Working from Home

Working from home is very common in US and Canada. The reason is simple - commuting. In US and Canada, people commute long distances and time to get to work can be a couple of hours. Hence working from home makes a lot of sense. The telephone and fax machines together with Fedex make this possible. Then come laptops and remote access to office servers. Today, with broadband and VPN(secured access through broadband), access to the office networks is fast and safe.

There are lots of advantages working from home. First, no time to spend in travelling hence more time can be spend on work. Second, less interruption while working. Third, time to focus and think. Fourth, no office rental or supporting services e.g. aircond, water, network, desk, etc.

Working from home is quite unusual in Singapore as it is a city and it is easy to get around. I attended a seminar by a trainer. He says he works from home and the audience is skeptical. Maybe skeptical is an understatement, incredulous will be more appropriate. It is hard for Singaporeans to fathom working from home.

There are many studies done. People who worked from home works harder and spend more time at work. In the book Sleep Thieves, the author find sleep is usually sacrifice when people work from home as they have to tend to domestic responsibilities.

With the globalisation and the companies moving to low-cost countries at the drop of a hat, more and more Singaporean will find that they will be working from home. Home-based businesses, eBay, even blogging bring income. My dream is to writes books and teach. I know I am ready to realise my dreams when the traffic to this blog start to increase...