I have been working from home for the last 1 year baring a visit to the office twice a month for in person meetings. I took a role change to be with my parents and kid after having lived out of a suitcase for more than 18 years. The period of adjustment has been tough
1. Start/Stop Work - When do you start and when do you stop ? That was the biggest challenge when I started. The start part was easy (8:30am), but the stop was difficult. Working across multiple time zones, when do you put a stop to your work. I took a conscious call to stop at 5pm and then join only calls with no individual work. It was tough to start, but over time the alarm at 5pm and a brisk 1 hour walk around our apt complex helped
2. Work Structure - How do you structure your work when you do it from home. Between thought related work, interactive work and calls how do you break it down. I blocked out the first half of the day for thought related work. So till lunch time, it was my personal work time with minimal distraction on interactive work. And after that it was all calls. My calendar from noon till 5 is now choc a bloc
3. Breaks - All of our offices (esp India) believe in working between breaks. We have breakfast at office, mid morning breaks that means walking to the nearest chaiwallah and back, longer lunches and similarly post noon chai time. All these eat into about 90 minutes of our work time in a 8 hour schedule. At home, gladly this reduced. Mid morning and post noon breaks are limited. Lunches eaten alone is a 10 minute affair. So in effect you bring back at least about 40 minutes into your work schedule. No distraction of colleagues coming to your cubicle for a quick chat on whatever is interesting happening in the world. Now that is time well spent on this Forum
4. Social Time - We are social animals and therefore how do we get into a zone of social wellbeing. Well that's up to you. I have my social fulfilment at the gym/road in the morning and in the evening. That's easily about 2 to 3 hours of social indulgence which I think is pretty good
5. Guilt Trip - This is what was my biggest challenge. Thanks to uninterrupted time at home I could get work done faster. And then it was going back to the crossword on Hindu or writing. I felt I was taking a more relaxed approach to work when I heard that my colleagues in office were always on Busy mode on office messengers. How did I have so much time ? Was I doing lesser work ? Should I not be indulging in my personal plans ? A lot of questions came up. I knew the answers, but you know how our mind is. Having been used to spending more and more time at work it tends to take time to rewire. I have spoken to a lot of people at work and for them this is the biggest issue. A lot of them watch TV and this is what drives them up the wall.
6. The little things - I love getting dressed to go to office. The rituals of shoe polishing in the morning, packing your bags , the crisp ironed shirts, the drive to office amidst all the chaos are missed. But then, I use my video during conference calls and for this I do get dressed in casuals which aids in part of the dress routine. The camaraderie of meeting people at the coffee machine or the photocopier is gone. But I have replaced with a quick set of calls during my break time with my larger social contacts outside of office.
7. The Better ones - You are now at home for a lot of things to get completed. Couriers, Gas delivery, home maintenance etc become suddenly easier with you at home. There is more, but I guess you already know it
8. The Best - I am there for my parents. I am there for my son. I get to see him as he comes back from school and sit with him for a quick half hour chat on what transpired at school and all the role playing that he and his friends do. There is so much laughter at home now and the house has a buzz
I suspect after Covid 19 there will be a lot of firms who have tasted the success of work from home and will soon start on an organization design initiative to create jobs which can be done from outside of the office. Secondly, the trust factor between employer and employee will increase as employers will find that most performers do their work irrespective of their geography of work.
Lastly this post is about showcasing your office space. Currently, I am shifting houses and my office space is relegated to the only table at home (the dining table). So pardon me if you don't see a picture of the same.
PS - To Mods
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Cheers
Subra