Work From Home.

Stories from Quarantine:  When we were first introduced to this “Work- from -home” concept in the office, in the back of my mind I thought “Work Less, More Leisure Time”.

In conversation with miss Aashna (in pajama) says life is a yin and yang; all about balancing the positives and negatives.

Who would have imagined that one day their office chair would be their couch. Work commute the length of their hallway. Snack drawer their entire pantry. Think it’s a dream? Not the year of 2020. Work-from-home is the new reality. The novel Coronavirus changed everything overnight, the lockdown was enforced, and social distancing became the new norm. 

 "I started working in December 2019, Fresh out of campus, after completing Masters in Computer Applications, it was the dawn of a new era. All I heard these past few years was  “Corporate world is much different than the College Campus”. So I was bright eyed and eager to start my corporate job. Everything to me was exciting and different; be it meeting my colleagues, getting trained in different technologies, induction trip to Lonavala. I enjoyed the little things like the cafeteria coffee breaks, brainstorm assignments, birthdays and festivals".

"When we were first introduced to this “Work-from-home” concept in the office, in the back of my mind I thought “Work Less, More Leisure Time. WORKING FROM HOME may sound like an ideal situation – especially if you've never done it before. What could be better than simply rolling out of bed and arriving at your home office in moments, without the hassles of first making yourself presentable and then commuting to a workplace with a boss and colleagues who may drive you crazy? At home, you're responsible for creating your own work environment, it seemed like a relaxed environment for a few days at least. But who knew this lockdown would extend for so long? As days passed, workload started piling up. There was no physical separation between work and leisure time. Longer hours, more workload, fewer breaks and phone calls past logout time — gone are the days when India Inc’s professionals thought of work-from-home (WFH) as an employee benefit. What had looked thrilling at first has now gotten tedious, for this is their ‘new normal’. 

Being in an IT industry, our minds are always curious in finding solutions to problems and constantly thinking about solving this problem or that. When in office, your mind thinks about work only till you’re in the office whereas when working from home there is this strong urge to get the solution and get the work done. I remember, when I was working on a critical project last month with strict deadlines, I used to think about the project all day, I have had my lunches at 6 PM, never knew what is going on in the outside world and to top it all, I even started working on weekends. But hard work always pays off. I completed this project well within the timelines and got my first Recognition On The Spot (ROTS) from my manager. 

Every coin has its two sides, and work from home has its own perks and downsides. There are some things that I have learned in this new work world and firstly it is how to be truly independent - It’s much more than just the benefit of getting to work in your pajamas. Working from home means you’ll learn to rely on self-motivation, self-discipline, focus, and concentration for work. How to get more work done - as long as you’re not sneaking off binge watching Netflix; you can actually be more productive when working from home. lastly, Time management and Reaching your maximum potential.

For me I can strongly say that work-from-home is a boon albeit  some negatives, but yes life is a yin and yang; all about balancing the positives and negatives.