The Js and Ws of WFH

I think I am a privileged one, for I am one of the very few people who might have been exposed to most forms of employment other than self-employment (which might also be on the cards sometime in future-who knows?!!).  My career (so far) in brief:

• Started off my career as a part time employee
• Moved to another company and worked on a contract at their office full-time
• Absorbed in the same company’s work-force on a full-time basis
• Moved to another company and worked on a full time basis for years
• Due to some situations, worked on a contract on a full-time basis from home in a city that is very very new to me
• Switched to another company on a full time basis and work from office

Each type of employment had its own advantages and disadvantages but most of my early career seems so distant now.  Of course, things have changed a lot since the time I took up my first job. Until about 2 months back, I was working from home for about 6 months.  It might seem exciting /thrilling/ dream-come-true to many. Not many are fans of the stress of driving to work and back home in heavy traffic (especially the Bangalore one) and many are fans of nice hot home cooked meals. It also excites many as they feel they can make a lot of time for themselves if they can save on the commuting time to and back from office. When I informed a few people that I was close to about my WFH, they were envious of me. Some even offered to swap jobs (like that is going to happen!).  I had worked from home (WFH) before on and off when I needed to but that was not on a daily basis. It used to be a welcome change for both me and my family. However, the situation is not so peachy when you have to do it for an extended period of time. Through this blog post, I just wanted to share some of my experiences so that anyone who plans on taking up WFH, can have some insight into it. This blog post lists some of the Joys (Js) and Woes (Ws) of WFH (working/work/worked (you'll have to use it in context of the sentence(:)) from home).

So, lets get started:

Js:

• You do not have the mad rush getting things ready and ensuring you have not forgotten xyz in the mornings
• Already mentioned before- no maddening traffic jams to face, no irky drivers, no haggling with auto wallahs
• Commuting time saved
• You can work in your PJs
• You can turn on the TV while working
• You can listen to music aloud as opposed to using earphones in office
• Nice hot Ghar ka Khaana (home cooked meal) which helps you in maintaining your weight
• Refrigerator is not too far away for ice-cream and snacking
• You can sit in any position of your choice while working, some days, I would lie down and work, some days sit on the chair, some days (especially the very warm ones) on the floor- the choices are just too many
• You can wait for the LPG delivery without fear of losing a cylinder and waiting for it on some other day
• You are the king/ queen of the place

(I am sure you can think of a 100 other Js.)

Ws:

• You might be the king/queen of the place, but you will be one without any subjects, totally cut-off from the rest of the world. No one other than family to discuss matters and learn from the experiences
• Technical issues- WFH can be quite stressful as well. If you have IT issues and the helpdesk is not located in the same city. Not to mention long periods of power outage. Your invertor support may run out or your internet might still not work.
• Approaching people- At work you could probably walk to a person’s desk and talk about something urgent but while WFH, you are dependent on phone and instant messaging services. Sometimes, the person you are trying to contact may not hear the phone ring (see what ear phones in offices could do to you) or may be shown as Away and it could leave you clueless on how to get in touch with this person- you would have to leave a message with 10 others to inform the person that you are looking for him/her. It is easier to locate people when you are physically situated close to them
• The ‘feel’ factor at office is often missing- you may not feel the stress, not feel the jubilation and celebration in the air while WFH which contribute a lot towards motivation and performance at least for a person like me. Those who know me well, know how fond of pulse checks I am, WFH just made it so difficult.
• I earned a great deal of appreciation for all the facilities provided to us by office to make work very smooth- be it printers, scanners, important stationery, help with filing taxes or just the courier services provided. Though I had all of these at home, I realized their value only while WFH.
• Distractions: These are our biggest attractions. It could be anything from a ring of the doorbell to IPL to ‘is it raining??- I put my clothes out to dry’…the list is endless. Though office life also comes with it is own set of distractions, I personally found the ones at home more prolonged.
• Boredom: When you are all alone working at home without anyone else to interact with and nothing but just work to do days, weeks and months together, it can get to you. It is almost like you are in a solitary confinement

(Surely there could be more Ws too but these were the major ones for me.)

If you noticed, the Ws were more elaborate than the Js. It could be because the Ws weighed me down a lot. Being in a new city, having no friends to speak to in person (atleast not in the vicinity), and not being aware of the places that hold your interests to visit every time you feel bored and having the initial dependency on your family (being very very independent in the city I lived before), made it more difficult for me to enjoy the WFH thoroughly.  My verdict from the experience I have had- WFH is a good thing if you can do it once in a while or when you need to (for some it could still be a daily basis- if there is a need to pick up your kids from some place during the regular work hours, for example). For the policy-makers in companies- please do include WFH in your policies. It is a non-monetary benefit for employees. For everything else, my vote would definitely be with working from office. 

A glimpse of my workstation from my last workplace (prior to the current one).There is a picture of a castle I drew and a lovely picture of cherry blossoms sent by a Japanese colleague. Some other knick-knacks- all presents.

Another view of my workstation. Notably, you can see the gift wrap from secret Santa and also packaging from Flipkart. It was a shipment of DVDs and books for my Christmas vacation and some coffee mugs carrying routine office stationery and some more  knick-knacks.

A picture of my home office cum study. Shared it with R.