Somewhere in the world, there is always someone somewhere weighing his/ her employment options; formal employment or online jobs/ work from home jobs. Whether the push to choose formal employment or work at home jobs comes from purely personal and non-pressing interest or pressing circumstances, at the end of some duration, the decision needs to be made. You might be one of those people debating:

• Should you leave your 8-5 day job and start a business?
• Should you get employed instead of starting a business
• Should you quit your 8-5 employment and work at home doing Internet Jobs?

• Should you adopt ‘Work at Home’ tasks as your part time work over your 8-5 job?

• Should you give up on the idea of making money online and get formal employment?

• Between Online Jobs and Formal Employment, which is better? In what sense?

Don’t panic! The questions on this topic never end; not for many people anyway. You are not the only one who goes back and forth about these two options.

Before you grow old trying to solve which of these bread-earning opportunities is the best for you, allow me to share the few aspects I have learned over the years about each of this platforms; I have been on both sides of employment for a relatively similar duration;  5+ years each.

***********************

Although online jobs and businesses are a bit different, allow me to combine their advantages and disadvantages below:

***************************************************

Advantages of Businesses and Online Jobs / Online Freelance

• You choose your own working time and duration.
• You work at home or any other space of choice – no need to travel to a physical office/ venue.
• Income is directly proportional to the number of hours and expertise you put into your task. This means you can vary your revenue; make as much as you want.



• You can work for multiple clients at a time; Individuals, Corporates, online freelancing companies, online freelancers, etc.
• You can do multiple tasks over any stretch of time; selling items or services, transcription, research, video captioning, article writing, blogging, social media management, etc. This diversity is great for you if you are the kind that gets bored with one task.
• You can take time off to attend to personal or other businesses as you wish and make up for lost productive time later.
• To a certain extent you are your own boss; no one monitors your activity or follows you up for results.
• NB: For online freelancing tasks that rely heavily on research, such as copy-writing, online freelancers acquire vast knowledge on multiple topics around the world; as freelancers call it, such a freelancer becomes a walking Google.

Disadvantages of Businesses and Freelancing Online Jobs

• If you are the type that must be bound by a formal timetable and only a specific way of doing things, the idea of your choosing your own time and duration of work can be your undoing since without a formal timetable/ boss you may never get much work done.



• If you live/ work in a non-conducive environment (noise, lighting, social and other factors, etc.), then the distraction might interfere with your productivity and ability to make money.
• The fact that income is directly proportional to the number of hours and effort invested in a given task can also be disadvantageous to some people; minimal effort/ energy translates to minimal income.
• Working for multiple clients or doing multiple tasks can be quite exhausting/ disorienting for some people.
• The freedom to take time off can be the undoing factor for people who aren’t disciplined time-wise.
• For some people, having no boss or goals means that they are lost and end up wasting significant time.
• Working on virtual platforms has had a tremendous effect on some people’s social skills since some of these people spend more time on their computers and barely get the human contact that people who are not confined in their homes take for granted. Additionally, when some people work for multiple clients all over the globe but on virtual platforms, they may be forced to adjust their working schedules to match those of their clients’ timezone. This means that these freelancers will probably miss out on the timezone that are most convenient for human contact in their own localities.

Advantages of Formal Employment

• Most formal employment tasks come with additional benefits such as health insurance, paid leave, and sponsored career/ personal development, among others.



• There is regular contact with other human beings, which, for some people, is most important.
• Official meetings or trips within and without the work environment give people a chance to meet and interact with other professionals.
• More often than not, there is regular income which translated to economic security for some people as they can budget for their expenses
• More often than not, there is a laid out way of doing things and this is most attractive for the people who appreciate formal structures

Disadvantages of Formal Employment

• Since most formal jobs have fixed salaries, more work rarely translates to more income and this can be frustrating to people who feel they work too hard and the reward is not enough.
• Routine can be boring for some people.
• Motivation to work can dwindle with time if the work environment becomes unbearable such as experiencing squabbles with fellow colleagues.
• Whereas there may be time set-apart for paid leave in some formal jobs, employees still have to adhere to official work timelines and this may interfere not only with a person’s ability to take the said leave, but also his/ her permission to attend to private matters.

NOTE: Decision-Making

The decision to leave or join either of the above-mentioned forms of employment is not only influenced by the above factors, but also by the emotional value/ attachment that a person has on his/ her job/ desired job. For instance, regardless of how much online jobs may pay for some people, a person may choose to stay in his/ her formal employment because s/he feels she adds value to other people’s lives by the services s/he provides.

Conclusion

Online jobs are becoming more and more common as people from all over the world gain access to the Internet and smart gadgets.

Formal employment is still attractive to some people but is has some downsides that some people cannot overlook.

At the end of the day, none of the decisions will be easy. Take time to weigh your options before you decide which side you will sway.

All the best.

Maggie

Error: Contact form not found.