IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 - Home Office

 

More and more companies are allowing employees to work at home. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

 

By Kerry Morashti

 

Many office workers are now being offered the opportunity to work from home enabling them to choose to work at home once or twice a week and this has become popular. However, the Coronavirus epidemic has had a massive impact on people’s working lives, the lockdown in countries such as England sending office workers home to work for months. This has given many people a chance to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of working at home and I believe the outcome is unanimously positive.

Firstly, taking into account the daily commute which must be the least favourite part of any worker’s day.  For the commuter, this is not only time consuming but also expensive.  Working from home would avoid long queues and delays and the discomfort of crowded trains. A further benefit from working from home is the possibility of more flexible working hours. Both parents and children would benefit from being available to work around school hours.  Being at home would also have other benefits such as not having to take a day off to wait for workmen or deliveries.

On the negative side, office workers would miss the camaraderie of office colleagues.  Some may not have any suitable space to work at home or find it difficult to be organised and concentrate. Others may find it hard to be self disciplined without the routine of dressing smartly and being in a business environment. Many would miss lunching out and socialising with colleagues after work.

Of course, employers would also need to assess the feasibility of their workforce not being office based. Depending on the business they may need to keep a central office open for dealing with paperwork or a space to hold office meetings but they may find it economically beneficial to reduce office space. On the whole I think it would be a positive development for employees to work at home. (316 words)

 

Introduction  
Many office workers are now being offered the opportunity to work from home enabling them to choose to work at home once or twice a week and this has become popular. However, the Coronavirus epidemic has had a massive impact on people’s working lives, the lockdown in countries such as England sending office workers home to work for months. This has given many people a chance to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of working at home and I believe the outcome is unanimously positive. (85 words)  

Body Paragraph 1  
Firstly, taking into account the daily commute which must be the least favourite part of any worker’s day.  For the commuter, this is not only time consuming but also expensive. Working from home would avoid long queues and delays and the discomfort of crowded trains. A further benefit from working from home is the possibility of more flexible working hours. Both parents and children would benefit from being available to work around school hours. Being at home would also have other benefits such as not having to take a day off to wait for workmen or deliveries. (97 words)

Body Paragraph 2  
On the negative side, office workers would miss the camaraderie of office colleagues. Some may not have any suitable space to work at home or find it difficult to be organised and concentrate. Others may find it hard to be self disciplined without the routine of dressing smartly and being in a business environment. Many would miss lunching out and socialising with colleagues after work. (65 words)  

Conclusion  
Of course, employers would also need to assess the feasibility of their workforce not being office based. Depending on the business they may need to keep a central office open for dealing with paperwork or a space to hold office meetings but they may find it economically beneficial to reduce office space. On the whole I think it would be a positive development for employees to work at home. (69 words)