One thing that I love most about my job is the ability to work from home. I love being able to get up in the morning, commute the twenty feet downstairs to my kitchen, make a cup of coffee and then get my day started in peace.
There is no commuting, no need to put on uncomfortable business clothes, and when the weather is nice, I can even enjoy my little backyard while working on my laptop. It’s a bliss I’ve been enjoying since well before the pandemic.
However, in 2020 when COVID-19 first hit the world, many businesses had to shut their office doors and put all their workers remote. While some people found the transition from the office to home a little unbearable, there were many who found that they loved working from home.
I find that working from home definitely allows a lot more flexibility to get your “life admin” done – little things like being about to throw a wash on in the middle of the day while you work, running an errand on your lunch break, or being there for sick kids without having to take a day off to stay at home.
Let’s face it, most of us are in households where both partners are working professionals. That leaves little time for getting things around the house outside of working hours. Most of us would have pretty long commutes to and from the office that left little wiggle room to run errands before or after work, and it left us with even less energy to do things once we got home.
But working from home saves on a commute so it’s far less stress and after you log off for the day, you don’t feel as drained that you’re able to get that laundry folded or wash those dishes or make it to the dry cleaners to pick up your clothes before they close for the day.
Since 2021, there has been a slow and steady return to the office. Some companies are a little more flexible than others. Whether you stay at home a few days a week or have to return full-time to an office space is fully dependent on where you work and live.
But for one country’s citizens, there is a new law that is allowing for remote working flexibility, and that country is the Netherlands!
The Dutch parliament has recently approved legislation that establishes working from home as a person’s legal right! While this is a first, it still requires approval from the Dutch senate before it officially becomes law. Under the new legislation, employers would be forced to take under advisement an employee’s request to work from home and if denied, they would have to provide a valid reason for the denied request.
According to the Wall Street Journal, one of the bill’s co-authors, Steven van Weyenberg, explained, “For employers, this is also a good law. Because a happy employee is a happy employer.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Congresswoman Senna Maatoug referred to the bill as an “important step” for employees – this new legislation will allow workers “to find a better work-life balance and reduce time spent on commuting.”
What do you think of this work-from-home law? Would you like to see something like this where you live? Do you enjoy working from home? Let us know!