A lot of Corporates are calling back their employees to Work from Office. It was mostly the IT Industry which was still majorly working from home till now. While thus decision of employers has received a mix reaction from the employees. Even though a lot of them feel they perform better when they work from home.
When Covid suddenly forced everyone to work from home. It was a huge challenge for a lot of employees to suddenly start working from home. One of the biggest problems that the employees faced was lack of home infrastructure. A simple 5 min chat in the office had now converted into lengthy trail mails and hours of unnecessary phone calls. Simultaneously, the constant noise in the background and the unnecessary interference from family members. Video calls now happened with toddlers in our lap and instead of conference rooms, Video calls were now conducted in Kitchens and Dinning Rooms.
Regular Schools + Work from Home for parents, was a huge challenge for parents and children simultaneously. On somedays, even despite giving our 200 % to both work and children, it just was not enough.
I have been working from home since my elder one was born. Before marriage, I had a small office near my house. Before I could settle down with my practice I got married, because I felt I met the person who would understand me and my dreams. Period ! And I do not regret even a single day of my life. At 26 marrriage, first child at 28, second child at 32, everything happened so quickly. In the past 9 years, I have dabbled in multiple things before becoming a Solopreneur. I worked as a District Legal Aid Panel Lawyer, as a Mom Blogger, as a Legal Advisor for a Start up, until I decided to finally divert my majority energy towards my third child i.e. my website. As I was unsure of what I wanted to do, because my work was mainly around the needs of my children, investing in an office absolutely did not make sense.
Until a few years ago, when I told people I worked from home, people mocked me and belittled me. Even though now I am having a heartly laugh, when I see the same people writing lengthy post on how Work From Home has been more effective compared to Work from Office etc. etc. When I did the same thing 5 years ago nobody cared. Yes, work from home and work from office, has its own set of pros and cons. Even though I work from Home, there are a few days, when I feel that It would have been much better if I had an office nearby or a place to go, so I would have been more productive. Having your own personal space to work, brings discipline.
When you work from home and especially if you are an individual with a family and kids, things can get a bit challenging. Your entire routine is around your family members. They think that you are at their disposal first and your work will keep happening simultaneously. I have done almost 90% of my meetings by staring at my kids. These are normal incidents, which will be a part of your life once you work from home.
But the biggest challenge that I face is not being able to observe or learn more. When you work from home, even though you save a few hours in travelling, you also miss out a huge on the learning part. As a lawyer you not only learn in your law Schools or Court rooms, you also learn a lot about people and their nature by observing them. One of the things that I missed the most, when I started working from Home was those stories that I heard while travelling in Mumbai Local Trains. The stories that women shared about Domestic Violence and Property Disputes with their family members. The stories about how somebody’s family members were unable to provide them the basic requirements, because they were under huge debts, the stories about how some women suffered in silence because ghar ki izzat was more important than solving their daughters problems. A lot of times, you learn about law and application of law by just listening to other’s stories and applying the theory learnt in your law schools.
Today, even though local train chats have now been converted into answers on Quora, there are some learnings that you simply cannot learn by sitting in front of the most fanciest screens. The covid generation parents and children seem to have lost that humane side for some time. Having a human relationship is important for any individual to grow.
Though there are a lot of companies which are insisting on calling its employees back, there are some, which are still encouraging its employees to work from home. One of the biggest challenges that people face while working from home is the confidentiality of the content. This problem is very prevalent for those who work in the IT Sector as, even today the IPR and Confidentiality laws are not considered seriously even by those who work with the sector since years.
A lot of Companies have therefore started with Hybrid Functioning, wherein people have started going back to their offices but only for a couple of days. The Employees are now expected to be in the same city as their Company instead of their hometowns. The Work from Home Opportunity has ensured that the Women Employees are retained. The Attrition rate of Women Employees had drastically increased during this phase. Work from home opportunity gave a new chance to women to
Even though working from home is convenient, it also came with its own set of challenges. In some cases it brought families together and in other cases it also increased the stress between family members. Earlier, when we travelled to work we had some buffer time during our travelling hours to reduce our stress by either talking to friends, listening to music or by just doing nothing. When you work from home your family is indirectly a part of your stress and work life.
I have been working from home since last 7 years and by now I have mastered the art of balancing work and life. Believe it or not, I still get being told on how women should not work post having kids. But there is no harm in working from your house, when your children are sleeping or playing around with their friends or at school ? Right.
Go ahead Gen- Z, Do not worry about anyone and opt for the work environment that suits you, so that you can deliver your maximum results.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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In the year 2021, we wrote about 1000 Inspirational Women In India, in the year 2022, we would be featuring 5000 Start Up Stories.