Work From Home- 50 notout*

In these current times, my heart goes out to the health care workers who are fighting day and night to contain the virus as well as the daily wage earners who are hard impacted by the mandatory lock-down required at this time. It’s a dualism wherein to contain a larger virus, few hits had to be taken. This is especially true in a large country like India where diversity of the population, income and literacy levels are so vast. During this time since the lock-down, something which we never expected took place and made us adapt to the crisis i.e., the whole corporate sector offices, including government offices have been working remotely for over the past month and half and we seemed to have fit the into the new mode of work just fine!

Never did I imagine that I would not go to office for 50 long days and yet not receive a warning letter of no-show! This was unimaginable even till February, 2020. Like every dark cloud has a silver lining, I believe the silver lining during these times is not just the digital thrust as a country we are seeing, but also every organization working remotely like taskforces! By adapting to the COVID-19 era, most corporate organizations have adapted to Flexibility of workplace, workstyle and worktime! Today, my organization clocked 50 days of working from home (starting March 18) and it’s strange that it’s already been 50 days and I haven’t as such faced any challenges in adapting to my new workplace, workstyle or worktime. Below are a few points, I would like to highlight from my experience of working from home (WFH).

1.     Seamless as ever! I guess it’s our innate habit to adapt. We did so while migrating to WHF. Minus the week 1 challenges to manage house work and office work together and having to worry about the cleanliness of the house, I still got around. Week 2 onward was pretty seamless.

2.     WHF is real work than just being ‘Netflix & Chill’ as per few ancient managers at least till early March, 2020! In WFH mode now, at times it feels work has increased to more than normal office days. I guess, most managers, however ancient will henceforth appreciate the WFH concept.

3.     Managing both work and home has been fun, and I can say that my planning has improved. I plan the day; a day before and lock it so that when I wake up, things are moving as per plan.

4.     Netflix/Hotstar & Prime have occupied special spots. One cannot end the day without a soothing program as a sign of reward for the day’s hard work.

5.     Kids’ participating in the intense meetings is also the new norm now! Sad that we don’t include them in our meeting invites, but they love to gate-crash… at times most important meetings :) A kid’s wail could also be the most soothing voice you could hear depending on the nature of the meeting you are in.

6.     Time sense: You know you have to stick to the schedule while working remotely… most meetings are way better organized with specific outcomes, rather than waiting for chaiwala to enter the meeting room, only then would a meeting conclude.

7.     You complain less. You know if the AC is strong, water is cold, coffee tastes bad or food is from the last night’s left overs, you still enjoy it and rather control it yourself, because ‘Dear Admin Manager..’ is also working from home is now responsible for his house and not your house! :)

8.     You switch off totally during non-work hours or at times even during lunch break. You know that in the given set up, only when office work ends can the house work start. Respecting both to follow their times is the new practise.

9.     It’s always family time. You know that even while at WFH, your primary objective of being with family and ensuring they are safe is a double tick. I guess nothing beats the feeling to know and see that your family is safe and happy, right in front of your eyes.

10. Following some etiquette: As managers of employees, the new responsibility is to ensure that team is motivated and engaged remotely.. the days of having lunch or coffee together is a 50 days old story now. Having said, managing people is like following a schedule with a little empathy. Daily check-in’s, virtual gossips and sharing stories can help ease the anxiety & FOMO around the current situation and help manage teams better and remain engaged.

11. While there have been many positives and realizations owing to this experience, one key challenge which I did face is lack of proper infrastructure, especially being in Mumbai :) The tiny quadrant rooms are currently not equipped to make WFH a full time opportunity (as some of us have been working while sitting on beds, sofa and even dining table in a house which may not have privacy to work), and also, multiple people using 4G at the same time, making it a 2G experience.

While the above points are my experience of how the past 50 days have been, a major change COVID-19 induced WFH has really done is added a little bit of flexibility to organizations. This could have large implications across the entire workforce and fixed costs.  

1.     With more flexibility comes wider talent base: With flexibility, diversity of talent has a broader definition.  Specific groups of people who had to drop out of their career owing to personal reasons and those following partners around the world and other diverse groups (Persons with Disability) whose style, location and time could be a constraint earlier, can now hop-in the same bus. With opportunities hopefully becoming mobile & remote, these talent groups can be widely accessible to meet the expectations of the new employers.

2.     Office space- Most organizations can now see themselves focusing on office related fixed costs. The equation that large size of business means large real estate (office) may not hold valid going forward (at least for a significant number of companies).

3.     New Workplace policies on flexible locations are around the corner..? Hopefully, benefiting a few!

I truly hope we all emerge faster and stronger from the current situation and once we do, one thing is for sure that we are all going to be different post this experience. More cautious, more focus on loved ones and on things that matter truly and a stronger sense of purpose!