Suraya Dadoo takes a look.

For a brief spell in 2002, I worked from one location every day for 40 hours a week, seeing my colleagues every single workday. Other than those few months almost twenty years ago, my office has always been wherever my laptop and internet connection was; my colleagues spread across South Africa. Currently, no-one in my team is in the same time-zone as me.

E-mail, messaging apps, cloud services, and video conferencing means that there is very little that one can’t do working remotely, mostly from home – especially if you work in the media, technology, human resources, accounting, law, marketing, or NGO sectors.

In 2015, it was estimated that almost 45% of US employees worked remotely. About 50% of their workforce will be working remotely this year. It’s a trend that’s catching on in South Africa too.

The good news is the 9-5 boundaries have broken down;

the bad news is the 9-5 boundaries have broken down.

Many companies are downsizing their office space to save money on rentals, and are allowing – sometimes even encouraging – employees to work from home. FNB’s CEO, Jacques Celliers, is a case in point. Celliers doesn’t believe in a conventional office. He does not have one himself and works wherever he can find space. “The days of saying ‘Come to my office’ are over,” he told Business Insider.

Working remotely has liberated me from traffic and the daily commute. But don’t be deceived. It isn’t all about slopping around in pyjamas and working out of the comfort of your bed. As with most things, there are advantages and disadvantages. And in the case of working remotely, some of the pros are the cons!

Work from anywhere, anytime.

The traditional 9-5 working day no longer applies. I pretty much work anywhere at any time of day. Having the freedom to run errands and take the kids to school suits family life well, especially for those of us with young children. The flexible schedule accommodates childcare, school events, and sick kids, though trying to work from home with babies and toddlers is not for the faint-hearted!

The danger, however, is that you don’t have a strict schedule. You would think that working remotely would allow you to enjoy more of a work/life balance but it doesn’t. When there isn’t a clear separation of workplace and home space, they can blend together. The result is that you can’t switch-off from work. You sometimes see your family only over the window of your laptop, as they wonder why you’re always at your computer. Unplugging the laptop when you work from home is sometimes more difficult.

Ironically, working at home can lead to longer hours than they would have in a traditional office setting. Simply put: The good news is the 9-5 boundaries have broken down; the bad news is the 9-5 boundaries have broken down.

No office politics.

Not having to deal daily with toxic colleagues or clients and tense work environments is a major advantage of working from home, allowing a career to thrive. You can easily interact with co-workers and clients via WhatsApp, Telegram, Zoom, Skype, or FaceTime. Therein lies the problem, though. Truth be told, technology has given us the means to communicate on a hundred different platforms, but the quality of that conversation is questionable. A Zoom meeting or a WhatsApp chat is not as effective as a face-to-face meeting. In the absence of face-to-face interaction, even the simplest decisions can become complex and tedious. For all the technology at my disposal, using a pen and paper, sketching a layout, scribbling instructions and sending a snapshot to the WhatsApp group has still proved to be the most effective means of getting a message across. I’ll admit it. In those moments, I wish I could walk to the office next door, engage and speak to a colleague. In person!

Having successfully completed projects across continents without leaving my house, let me confess that there’s nothing as efficient as sitting next to the person you’re working with when trying to get something done. What other way is there to read the nuances and tone of conversation, or test an idea? Working remotely means that there is a very real chance of killing conversation and physical interaction.

A slave to technology?

Remote working was established to empower the office worker, to liberate them from the desk and set them free. Instead, the leash has just gotten longer. There are days when I feel shackled to my cellphone and laptop. The very technology that enables one to work anywhere on the planet is also what ties you down.

As a remote worker, you have to rely on a myriad of devices, internet connections and software such as email, smart phones, laptop, etc. to stay in contact with clients and colleagues. Powerbanks, battery-back up for modems and multiple batteries keep me sane and productive through load-shedding. You are totally dependent on the right technology to be in business. Poor WiFi, cell signals and reception mean that your once crystal-clear signal voice call now sounds so remote you might as well be working on the moon.

Working from home also requires reliable, secure Internet that can power video conferences. Because much of our country lacks fast, high quality broadband internet and remote work is restricted only to areas with access to that technology.

Despite this, working remotely is on the rise in South Africa and across the world. Estimates are that by 2025, some 70 percent of the workforce involved in technology and media will work remotely at least five days a month. As knowledge-based work continues to edge out jobs that require a physical presence, other sectors will adopt the practice and more and more people will begin to work remotely.

The growing popularity of working remotely is redefining how we work, the tools we use to work, how we communicate at work, and even the hours we work. What was once a rarity among a select set of workers is quickly becoming a defining feature of the future of work.

In my experience, working remotely means working three times as hard, sending voice-notes to my team while cooking and assisting with homework, all on one bar of Wifi. But I wouldn’t have it any other way, and neither would millions of others who are choosing to work anywhere, anytime.

Suraya Dadoo is a freelance writer.