Work from Home during Lockdown, The Pros and Cons #A-ZChallenge2020
I have been working from home intermittently since last ten years. I never felt working from home so exhausting the way I am finding it now. I honestly envy those who are getting time to Netflix and Chill. I recently read a post by my fellow blogger Akshata Ramesh who is facing a similar ordeal. You can read her post Work from Home- Yea or Nay #Coronadays
The Pros of WFH:
Travel Time: The biggest pros for people living in cities are that they save a huge lot of time traveling to and from work. In big cities like Mumbai or Delhi people are saving 2-3 hours of travel time every day.
More Free Quality Time: The time that you save on travel can now be spent with family, friends, pets, hobbies, etc. Most people get so exhausted with traveling and traffic that by day end they turn into a zombie and get no quality time for themselves.
Less Formal: Working from home can be done in a casual way. No need to put on your work clothes, no need to worry about getting late to work, no need to pack lunchbox, and no need to sit on a revolving chair. You can work in your pajamas, on your bed while eating daal chawal. In my previous post, I discussed how we are working from home in our nightclothes.
The Cons of WFH:
Having worked from home for a long time, I always see more cons than pros and certainly prefer going to the office. This is the first time the man is also realizing the cons. Earlier he used to always feel that I have it easy because I work from home and his was the ‘hard work’. Now he knows how hard it is to work from home. He learned it the ‘hard’ way.
Distraction: Working from home has its own share of distraction, unless you stay alone and can convert your house to your office in a blink. Especially if you have kids or pets it is extremely difficult. I once wrote a post on the Difficult life of a WAHM(work-at-home-mom) and today that is true for both parents.
Social Isolation: Working from the office you can just walk up to the cubicle of your team and get work done but from home it is difficult to reach them. You also feel a sense of isolation when you work from home.
Slow Internet: Often residential internet is slower than the commercial ones and that becomes a major issue.
You incur cost and your company saves money: WFH actually reduces your CTC in a way. The companies save on their electricity bill, internet bill, office space rent, cleaning staff salary, coffee and refreshments, tissue paper, soap, etc. Long back one of my colleagues had joked that the more tissue paper we use the more our CTC increases. However, if you think about it then it is not a joke but the truth.
Juggling home and office work: When you leave for office, you can suspend all your household chores and concentrate on office work. When you WFH then it is impossible to suspend and you end up constantly juggling both. I am kind of used to cooking and handling client calls simultaneously but the man is finding it really hard. The other day he was on a call while mopping the floor. I was in a way getting a sadistic pleasure looking at him.
This was more or less our ordeal. Let me know how you are coping with your WFH.
