Working from Home

 

Working from Home

Don’t we know how cruel Covid pandemic has been, overturning our lives, not only in respect of our bodies, minds and emotions, but on the work and professional front also. To check the spread of the virus, most of the offices, companies and institutions have moved to remote working or work from home i.e. WFH. Even educational institutions have resorted to remote learning.

You may argue that everyone was anyway glued to the screen and immersed in communication through internet before the pandemic. But Covid necessitated physical distance and what better way than to close shop, switch on your computer and start transacting your business from home. It has been some months now and one can sense a sense of despair among the workers.

The owners of companies are smart people, otherwise they wouldn’t have reached where they are now, isn’t it? Even before Covid, some of the companies (including some major technology companies, I am told) had already decided that they would change their working system and in a phased manner move to nearly 75 % remote working within the next five years. The restrictions arising out of the pandemic only accelerated this activity. Most of the companies feel that remote working suits them as it saves them a huge amount under the heads of rents, power and maintenance bills, staff salaries, travel and entertainment allowances, but is that practical?

Now people are stuck at home, deposited in front of their desks and laptops, struggling with their work-life balance. Some of my friends complain that there seems no urgency to end online meetings because nobody is in a rush go anywhere. There is no respect for the other person’s time because everybody is supposed to be just there - in front of the screen. There is no physical movement involved except the flip of the finger and the click of the mouse.

The employers have found novel ways and got apps designed, to keep a tab on the workers’ log-in timings. The day is endless now. A neighbor says earlier if she had to go out for an hour or so, she just had to inform a member of her team to take over and sneak out but now it is like a public announcement to everyone and she is not the only one who resents it. 

Dressed in formal shirts and blouses over track pants (shorts in warmer times), everybody is trying to ensure that the spouse/child/maid/pet does not barge in with an urgent matter to attend to.

Earlier, some people enjoyed working in their offices especially so as tea/coffee, food and even gym were available. They were not worried about going out to shop for food or rushing home to cook or to the gym for a work-out after working well beyond the regular hours. Their electricity and Wi-Fi bills were lower too.

I asked several friends and acquaintances who themselves or their children work in various companies. Naturally, they did not want me to mention their employers’ names. (Although there is a chance as slim as snowfall in Chennai that the latter ever read this blog).

The impression I got was that a sense of being on autopilot has set in. They miss the times when their day had a purpose to it; getting dressed and going to office, the short breaks, the conversations and the gossip, the discussions over a cup of chai, coffee or a cigarette. Screens are impersonal. Clinking your glass with your buddy in a bar is real, but raising your glass to an image on the screen for a happy hour does not bring cheer. There is no knowing reactions, body language, face expressions or tone of voice and spontaneity would soon be a dying trait.   

Pre-Covid, there were casual Fridays, happy hour get-togethers and bring-your-child to office days. There were impromptu meetings as well as planned outings, celebrations of birthdays and festivals, bring-your-special-food days. It was easier for single men and women and those in distant relationships to come out of their shells, break barriers, self-made or otherwise, make new friends and strengthen their intra-office bonds. WFH has changed it to perfunctory greets and one to one meets.

One friend said he missed the ‘water cooler/coffee machine talk’ as he would stop for a sentence or two with his co-worker or friend at the water cooler or coffee machine. A few sentences is what it took to change the plan or mood for the day or for a friendship to germinate. Besides, going to the desk after the break meant that their mind was fresh and they would be working better.

An HR professional points out that these mingling sessions do not kill productivity. They help the workers relax, get to know who they are working with, and find common goals and contrasting traits. And isn’t it that when they are together, more ideas flow, or the existing ones refine and improve? That should means the employees are still working even when it does not appear to be so. Non-work talk encourages work-talk.

She argues that everyone is working for the company’s good. Even for the management, an open atmosphere is healthy for bringing about changes, taking the staff into confidence, encouraging them to trust and respect the management.

Idea generation requires relaxed and open minds, which according to liberal HR professionals, is possible only in a relaxed environment. Interacting with colleagues also removes any sense of anxiety over meeting superiors for putting forth ideas and problem-solving.

In the pre-Covid times, some people chose to work from home and they enjoyed it. They chose to be masters of their own time or because of the compulsion of being with their aging parents or small children who needed care, not having to get ready, to leave everything and go to work. Even the freedom to wear anything seemed important to some. There was no hurry to catch a bus/cab/metro and no fear of being caught in the rush hour traffic. But WFH coming as the official diktat, has challenged the sense of belonging and camaraderie present among the workers. What seemed like a welcome change in the beginning has turned into an albatross around the neck. Now you do up your hair and face and change the top garment only for a video call, otherwise uncaring about your looks as the housework goes on endlessly, demands of family going up in proportion to your availability, you frown at the courier man ringing the bell at any hour of the day; the only person you smile at is probably the maid.

Meanwhile, the few people who seem to be positive about WFH are the ones who are retiring or planning to, and see this time as a weaning off period.

Aisa kab tak chalega (For how long can it last), asked a friend’s daughter. Not being able to go to college, she misses being with her friends, the atmosphere and the quick reach that physical presence makes possible.

Someone pointed out the other perspective: all added, people working from home would not come out to more than only a small percentage of the workforce because health and security workers, government staff, maids, shop-owners, street vendors, eateries and their staff, farm and industry workers, everyone is finally out working at site. It is not possible for everyone to work from home.

Maybe these company-owners think that compelled by the dwindling job opportunities because of the pandemic, their employees would be forced to stick to their jobs, working from home or office. Is that so? We have to wait and see. Beyond a point, the employers would have to come out of their complacency and find ways to manage hygiene standards and social distancing at workplaces till it is certain that one vaccine or the other has negated the effect of Coronavirus.

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