working paper released by the National Bureau of economic research, researchers found workers in a home environment worked 8 per cent longer hours and were 4 per cent more effective.
This jumped to 22 per cent when brokers were able to decide whether or not they wanted to work at home, researcher John Roberts told the Stanford Business Review.
“A large part of that is that people who thought they wanted to work from home were just too lonely, they wanted to get back to the office. People who chose to work from home knowing what they were getting into were even more effective and more productive.”
Patrick Chidambaram, of Choice Home Loans, said working from home helped him to spend more time with his young family.
“I used to have an office in the city which I shared with a couple of financial planners, which was great, but it was a long commute. When my wife and I decided to start a family, I thought it would be an opportune time to move home.”
While Chidambaram admits his income probably took a hit initially, the ability to watch his kids grow up is priceless.
Occasionally Chidambaram will encounter people who are reluctant to deal with him because of his lack of a traditional office, but he says those types of clients are very rare and “probably people I don’t want to deal with anyway”.
“The people I deal with come from a referral source and my network understand that my family is a priority. If someone says they need to see me during dinner time I say I can’t do that because I’ve got to think about the kids.”
Roberts warns that, while the results of his study show clear benefits of working from home, it may not work for all people in all businesses at all times.
“The manager has to understand the tasks that are involved in the job and understand the mechanisms that can be used to control and motivate employees who are working at home and has to understand the social implications.”
If brokers want to try working from home, a good first step is to approach your employer with data around the efficacy of working away from the office, says Roberts.
