Employees rue work from home option
Many say distractions are inevitable. From the doorbell to kids playing, everything affects work
Working from home (WFH) is no cakewalk according to many private sector employees who find themselves forced to stay away from their office desks. Though they are happy about their employers giving them the option of working from their homes, many companies haven’t done so yet, they note that it is not without its challenges.
For instance, Rishabh, an IT employee from the city, said he has been having trouble with his productivity.
“My team has been working on an entirely new project since February. There are a lot of things we were supposed to finalise by now. But since we can’t meet physically, our communication has been affected. We are unable to convince each other on what our priorities are,” he said.
Many people said distractions are inevitable. From the doorbell to the children playing outside on the street, everything affects work.
Karthik, an IT employee, said official conference calls are full of sounds of babies crying and barking by dogs. “My manager has started scheduling calls at 9 am so that we can avoid some of the noise. I am not used to waking up that early,” he chuckled.
The Covid-19 outbreak has been rough on non-IT sector employees.
Keerthi (name changed), a company secretary, said, “Work from home is a misnomer for us. Without physical documents, we can’t do anything. My employer has been kind enough to let us stay at home, but work has stopped entirely. In fact, we have an office assistant going around handing papers to team members to process every day.” She said her employer is glued to the TV to see how bad the situation is and whether he should close the office down for a few weeks, even though it would cause a considerable loss. Sowmya (name changed), who works at a content writing firm, said her work has stayed the same, but it has been affected. Having dealt with anxiety and depression for a few years, she misses going to her office where she finds some peace.
“Earlier, I would work two-three times a week from home where I live alone and go to the office the rest of the week. It was nice being able to see my colleagues and share a meal with them. Now I feel extremely lonely. I wonder how long I can go on without interacting with people,” she said.
For many female employees, life has been exceptionally tough. Already expected to lend a hand in household chores, their extra time at home has not been great for them.
Swetha (name changed), an IT employee, said, “My in-laws don’t acknowledge that I actually have a lot of work and can’t stay idle. But since they see me home all the time, they think I am just idling away and ignoring household work,” she added, “God forbid, they don’t catch me browsing my phone when I am on a break. That draws disgusted looks from them.”