I work but I am not at work - Advantages and disadvantages of work from home in Serbia

The President and the CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer has recently decided to pull all the employees who worked from home for this technological giant back to the office. Marissa Mayer, who was appointed on duty in July last year, gave a birth to a child five months after that and came back to work after only two weeks of absence.

This move of the manager in the company which employs 14.000 staff was not expected since Yahoo`s mission is first of all to connect distant people, so without physical presence. This tele-work is, apart from that, one of the trends in both small and big companies worldwide. It is estimated that only in America, between 20 and 30 million people work from home.

The unexpected move of the Yahoo manager initiated a number of discussions whether work from home is more productive and how easy it control this black labor market.

Higher productivity at work resulted first of all from the fact that since time “at work” and “at home” is not clearly divided, employees are more willing to work more hours than the official proscribed working hours.Apart from that, since they work from home, it means they do not travel by public transport or their own cars so they are less exposed to stress. Also, if they are parents, they have more options to take care about their children since they can keep an eye on them and thus they are more relaxed.

Still, it is essential to differ those who have open-end contracts and work from home and those who do not have contracts but operate as freelancers (in most of the cases translators, programmers, journalists…).

In Serbia, position of the staff operating from home will be governed with amendments to the Labor Law. The existing law only partially governs this field. Therefore, it is a common case that people working at the grey market lose their earned income. At the moment, according to trade union estimations, some 30.000 people work outside employers’ offices and very often they are not paid for that. Trade Union members say it is a crucial thing to govern that field since it would decrease number of people working on the grey market. Trade Unions therefore point out that amendments to the Labor Law must regulate this field in more details.

Work under the open sky

(Photo: Suzana Obradović)

Vesna Lapcic is an executive editor of Svet osiguranja. She says that since she has a small child, work from home enables her to spend more time with him.

Apart from that, she says she feels more comfortable during summer months when she can work in a yard since there is wi-fi option.

- When I work from home, I have a feeling I manage my time and work with flexibility which enables me to travel somewhere and bring my work with me and I really do not mind sitting at the seaside and working - Vesna Lapcic explains.

On the other hand, a collocutor of eKapija says that the only disadvantage in her case is that she checks emails during the while day, writes texts and sometimes has a feeling that she really works all day long.

Dragana Popov is a translator. She does not have an open-end contract but works as a freelancer.

Popov says that the advantage of work from home is the sense of freedom - she does not have to worry whether she will arrive on time because of traffic jams and, for instance, she always has an option to go to recreation (for a swim). Apart from that, Dragana says that she does not have superiors, she manages her work, time and priorities but still must stick to deadlines.

Since she works as an interpreter, she often travels.

- In these situations, I cannot manage my time then because I depend on other people and it is my responsibility to appear in a country or a city where I should work as an interpreter and bus travels can become in that case very tiring.

Unstable income and less visibility

When it comes to full time job and the work from home, it means also security. However, our collocutor notices that in most of the cases people who work from home are freelancers as well so that kind of an engagement brings insecurity and unstable income.

- Apart from that, it is a common thing that I work one month all the time while in the next two I do not do anything – Popov says.

A collocutor of eKapija thinks that it is essential to weigh advantages and disadvantages when it comes to work from home.

- To sum it up, I believe that this decision largely depends on the family status as well because it happens that when you do not have a family and kids, majority of people expect you to be always available because you“work from home”.

It is not a secret that for some employers people who do not work in the office are less visible. For instance, if a manager does not have enough funds for everybody, it is highly likely that the last one to receive the payment will be those who work that way.

Who do employers prefer?

A manager of the company from SME sector which employs a few staff with an open-end contract and who work from home says this kind of engagement has both advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantage is that in a team which operates from home, you cannot generate team spirit so from this perspective work in the office is more valuable. Apart from that, work from home can very often generate mistakes and the quality decreases throughout the time.

Still, a collocutor of eKapija, explains that his experience is that the “staff in sleepers react faster in incident situations because they are available to employers since they got used to “flexible” working hours,i.e. they are mentally prepared for a whole-day working hours.

He thinks work from home is effective when the staff has indicators and when the effects of their work can be measured. On the other hand, if these employees work on the project which is in the developmental stage, their performance is at the far lower level.

- Our experience is that work from home is a convenient option for mothers with small kids because when we, as employers provide this option, they feel grateful and return with efficiency – a collocutor of ekpija explains.

What proved to be a good practice in this employer’s office is that some of the staff who work from home should be encouraged to set up their own companies (for translation, software business, etc.) because as of that moment they themselves become employers, efficiency and productivity significantly increase.

Apart from that, work from home proved to be a good psychotherapy model for the company with technology which enables it. Specifically, if you allow somebody to work from home for some 10 days, a person can spot mistakes of colleagues much better, to provide creative suggestions. Still, we must not forget that this therapy model should last for only a couple of days.

European experience

This kind of work exists in all EU countries. For instance, Sweden has huge non-populated areas and people do their jobs at home and to the employer’s office premises only once a week or a month.

In the Czech Republic and Denmark, on every seven days one works from home while some million and three hundred people in Great Britain works outside employer’s premises.

Jelena Djelic