With work from home policies implemented across offices, people are sharing how they are getting things done
With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic reaching its third stage of transmission, global organisations like Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon, to name a few — last week issued mandatory work-from-home (WFH) policies to employees. Since then, Twitter has been buzzing with quirky desk setup inspirations. Right from using a bottle cart as a laptop table to keeping the laptop next to the wash basin.
“My partner and I are both working from our studio apartment. My setup is a chair in front of the front door and my desk is our clothes hamper,” posted Twitter user Jules Forrest along with a picture of her laptop set up at the end of a long aisle and shoes lined up in a symmetric manner on the side.
Twitter user Mitali
Chakraborty refashioned her laundry basket as a working surface, but soon switched to a storage box. “Today’s standing desk hack. And yes I’m in the bathroom. The laundry basket hack hurt my back. Easy access to wash my hands. #wfh #nomad #remotework #coronaviruschronicles (sic),” she tweeted with her bathroom workstation picture.
Meanwhile, another user put in use his otherwise dormant liquor cabinet. “I'm so thankful we bought this liquor cabinet 2 months ago—now serving as a critical standing desk as I work from home (sic),” wrote Brooklyn Tennessean.
MAKESHIFT OFFICES
With the virus tightening its grip, while schools, malls, theatres and public spaces in India have pulled down their shutters, various offices too have issued
WFH policies.
Akshita Sharma, Manager Intrapreneurship & BD with a public relations firm in Mumbai, has been working from home for a week now. She has designed her little corner on the bed as her workstation. “I don’t have a chair but a laptop table that I have set up on my bed, so that it requires me to sit upright and focus. I have my coffee and other essentials tucked on the side. It also makes it easy to do video calls,” she
says.
Whereas, software developer Saurav Kumar, who has been placed by his company under mandatory self-quarantine for 14 days, is yet to find a corner to continue his work. “I move from dining table to the living room to the bedroom and so on. I am not yet able to find a fixed spot to work,” says Kumar, who for now has settled on his dining table so that it gives him easy access to food and work.
But for Pune-based Awinash Kumar Gautam working from is both tough and joyous. Been working from home for a week now, he says that he has to humour his one-year-old, who doesn’t leave him alone when he is with the laptop. “It gets a little difficult to work from as I have a year-old daughter. Since, I am home she doesn’t let me work and keeps running around calling me to chase her. So if I have work, I first finish chatting with her, if that doesn’t help then I lock myself on the balcony where I have a set up to work,” he smiles.
The only peaceful time for him is during his daughter’s naptime. “If I have urgent work then I have to hand her over to my wife or father. Otherwise, when she goes to sleep, I try and finish my work. She plays the piano so she thinks the keys on a laptop are of piano,” he laughs.
MOTIVATION
While some may misconstrue working from home for a vacation, Sharma opines that working from home has actually been very productive. Nevertheless, her team wishes to get back to the office at the earliest.
“The constant contact with the team is enough to keep me on my toes. The accountability has increased and forces you to work diligently. I have had feedback from a few team members that it is helping them concentrate, as the environment is quiet compared to the office where its constant chattering. But at the same time, they are missing the liveliness of the office. I had sent out a feedback form yesterday, and everybody replied saying that they want to come back to the office. They miss the human interaction,” reveals Sharma.
Gautam adds that during breaks in the office, one would indulge in gossip and random conversations. But at home, he gets to play with his daughter during that break. “Now I try to finish my work quickly so that I can play with my daughter,” he concludes.
Keith Cordero Jr. @kmcorder At home standing desk: #lifeHack #WFH Personal computer #CoronaVirus
Since, I am home one-year-old doesn’t let me work and keeps running around calling me to chase her. So I lock myself on the balcony to work —AWINASH GAUTAM
Pedro (aka Peter) Luis PérezZubizarreta @wirechairs The makeshift WFH standing desk of a humanities obsessive:
Josh Mateo @joshmateo Was working from my recycling bin the other day Zany faceSparkles
I don’t have a chair but a laptop table that I have set up on my bed, so that it requires me to sit upright and focus.
— AKSHITA SHARMA