Study shows you’re more effective working from home

Many of the benefits of working from home are immediately obvious: No more stressful commutes, more time spent with family and an end to being distracted by your coworker popping their gum at the work station across form you. But what Harvard Medical School and the Neuroleadership Institute have recently discovered is that employees who work from home are not only more satisfied, they are more effective than in-office workers. 

Over the course of three years, researchers tracked how working from home improved performance among sales, marketing, and executive employees at Christine Comaford Associates.

The first advantage that the researchers discovered was that employees are stronger decision makers at home than in the office. By distancing yourself from the interruptions and distractions readily available at most workplaces, your brain experiences less stress. Because you are better able to control your environment and experience less stress at home, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that involves innovative thinking, planning and problem solving, is more active.

By working at home, employees have more time to thoughtfully craft communication. The study also found that 10 percent of employees reported that they are able to do their best thinking at work, while 39 percent claimed to do their best thinking at homes. In the office, the brain is more active in the area that controls emotional response, but when given the opportunity to work from home, the brain is in better balance between the logical (prefrontal cortex) and emotional (mammalian) areas of the brain, resulting in more effective strategic thinking. 

If your organization is looking to join the new surge of businesses that are empowering their employees to work from home, a virtual office service provided by On Point Executive Center can be the first step towards success.