Working WITH Home: a New Normal in these pandemic times

India is experiencing the same uncertainties and difficulties as the rest of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. While we are at a relatively low, approximately 15th position globally, in terms of the total number of cases recorded and new cases registered every week, our challenges remain acute because of the density of India’s population and the large number of people that need to be catered to. This has made our government especially vigilant and proactive, which resulted in the very swift shift from a soft lockdown to a hard lockdown on March 24. Since then, we have all been working from home.

I have accepted the fact that life is more difficult and challenging during these times and it can only be moderated, by blocking time for my essential family activities. As I have adjusted, settled, and readjusted my work and life schedules, I have seen many others around me go through these similar phases. In the face of all these challenges, the one thing that has stood out for me, is the grit and grace that the majority of our countrymen are showing, by supporting their friends and colleagues, as also caring for the underprivileged communities around us. It is really humbling to see many of them step up to cater to the needs of our first responders and healthcare workers as well. As we continue to adapt to our new normal, I thought of sharing my personal learnings from these difficult times; and how we are empowering our employees to remain productive, from the safety of their homes.

After India went into a hard lockdown to contain the spread of the disease, the Microsoft leadership team worked towards shipping the office equipment to our employees’ respective doorsteps. As the situation continued to unfold around us, about 2000 laptops, monitors, desks and even chairs were shipped to our team members’ homes, to enable them to continue operating from home.

First week experience of WFH

During this time, I also moved to working from home and it felt good that my work life had not changed. At the end of first week, I gave myself an ‘F – Failed’ grade, based on a discussion with my wife, for the way I was working. Without realizing what I was doing, I was disrupting my entire home and the schedule of other family members. I was sitting anywhere and everywhere, taking calls during lunch, and leaving cables and headphones all over, etc. My children are away at college and work, but my elderly parents, who are undergoing medical treatments, are living with us. I did not realize that I had been affecting everyone else’s normal at home till I had the conversation with my wife.

That is when I realized that I needed to change my work schedule and habits so that I could Work with Home and not just Work from Home.

The first thing I did, was to move myself to my children’s study room. This is now my office, so that the rest of the house is peaceful, the way it was before I started working from home. The other thing I realized the same weekend, was that the need to balance my life had intensified. One of my biggest productivity hacks has been the “work-life harmony” – the beautiful balance with which we weave the work into life and life back into work with full earnestness. 

My work-life harmony enlightenment

For a long time, I have believed in five essential priorities for a balanced life. In my work-life harmony framework, the priorities of an individual evolve through various stages of life. While at the beginning, a good job and money are most important when we are just out of college, the priority shifts to children, family, and relationships as we move along in life. As we get older, it then moves to health, self-realization, or self-actualization through mindfulness and meditation. It is so important to keep these five elements balanced all through to ensure that we have joy, calmness, and satisfaction in life.

However, the pandemic has brought in a new perspective – that all these five aspects: Job, Family, Health, Rewards and Self Actualization; need to be compressed into one and be balanced every day. This has led me to make a few additional changes. For example:

1. I have shortened all my meetings by 5 to 10 minutes. So, now my meetings are for either 50-minute or 25-minute durations, to create a few minutes to walk around/stretch, touch base with my family or just pick up some hot drinks in between.
2. My meeting schedule and agenda are better prepared with prior topics and pre-reads, shared in advance to help establish a shared context before the meetings. This also helps the meeting’s efficiency and avoiding spillovers.
3. I have also blocked my lunch and evening teatime, in addition to my breakfast and dinnertime, to spend with my family. This gives me the much-needed quality time with my family.
4. Not just that, at the end of my workday, I prepare tea for all of my family members – I have actually improved my skills at masala tea.
5. I have also adjusted my exercise, cycling and meditation routines to make the best use of the time that I save from my office commute.

All these changes are making me feel much more productive, because they are helping me as a person to be in harmony with other aspects of myself, and I am able to work with more focus and less stress.

I hope you and your families or partners have also adjusted to this new way of working and have started exploring ways of being more helpful at home while continuing to be productive at work.

These have been my key learning during these difficult times and as I continue this path, I wish you all stay in and stay safe.