Experience of Working From Home

Working from home, the most talked or entertained topic on the Internet since the world decided to go on a lock-down. In fact, it is taking over the Internet nowadays. Advice, Tips, Desk Setup, Timing, Attire you name it everybody has an opinion on it and I must say most of them are true. Since, we have experienced this now in a wide manner, first time for some of us, definitely for the first time for me, let’s talk about this.

Practicing work from home for the first time and trust me, I have mixed feelings. Mix of some good and some not so good feelings. Sometimes it makes me feel okay. This is awesome. Your family is around, you can watch your son playing and at the same time you are also working to earn bread for your family without leaving your home, am I dreaming or what? and sometimes Naah!!! Office is much better. It may include my personal reasons as well.

It is about 3 weeks of working from home and a lot of things happened and are still going on. Let’s put aside the things called work, efficiency, productivity, delivery, meetings and many other serious terminologies that we discuss at office. I must say it is difficult at times, struggling at first, helpless sometimes, sometimes confused and many other emotions.

First thing first, possibly a) you and other family are also working from home. b) You are the only person working from home. c) You are the only one in the house and working too. Things may differ in these cases for sure. In my case, I fall under the second case. I just don't want to imagine things if you fall under category c. Difficult.

I have listed my experiences in no particular order:

Things I am missing a lot:

I must agree now, I did not have any experience of working alone for the office so far. When I started working from the office, I missed the office environment so badly that I hated lock-down more than Coronavirus. I used to communicate directly with my team and other colleagues, which I missed a lot. Made me realize what kind of fun we have in the office. I miss my friends, especially my friends with whom I go out for lunch and short breaks. Now, I think this lunch break is definitely my best time.

Working from home is a battle if you have a kid:

I have a 2.5 year old son and this is the most difficult one. You cannot make him understand that Son, your dad is working, don't cry when I am having a meeting, don't come near to me if you see my flashy keyboard or shiny laptop. He even typed some random words that you cannot find in Oxford Dictionary or Google and sent it to one of my colleagues, when I was not around at my desk. Lesson learnt: always lock your laptop when you are not around. Even more difficult was to make my family understand, I literally had to tell my mom that I am not on leave but working. They have a tendency to ask for some domestic stuff when they see you around.

Surprising discoveries of my family:

Generally, I don't speak much. I like to spend my time alone in the room, or watching TV or listening to music. You must have noticed by now these are the activities where I don't need to talk at all. Obviously, my impression of my family is no different than this. So, work from home was quite surprising for them.

I used to have 10 to 15 meetings like DSM, Touch-base, Follow-ups, Task discussions, and so on for different projects. So, they found out I actually talk. When I said, I am in the meeting that was definitely not an excuse. The work is to sit on the chair all day but that is not it, there is a lot more than that we need to do in a day. For them, it was like, is that really you? 

Work Schedule Vs. Havoc Schedule:

When you are at office, you have a fixed time for everything for tea, coffee, lunch and other short breaks. At home you are having your breakfast, lunch, tea/coffee while talking with your colleagues, in short you are eating/drinking at your working station for sure. Your workstation is your world now. You can sleep(if you are in bed) there, eat there, talk from there and work from there.

Things going good and and not so good:

Daily Stand Up meetings finish early, I am afraid, I could not find a good reason to explain this. I always had to struggle to complete the DSM within 15 minutes from the office and now it takes less than 15 minutes. On the other hand, other meetings than DSM take longer than expected.

I ended up installing Skype and Email on my mobile because Working From Home gives you extra fear that if you don't reply ASAP, the message you are giving is "you might be chilling at home". Haha Joking. No, true.

As discussed earlier, working from office starts and ends on schedule, but, my man, working from home has no definite work schedule. I read tips on the Internet that someone who is experienced said, start on time, finish on time, Leave the desk and change the dress. It works. For them. Since this is my personal experience, it did not work at all. I replied whenever I saw a message/email. No start time, no end time, no attire for work. Nothing.

First two weeks I ended up putting on weight and developed back pain because I was working from some time on the bed, sometimes from the sofa and some time from the dining table. But Now, I have set up a standing workstation so that I don't need to work from where I should not be working. It’s been a week and it is really working for me. It doesn't mean I do not sit. I do sometimes. Now, I am learning to balance my working from sofa and standing time.

Bottom-line:

You actually can practice Work From Home twice or thrice in a month at your convenience. We can actually do it. It is just a feeling that you need to develop or teach your mind that you are working even if you are working from home. You need no attire, no perfect schedule, desk setup. Good food on time and a comfortable chair is all you need to work from home. Rests are all assured, trust me.