Portman Road, Home of the team from my home. Any takers?
It has long been recognised that being the home team in almost any match gives you an advantage. Is it the vast majority of fans calling/singing your name and wearing your colours? Is it the familiarity of the environment? Perhaps it’s the promise that your Mum could be in the crowd…
Studies on testosterone in players and the differences in venue shows that goalkeepers in soccer are more ‘pumped up’ at home. In his post on Suite101.com, John O’Connor states that the “Home advantage appears more important in team than individual sports. Why is it more apparent as a team phenomenon?”
Players of individual sports still show that advantage, but not to the degree that team players do. Nevertheless, there is a difference.
Perhaps this advantage can translate to workers at home too. You are working in a familiar environment, familiar coffee and familiar interruptions. Yes, there are disruptions, but it’s ironic that those ‘interruptions’ are normally the reason you work from home anyway! However, you are free from plenty of negative effects that the office (or team) environment brings:
- chatty co-workers
- seemingly trivial meetings
- requests of help outside of your own workflow
- co-ordinating lunch breaks
- more meetings
- no vuvuzelas
There are also the common and well known advantages, such as zero travel time, flexible hours and coffee or background music to your taste. I certainly don’t miss the ‘which one is decaf?’ discussions.
So really, in all, there is a huge advantage, production and quality-wise. Simply being at home, it seems, could be the advantage that a home based business has versus a traditional office based business.
Do you work from home? Have you seen any direct advantage in business, other than the relaxed dress code and flexible hours?
Photo credits: © Sascha Drenth