Perks and perils of working from home during the coronavirus outbreak

Working from home gives you the ability to mix up your day.

I almost never work from home these days. But I have in the past in some other jobs. One year I had a serious leg injury after a mountain-biking accident, and I got to work from home for a period of six months or so because I basically had to sit on the couch with my laptop.

The things I love about working from home include:

• No commuting! This saves time and money and maybe stress, too.

• The freedom to work in super-casual clothes like shorts and no shoes.

• You can play music or talk radio without headphones or have the TV on in the background.

• You can eat in your own kitchen.

• You can really concentrate and focus more, depending on your home and what’s going on.

The general flexibility to mix up your workday with a workout, a walk outside, and so forth; taking breaks is easier.

The things I hate about working from home are:

• Just not being out in the world and meeting people and all that.

• Communication over IM or email or phone is never as easy or good as in person.

• There’s no one to talk to in person or bounce ideas off of.

• If you are not good at staying focused, you can get distracted easily by things and be less productive.

If you work from home regularly, you spend a lot of time at home! You’re always in the same place with work and outside work.

—Daniel McMahon, Insider Inc. copy chief