Technology has greatly affected how and where people do their jobs. More flexible arrangements have since become available so employees can achieve better work-life balance. One of these is working from the comforts of your own home.

As with many other things in life, shifting to a home-based setup has its own advantages. Online articles will tell you that it helps you avoid a long commute or it enables you to save money. Anyone would prefer these than what you’d normally experience from toiling away from 9 to 5.

However, you might be wondering if these are true or are merely exaggerations by virtual staffing agencies to get people to apply. It’s best to hear straight from the horse’s mouth, so we’ve gathered stories from different remote workers to see why they decided to exchange their corporate job with a home-based one.

Getting Time to Play with Her Daughter

The first one comes from Em Resurreccion – Villanueva, who juggles time between being an amazing mom and being an effective Digital Marketer.

I used to work in an office setup. There was a need to wake up hours before work as the time to prepare included consoling a crying kid with a promise to her that I’ll play with her once I get home.

After leaving the house, the battle begins: The traffic in Metro Manila is one of the worst that you can ever experience in your lifetime. I get to win that battle 5 days a week, but end up very beaten up and wanting to get my well-deserved rest at the end of the day.

Traffic alone eats up 4 hours of your time. I’m not even factoring in how hard it is to line up and ride an actual vehicle (because during rush hour, just getting a seat would be precious). All these happen before and after I “work”.

The promise of playing with my daughter, instead of doing it with delight, would only be half fulfilled because I’m already quite tired by then. And quality time would’t be a regular thing.

When I started at Remote Workmate, it was a total turnaround. Traffic isn’t something familiar anymore. I can even work while I’m out of town. I used to dream of financial and time freedom. I achieved that at Remote Workmate. Family time is 24/7, and I can homeschool my daughter conveniently.

My salary is much bigger than my previous one even though I work only 4 hours a day, and I also don’t have to prepare “baon”. The fact that I don’t need to eat outside also saves me a lot of money. Everything is a win. I can’t imagine living this good kind of life without Remote Workmate!

Having a Sense of Job Security

Here is another testimonial from Advice Coordinator Ethel Caballero who has been with Remote Workmate for about 5 years and counting.

I have been with Remote Workmate since July 2015. I can still remember how I chanced upon one of their account managers’ Facebook post and decided to give it a shot. I was immediately contacted for an initial interview, then scheduled for a client interview. Soon enough, I signed the employment contract and I’ve been with the same client ever since.

Working from home definitely has its perks. The one that appealed to me the most was that I no longer had to brave the heavy traffic going to work. That was a good 4 to 6 hours of my life spent coming to and from our Makati workplace. Actually, it takes even more hours when there are typhoons. Plus, saving a couple of bucks from shopping (and overrated coffeehouse chain coffee) isn’t bad at all.

Career-wise, you’re in for more substantial growth (at least for me) working remotely. Working independently gives you personal accountability, helps you focus on tasks at hand, and provides you more time to learn things on your own.

Yes, I’ve been reporting directly to the client and you may think that there really isn’t much else to expect from Remote Workmate after contract signing, but I can say that they’ve given me the same support as they have since day 1. Account managers are just one Skype message away when you have technical issues. They also check on workmates from time to time, ask me how things are with my client, and workload. They even remind me to take my breaks when things get too busy. Payroll is also on point, BTW. Never had a salary dispute, ever!

I guess it’s safe to say that the best thing that RWM has really given me is job security. Almost 5 years and I’m still here. What else do I have to say?

Enjoying More Personal Time in Pajamas

Mike Leaño, Content Editor at Remote Workmate, shares what he loves the most about working from home, which he has been at for 8 straight years.

I started working at the turn of the millennium. The traffic was already pretty bad by then, but my travel stress was made worse by the sheer distance I had to travel daily to the office, which was about 40 kilometers total. I spent about 4 hours on the road every day.

Because of this, my days were tortuously long. Back then, I left for work at 6:30 am but usually arrived home at 9 pm. Even when I transferred to a company that’s somewhat closer, the travel time was still a nasty 3 hours total.

Make no mistake—I loved my work, so much so that I usually don’t notice the clock when I’m in the zone. But there had to be a better way to make a living, because I had no time to enjoy my own life.

That’s when I heard of remote work. An acquaintance told me that through the power of the internet, he’s able to work from the comfort of his own home. In pajamas. Apparently, he writes for a blog and moonlights for some WordPress programming gigs.

While I was excited at the prospect of completely eliminating my travel time and gaining an extra 3-4 hours per day, I didn’t leave my corporate job right away. I played it safe and looked for a side project I can do from home: writing.

I started as a part-time blogger, but when my remote employer offered me a more permanent role, that’s when I decided to take the plunge and work full-time.

Admittedly, I didn’t always work from home since then. Sometimes, the grass was greener in corporate, so I once returned to regular office work for a couple of years. But as of the beginning of 2020, I’ve been working remotely for eight straight years and I’ve never looked back, mainly because:

• I have more personal time;
• I save on transportation costs;
• I don’t have to go to work during bad weather;
• I’m pretty much free from daily commuting.

Being Location and Time-Independent

This time, let’s hear from Dannea Mae Moneva, head of Content Geeks and full-time digital nomad.

I shifted to a home-based work setup from my corporate job for 3 primary reasons – location and time independence (flexibility/freedom), higher income potential, and to start my own business.

I love travelling so much and it is my dream in life to explore as much of this world as possible. But a corporate job is very limiting because I have to schedule and file leaves and bosses tend to deny leaves, too.

Plus, there are often just 20 days or less of paid leaves in a year for corporate employees. These situations are definitely not ideal for me because I want to be able to travel slower, like stay in one city for 2 weeks or more.

Being location- and time-independent, meanwhile, gives me more freedom to travel without hindering my ability to earn a living and have enough income for my bills and other household responsibilities.

Even better, being home-based allowed me to be there for my parents and grandparents when they got sick and have to be hospitalized. I was able to take care of them at the hospital and was able to work still, which kept me earning and allowed me to contribute towards the hospital bills.

Then, there’s the fact that if you’re a freelancer, home-based worker, or a digital nomad, then you can have a higher earning potential. You are not tied down to just one 8-hour job which has a set monthly payment. If you work smart and streamline your processes and upgrade your skills, you can juggle 2 or more freelance clients, which can enormously increase your income per month.

Because of that, I’ve decided to start my own business, which will be entirely location-independent. There are loads of potential for growth here and, at the same time, I can provide assistance and opportunities for those who want to go freelance or home-based as well.

Other bonus benefits for me include not dealing with the horrible traffic in the metro, which is very time- and energy-consuming. In the 2 hours that I’ll be stuck in traffic, I could’ve been doing a task for a client instead, which will earn me more than what a typical corporate employee will earn in a day.

Additionally, I’m an introvert, and so being home-based is ideal because I don’t have to deal with a lot of people and disheartening/unproductive stuff, such as office gossip, corporate bureaucracy, power-tripping bosses, and insecure colleagues. I have complete control over my productivity and won’t be bogged down by lazy, inattentive or incompetent co-workers.

Plus there’s the fact that, through social media, it is easier to find a network (not only in our country but all over the world) of passionate and skilled home-based workers who can encourage you to be better and who can help open more opportunities for your career. Surprisingly, being a home-based worker/freelancer has allowed me to make friends from other countries.

Overall, the benefits and possibilities of being home-based far outweigh those of a corporate job and that’s why I made the switch and have never looked back ever since!

My Own Two Cents

Being a home-based worker myself, I can completely understand the sentiment of wanting to be spared from hours of long commutes. This is definitely one of the common reasons why many corporate workers are choosing to work from home instead, as you can read from above.

It doesn’t look like the traffic situation is going to get any better in the Philippines either. New cars are added to the road but most of the routes remain the same. It’s the same whether you’re in Manila, Cebu or even Davao. Only a complete overhaul of the transportation setup may be the only way to change things.

Since it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen soon, becoming a remote worker is your best shot at making your work life easier. Remote Workmate provides opportunities for qualified professionals, even those who have zero experience in working online.