WORKING FR PROS AN
There is a simmering debate over work-from-home versus work-from-office arrangements in this new era; the impact the two setups are having on professional women, especially considering their traditional roles as mothers and wives.
Some telecommuters opine that the organisations they work for have normalised overworking employees hence are unfairly profiting from the ‘new normal.’
They report experiencing burnout as a result of supervisors micromanaging them - being overly monitored and asked to carry out tasks outside of working hours or taking on deceased colleagues’ workload, which impacts negatively on their personal or family life, therefore are yearning for the ‘pre-pandemic normal’.
Conversely, some women don’t fancy the idea of returning to the office at all. They say they’ve since realised that there’s absolutely nothing favourable about the traditional system. Interestingly, for those who’ve never enjoyed what they view as the luxury of working from home, the added stress of not being given a choice to avoid or lessen exposure to the virus is unbearable, especially for those who aren’t necessarily essential services staffers.
Voice Woman spoke to a few of the professionals to weigh in on this discussion.
Olebogeng Molatlhegi - Director of Jaole Investments ( Pty) Ltd
Working from home or remotely for me is a challenge and again a blessing. My daily duties include visiting clients therefore I tend to have enough time to see clients at their convenience since some of them are also working from home therefore meeting them is not much of a challenge. It was expensive to set-up a mini office to work from home, which required Internet connection so that I am able to work virtually and send all the necessary documentation from home. I also get to have meetings with my team, if they are connected, and sometimes they tend to switch their networks off under the pretext that the network is poor; that’s the challenge I face although not so often.
Mosetsanagape Sesu – Operations Manager
Working from home has been quite liberating for me as I have the freedom to work smart and focus on more important tasks. This has increased productivity and job flexibility as opposed to working from the office where there’s so many distractions from colleagues and office chatter. The other advantage of virtual work is that there is no commute to work; some respite from the draining Gaborone traffic, which also means more money in the bank as I spend significantly less on fuel. The only con with virtual work is overworking. Daily, unplanned virtual meetings are distractive as they change my daily plan. This can lead to burnout and increased work-related stress. I would not want to go back