The Misconceptions Of Being A Remote Employee
I’ve been working from home for over a year and a half now, and it’s baffling to me the misconceptions people have about what it means to be a remote employee. My family really doesn’t understand. And that’s just the work from home part, never mind trying to explain the actual functions of my job.
What I Do For Work
To be clear, my work from home job isn’t one of those “pyramid schemes.” Ugh. I hate that word, to be honest. But I’m not sure how else to describe it. I actually have a lot of respect for the people that do something like that. They do work hard to make a living, and there’s no reason to discount their work.
But for me, my work from home job is in social media marketing. It’s what I went to school for. Having the luxury to work from home is amazing, and I’m grateful every day that I have this opportunity.
That being said, here are some things to know about my work from home job:
- I have a boss. She assigns me daily tasks. We check in via Skype once a week. We communicate almost daily.
- I don’t make my own hours. I’m expected to work 9–5, Monday-Friday. (Although I typically end up working longer than that most days).
The Work At Home Misconception
Now, I get it. I understand. The whole “working from home” concept is a pretty new idea. I know that people might imagine what it could be like to work from home.
Sit in your pajamas all day, not worry about taking a shower, working from the comfort of your couch, etc.
But do you realize how old that would get?
After all, it’s still a job. I do this every single day. For my own sanity, I need to treat this like I would any other job. I designate an assigned office location. I maintain a structured schedule.
If I worked from my couch in my pajamas all day, how would I be able to disconnect from work? I need to have a way to differentiate work me from home me.
Why I Get Ready Every Morning
Here’s what seems to be the difficult part for people to wrap their head around. Every morning, I wake up. I take a shower. I put on my everyday makeup look. I straighten my hair. I get dressed. I do opt for leggings most days. I mean, I’m sitting down all day — I need to be comfortable!
For some reason, this is strange to people. I really don’t know why.
Maybe this is just one of my weird idiosyncrasies, but if I don’t get myself together in the morning, my day is completely thrown off. I don’t feel right. I feel very out of place and unlike myself. A day at work is no different.
Do I think I’m “wasting my makeup” or causing myself more laundry by doing this? No, not at all.
I have to feel right within myself to be able to get to work and stay motivated. It’s just part of how this work from home thing works!
In all honesty, if I didn’t take the time to do this every day, I could only imagine myself slipping into this uncomfortable, lazy version of myself. That’s not what I want. I would never let a job change me like that.
It’s Hard Work
I’ve found that people really don’t understand that working from isn’t an easy thing. As I said before, it’s a job just like any other job. The only difference is that I do it in my home.
People think that I have the luxury to make my own hours. I mean, could I do that? Sure. But my work still needs to get done. So I could go somewhere in the middle of the day, but I would still need to finish my work at some point. It doesn’t just go away.
Another phrase I’ve heard is that I “sit on my computer all day.” Yes, that’s true, to a point. But I’m actually working. It just so happens that my work consists of me being on my computer. Aren’t most jobs like that nowadays? Maybe it’s because people know I’m in social media and assume I sit on Facebook all day. (That’s a whole other misconception that can be tackled.)
Jobs Are Changing
The whole landscape of jobs is really starting to change. There are a lot more work from home positions out there and lots of people that opt to be freelancers. This doesn’t make their job less hard.
It’s time for many of us to open our eyes and see these changes. Let’s not discount someone’s job just because it doesn’t look like your definition of work. It’s a wonderful change!
