Working locally might just be the perfect balance

9th March 2022

Covid-19 has had a major impact on the way we all work. The average number of monthly Google searches on “work from home jobs” is up by 900% compared with 12 months ago. Clearly there is more demand for jobs that allow workers more family time. It is often not until people start working from home that they realise that it’s not ‘all they imagined it would be’.

Below we look at some of the less-discussed downsides of working from home so that you can weigh up the pros and cons rather than look at it through rose-tinted glasses. Weighing in on this analysis should be another option that strikes a great balance that you may not have considered – local jobs. Before we mention the advantages of working locally, let’s consider how this presents as an ideal compromise between working from home and working from your employer’s location.

Pros of working from home:

Less travel time (less petrol and mileage expenses)
More time to spend with family
Flexibility of when you work – e.g. time spent picking up/dropping off kids or running errands in many cases during work time can be made up for during personal time

Cons of working from home:

Difficulty switching off from work mode
May need to dedicate a room or space to work
Interruptions – others may not respect that you need to work
Lack of social connection – not having colleagues nearby to share banter with can be quite isolating. Technology such as video conferencing and team apps will never be able to replace the benefits of meaningful human interaction

Benefits of working locally

It is worth thinking about gaining some of the same ‘pros’ as working from home (and eliminating the ‘cons’) simply by shifting your focus to ‘local’. Travel time and costs can be dramatically reduced by including ‘local’ in your criteria of jobs. The increased flexibility by being close to your local amenities like schools/childcare may outweigh any higher pay rates you could get at a location further away. There can often be hidden costs that are overlooked when an opportunity looks very attractive at face value, such as the cost of your valuable time.

How Martin Personnel can support you in finding local work

‘Local’ means different things to people depending on their location, however we are here to support your own goals. The best way we can do this is by having open discussions about how your new job criteria and desired lifestyle fit together so that we can offer you opportunities that meet these requirements. Here are a couple of things to remember:

Martin Personnel clients are mostly concentrated in certain districts within a region. For example we tend to have jobs in South Auckland, West Auckland and for jobs in Christchurch, similar geographical clusters apply. Be sure to think about your preference for district within your region and we’ll do our best to find a match

Districts also have similar client businesses within them (e.g. lots of data entry jobs or night shift jobs) and if you are keen to work within the district of your home, it is worth knowing what types of roles they most attract. Please discuss this with us if you haven’t already. If you are really motivated to work locally, this conversation may lead you to getting trained in the particular type of role that’s most in demand to increase the chances getting placed in work near home.

If you would like to discuss how you can achieve a great lifestyle by working more local to home, get in touch with one of the best recruitment agencies in Auckland and Christchurch – Martin Personnel, your local advisors.