Is working from home better than working from an office?

Working from home saves time compared to working in a traditional office

Question: Is working from home better than working from an office?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, working from home is better than traditional offices
Argument‹4 of 4: Working from home saves time compared to working in a traditional office

Employees are able to save time by working from home, but they would have used this time if they were working in an office. For example, employees do not need to commute, get dressed in work attire and are free from distractions by colleagues. Therefore, it is better to work from home.

The argument

Working from home saves people time that they would have used if working in a traditional office. Due to working remotely, people are able to remove the commute back and forth as well as the time spent getting dressed and ready for work. In a traditional office setting, employees often get distracted by their coworkers, which takes time away from their job. By telecommuting, people eliminate these distractions and time-wasters. People are able to save time that they would normally spend if they had an office job.

Premises

[P1]Working from home removes the daily commute and the time spent getting dressed and ready for the office. [P2] It also eliminates the distractions of coworkers that take time away from the job in a traditional office. [P3] Telecommuters thus save the time they would otherwise spend on an office job. [C] Therefore, because working from home saves time, working from home is better than a traditional office.

Counter-arguments

Working from home eliminates typical office distractions such as co-workers, but there are still numerous ways someone could lose focus. It may be difficult for someone to find the motivation to work while at home because they are working independently and there is no separation from work and home life. Travelling to and from an office every day mentally prepares a person to be focused and driven to work. An office is designed for work and therefore keeps employees focused instead of being distracted by items at home.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Time not spent commuting is time saved for the worker. Whether it is saved for the work is a separate claim, and the premise never says the recovered hours go to the job. [Rejecting P2] Removing colleagues removes one source of interruption and introduces others. As the counter-argument notes, home carries its own distractions and no separation between work and the rest of life. [Rejecting P3] Even granting the time saved, the conclusion is broader than the premises support. "Better" is a comparison across everything the two arrangements affect — collaboration, training, supervision, wellbeing — and time is only one of them.

Framing

[Rejecting P2] There are numerous distractions while working from home.