“The presidency is not an office job.”
Jakaya Kikwete, Politician
Advantages & Disadvantages of Office Jobs
While office jobs had been quite rare just one century ago, they have become pretty common in our nowadays society.
Although this improved the quality of life for many people, working in office jobs also has its problems.
If you consider working in an office job, make sure to have a close look at this analysis since all the pros and cons of office jobs are examined in this article.
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Contents
Advantages of Office Jobs
- They do not involve too much physical work
- Chances for working accidents rather low
- Your body will thank you in your later years
- You may have more power for other things
- Good salary on average
- You are quite weather-independent
- Home office may be possible
- Good to make many connections with coworkers
- Excellent networking opportunities
- Constant salary payments
- You will have some days off
- Promotions
- Potential interesting career perspectives
- You may be able to work internationally
- Your learning curve will be steep
They do not involve too much physical work
One important advantage of office jobs is that they do not require too much physical work.
Most of the time, you will work with your laptop or another electronic device.
Compared to working in construction or in other physically demanding jobs, office jobs are quite relaxing in terms of the physical power you have to spend during the day.
Therefore, if you are a person who does not want to work too much in a physical way, office jobs are definitely the way to go for you.
Chances for working accidents rather low
Moreover, also the chances to get injured during work are rather low.
Since you will sit in front of a computer most often, your chances to suffer from serious injuries will be quite limited.
Sure, there are some office accidents where people stumble and fall onto the floor.
Yet, the chances for serious accidents are still much lower compared to jobs like firefighters or other jobs that can significantly threaten your life.
Your body will thank you in your later years
Since you do not have to work in office jobs in an exhausting physical manner, you will also have fewer risks to suffer from consequential damage in the long run.
For instance, if you work in construction and have to carry around heavy stuff all day long, chances are that your body will significantly suffer over time and in the long run, you might get several health problems.
You may have more power for other things
Since you will not be physically exhausted from office jobs, you might also have more energy when it comes to playing with your kids or doing other activities back home after work.
Thus, especially if you have kids, office jobs may have an edge over blue-collar jobs that often rob you plenty of physical energy during the day.
Good salary on average
White-collar jobs often also pay much higher wages compared to blue-collar jobs.
If you got a college degree, your chances to get a well-paying office job should be quite decent and you will likely earn much more money compared to other manual work.
Hence, if you strive for a high income, you should definitely go for an office job and try to get a leading role over time in your company.
You are quite weather-independent
Another upside of office jobs is that you are rather independent of the weather out there.
Since you will conveniently sit in your office, it doesn’t really matter if there is rain or snow out there for you.
However, if you work in a job that requires you to stay outside, you might greatly suffer from those unpleasant weather conditions.
Home office may be possible
You might even be able to work from home from time to time.
Some companies allow their employees to work from home some days of the week.
This may greatly improve your flexibility, since you can save time for commuting and can spend this time on other things you like.
Moreover, teleworking might also be quite beneficial when it comes to taking care of your children.
When you have the opportunity to stay at home, you can look after your kids and work at the same time.
Good to make many connections with coworkers
In big companies, you will also have the opportunity to make many new connections and friends during work.
Many companies even encourage their employees to participate in meetups and other activities that foster team spirit.
Therefore, if you like to talk and to work with many different people, office jobs may be a great way to do so.
Excellent networking opportunities
If you work in large corporations, you might also have excellent networking opportunities.
Always remember: The people you currently work with will likely not work for the same company forever.
Many of your colleagues will end up in other companies over time and if you networked enough, you might have pretty good connections to many different companies, which may give you a great edge in case you want to work there.
Constant salary payments
Another benefit of office jobs is that you get a constant salary and usually do not have to worry too much about money since you are likely to earn good money over time.
Hence, also in regard to wages and security of salary payments, office jobs are usually quite safe.
You will have some days off
Depending on the country you live in, you will also be entitled to a certain minimum amount of vacation each year.
This can range from just a few days over several weeks or even months.
These days off are usually also paid in office jobs.
Thus, you can enjoy your vacation while still getting money from your firm.
Promotions
In office jobs, it is also far more likely to get promoted at a rather young age.
Depending on the company, you can even get leading roles in your early 30’s.
Thus, if you have ambitions for a steep career path, office jobs will be the way to go for you since you will be able to get plenty of responsibility after a relatively short period of time, at least if you perform well.
Potential interesting career perspectives
Working in office jobs also enables you to try out new things.
For instance, if you do not like your current position in the company, you might also be able to switch to a new department and work in a different field within the same company.
Therefore, you often do not have to give up your safe job and can still work in a different environment so you can better experience what kind of job fits you.
You may be able to work internationally
Many office jobs, especially if you work in big companies, also give you the opportunity to work with people all over the world.
You might talk to clients from different countries or work together with colleagues of international branches of your company.
Thus, if you want to work with people all over the world, office jobs in big companies will be the way to go for you.
Your learning curve will be steep
In many office jobs, especially if you work in renowned companies, will give you a great opportunity to learn a lot at the beginning.
There are also numerous training programs from which you can choose in order to develop your personality.
This will give you excellent preparation for leading roles in the company later on.
Disadvantages of Office Jobs
- You may work quite long hours in office jobs
- Risk for burnout
- Open spaces may facilitate the spread of diseases
- Availability may be required even after you finished work
- Office jobs may require some level of flexibility
- Problems with your back
- Vision issues
- You may get bored soon
- Motivation may get quite low
- Office jobs often require you to dress fancy
- Coworkers may tattle behind your back
- Not good for people who like physical work
- You may have no end result
- Meetings may be quite unproductive
- Different departments may sabotage each other
- You may lose time in traffic jams while commuting
- Toxic work environments
- Overweight
- Some people do not have good interpersonal skills to lead employees
- You have to adapt to a company culture
- Time management may be a problem
You may work quite long hours in office jobs
From the previous analysis, we can see that office jobs imply several important advantages.
Yet, there are also some problems related to them.
One issue with office jobs is that they often require you to work quite long hours.
Especially if you have a leading role in a company, it is rather common to work 60 hours a week or more.
Hence, if you do not want to work that hard and rather want to have more time for other things, office jobs might not be the way to go.
However, this also depends on the company and your responsibilities.
There are also many office jobs that offer you a great work-life balance.
Yet, in those kinds of jobs, you will often not earn that much and you will also not have a leading role.
Risk for burnout
If you work in demanding office jobs for long hours, you might also be at greater risk to burn out over time.
Some people are more resistant when it comes to heavy workloads than others.
However, working too much is never healthy and if you do not know your limit, chances are that you will burn out pretty soon and it may take many weeks or even years until you recover.
Open spaces may facilitate the spread of diseases
Many office jobs also require you to use open spaces.
These are places where many employees sit together at a single large space and work next to each other.
While open spaces are great to connect to many new colleagues over time, they are rather bad in terms of the spreading of diseases.
This is quite logical since if many people sit close to each other, bacteria can easily spread from one employee to another.
This may not only be bad for you as an employee, but also for the company if many people get sick at the same time.
Availability may be required even after you finished work
Some jobs, especially if you have leading roles, will also require you to be available after work.
There might be several issues and even if you leave your office, your boss might call you and give you several tasks which you have to process in the late evening.
Hence, especially if you have a leading role in a company, you might not be able to completely unplug from your work.
Office jobs may require some level of flexibility
It may also happen that you have to travel quite spontaneously.
For instance, some day your boss may call you and tell you to book a flight for the next day in order to meet a client in a foreign country.
Thus, you might also have to be quite flexible in such jobs since you may not know where you will end up the next week or even the next days, especially if you work in consulting or other jobs where plans change quite frequently.
Problems with your back
Even though office jobs are often much better for health compared to jobs where you have to work in an excessive physical manner, you might still suffer from some issues over time.
For instance, your back might hurt over the long run, especially if you do not have proper office chairs.
Vision issues
Since you will look at your computer screen all day long, you might also suffer from serious issues with your vision.
Many people who work in office jobs may need glasses or contacts after a few years since their vision has suffered quite a lot.
Thus, office jobs may also be bad for your eyes and the long-term effects of staring on a computer screen over longer periods of time are yet to be seen.
You may get bored soon
Some office jobs are also rather boring. You will basically do quite similar things all day long.
While this may seem to be interesting when you start your career, it might get boring pretty soon.
This is especially true when you work in a company where your chances of promotions are quite bad.
Motivation may get quite low
Moreover, also your motivation level may greatly suffer over time.
After a while, you might even consider your job to be a waste of time and solely as a tool to make money.
However, this may not lead to happiness at all if you always count the hours until you are allowed to go home and just live for the weekends.
Office jobs often require you to dress fancy
Especially if you often work with clients, you will be obliged to dress up fancy on a regular basis.
However, those fancy dress codes may not be convenient at all and therefore, if you rather want to dress the way you want, you might want to go for other jobs instead.
Coworkers may tattle behind your back
There is also a great chance in office jobs that people will chat behind your back.
Quite often, people are rather competitive and want to ensure that they get promoted.
Thus, they might do everything to bring you down since they might think that their chances for promotions might increase due to that.
Not good for people who like physical work
Some people also simply like manual work and do not want to sit behind a computer screen all day long. If you are one of those people, you will never be happy in an office job.
Hence, you should ask yourself what type of person you really are. If you are unsure yet, you might work as an intern in both fields so you can better decide on what kinds of jobs you want to go in the future.
You may have no end result
Another downside of office jobs is that you might not see a clear end result of your work.
For instance, if you work in construction or in other manual jobs, you will finish building a house or other tangible things and this may give you a great level of satisfaction.
However, if you work in office jobs, you will not have this kind of end result since you often just work on presentations that will be gone after they served their purpose for meetings.
Meetings may be quite unproductive
Many meetings that are carried out by office workers are also rather unproductive and plenty of time is wasted.
In many cases, most of the participants in meetings are rather passive and just look outside the window instead of actually listening to what’s going on.
Different departments may sabotage each other
From a normative perspective, employees should work together across departments and support each other in the best possible manner.
Yet, if we have a look at the real world, this is often not true at all.
Some departments even try to sabotage each other since they often have different goals.
This may be quite exhausting since you may also have to work against instead of with colleagues from other departments and your motivation may further drop due to that.
You may lose time in traffic jams while commuting
You may also have to commute to your office job on a regular basis.
Especially if you go to work at rush hour, you might get stuck in traffic jams, which may imply a significant waste of your lifetime.
Toxic work environments
Some companies also have a rather toxic working environment.
In order to enjoy your office job, it is crucial that you are able to work with your colleagues on a professional basis and that you get along with the people you work the most with.
However, if people are not happy in their jobs for various reasons, chances are that toxic working environments develop over time and your motivation to go to work may greatly suffer due to that in the long run.
Overweight
Since people will not work too much in a physical manner in office jobs, they might also be at greater risk for overweight and obesity.
Especially if you eat plenty of sweets and unhealthy food in conjuncture with working in an office job, you might be at great risk to suffer from obesity and the related adverse health effects sooner or later.
Some people do not have good interpersonal skills to lead employees
You might also experience serious trouble with your boss over time.
Many people who work in leading roles in a company have excellent technical skills, yet they often lack interpersonal skills and are not able to lead their employees in a proper manner.
Therefore, many employees will get quite unmotivated over time and the overall motivation level in your department may drop.
You have to adapt to a company culture
If you work in an office job, you also have to give up a fraction of your personality traits over time in order to comply with the rules and values of the company.
This may not be easy for some people who have a quite strong character.
Especially if those company values are not in line with your core values and beliefs, you might not be happy to work in those kinds of jobs in the long run.
Time management may be a problem
Even though many people have good hard skills, many of us may still suffer when it comes to time management.
However, good time management is crucial in order to succeed in office jobs since you will often have several tasks at the same time and you will have to structure your day in the most efficient manner in order to be able to get your work done in time.
Therefore, if you struggle with time management, you might not be happy in an office job, especially in leading roles where sophisticated time management skills are crucial.
Top 10 Office Jobs Pros & Cons – Summary List
| Office Jobs Pros | Office Jobs Cons |
|---|---|
| Not much physical work necessary | Long working hours |
| Good salary | You might bring your work back home |
| Less physical health issues | High stress levels |
| Office jobs are weather-independent | Mental issues |
| Good for networking | Bad working climate |
| You can get responsibility rather early | Questionable company values |
| Constant salary | Unproductive meetings |
| Some days off | Office jobs may get boring |
| International career opportunities | Back problems |
| Home office might be possible | Vision problems |
Should You Work in an Office Job?
As we have seen before, there are several pros and cons of office jobs.
In the end, you have to evaluate all those advantages and disadvantages in order to make a profound decision regarding whether office jobs are the way to go for you or not.
You may also want to get some experience through internships so you will get a better impression regarding what an office job looks like.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-collar_worker
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23372401
https://theconversation.com/a-short-history-of-the-office-82000
About the author
My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.
As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.
After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.
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