Last updated: 11 July 2020

Here at PFS, we are all about promoting work-life balance. In our experience of working with people over the years, we've found happy people are more productive, effective and creative. Now t's been proved by a 75-year study by Harvard that they are also more healthy. Currently, we see increasing rates of people working from home given the rise of the paperless office and flexible work arrangements. 

Even careers that are not conducive to working completely from home still often contain some element of work that can be done at home. In recognition of the changing environment, as per our recent update, even the ATO has set out some new rules for claiming home office expenses effective for this financial year, i.e. from 1 July 2018, acknowledging that working from home is increasing rapidly

A recent survey on the benefits and costs of working from home found that 46% enjoyed the flexibility of being able to "juggle other things".  You can read more about that here or download the full survey.

More and more jobs are being advertised for working entirely from home, with telemarketing being the major contributor, but there are other options. Forbes magazine has recently published an article on the ten best jobs working from home and no surprise the top company offering this service is Australian!  

Here are our guidelines for making it work for you:

• Establish your work hours - the biggest danger is either working 24/7 or not really working because you are distracted continually.   Work routines could change from day to day, but it is good to have guidelines set over the day or working week.
• Get organised at home - here's a great article we found own working from home, the 8 productivity hacks for working from home
• Be accountable - even to yourself, your time is valuable so ensure you are using it wisely.
• Get out and smell the roses - be mindful of sitting at your desk too long, get out and go for a walk, water the plants or do something active to keep yourself (and your brain!) fresh.
• Keep good records - start preparing a diary of when you work at home, for how long and who else is home and keep receipts for all your expenses.  We can only assist you to review these for appropriate deductibility, but if you have actually kept them, so start now!
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We recently connected with Office Arrow and were referred to their great article on Working from home.