WORKING FROM HOME

The COVID-19 pandemic brought us to new normal and one of these is the set up of working from home.  The pandemic came at this time of age where we are dependents to computer, internet and social media.  And these technologies allow us to go live, not just for our personal but also for our works.  As the world turns to zoom, we have to welcome ourselves to virtual world.  And because of social distancing, some of our works changed from physical and face to face interaction to connecting people in virtual world.  We attend meetings, conference call and even get instruction from our employer or supervisors.   And since there is available means, work from home became best possible option.

Working from home during the early start of the first month, everything works fine and well.  The time and the convenience are practically at our side.  We beat the morning and evening rush hour in battling the so stressful transportation.  We all know the long queue, the pollution, the heat and the risks of everyday life of commuters.  We saved more times waking up early and coming home late night.  The everyday commute is really struggles.  And financially that is a remarkable saving for our tight budget.  And it is not one-sided for us but for the company too.  Productivity wise, we can deliver in effective and cost-saving ways, meeting the target and expectations.  It is business as usual, we are operational for the business continuity.

But the nicest part of working from home setting is the family.  We can be with them 24 hours a day at the same time working the 8 hours office times.  Working for our family without leaving them is really an opportunity.  It is really nice to be hands on in attending our children’s needs and see them, and indeed it is must to work for them.  We are enjoying the both world.  But to go well with our work, we need to invest with best internet, good WiFi, good audio system and working camera.  These are what we need to consider.  For some they can afford but for others, they can just settle for less.

For some, working from home for the second month may still be okay.  Until going to three months and more, they are starting to feel like fed-up, boring and difficult.  People are different.  For some, the set-up is perfectly fine but for others, work outside office practice is not their thing.  The mixed up of personal and professional life become confusing, tiring, physically demanding and stressful.  Focus lost between family and job, plus the external factors contribute like noise in the neighborhood, even the interruptions from personal calls from family, and the nature of uninviting residential area.  These make the employees unfocused that can bring them below performance.

Unfortunately, some people cannot draw the lines between family and works.  There is imbalance when they cannot separate the hours for personal and job.  And since there is no direct supervision, the tendency is there are more works and challenges need to be given to gauge their performance.  When you are working in your house, you are actually alone away from your team.  In a situation of no presence of moral support from team, there is a build-up of pressure.  It is still best to complete the task in a place where there are available resources, and team.  And here you are under pressure and stressed.

We have been working our job in the traditional way for so long.  Bringing our office to our house, sooner or later we will miss the real set-up of corporate world where there is professionalism mood.  We will look the ideal office ambiance, where there is employer-employee vibes, the standard operating procedures, and the typical surroundings where there is primed and proper.  Come to think of it, we still need to communicate face to face interaction in real time.  By nature, people need people to interact, make group, and grow as a person, and these are the things that make some people cannot adapt to working from home.