Gauri Chhabra
One trend that MNC culture has brought with it is ‘flexi timings’ and ‘work from home’. Today, in this flat and fluid world, many companies are giving their employees the flexibility to work from home.
As a result,more and more employees are working from home.
Yet company bosses are busy renting more office space. Why? Because work from home does not seem to work. Resistance comes from companies that would normally be expected to support it.The common feel…Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.
Here are some things to avoid while working from home:
Not being available on calls:
Most of the MNC’s have employees working in diverse geographical settings and time zones. The employees are required to have meetings on Lync/skype during overlap timings. You need to make sure you are present on such calls at least 5 min before the scheduled time.That would establish your commitment for work. The most important fact you need to keep in mind is when an employer sees you in theoffice, there’s a certain level of trust, whether it’s earned or not. If you’re late to an in-office meeting, people assume you were finishing up an email. Well, if you are late in a meeting while working from home, it is assumed that you were dozing or watching TV. It would cast a serious blot on your seriousness.
So, make sure you are available over all conference calls and meetings.
Distractions and noise:
At times it so happens that during a call, there would be the sound of a doorbell ringing, or the clutter of utensils in the kitchen or the sound of the telephone ringing, or the interrupting shriek of a toddler. Definitely don’t let people hear the familiar sound of clattering dishes on a call-it’s distracting and unprofessional.These interruptions, though unavoidable at times, can make your employer lose faith in you. During my conversations with my onsite counterpart, I learnt that nothing can be more damaging to someone’s image as a professional is the sound of the doorbell.
Stay away from chaos and distractions, your home could be incomplete without them, but your work would be in serious jeopardy with them.
Procrastination:
One tragic flaw or ‘hamartia’ that people indulge while working from home is that they tend to procrastinate their work thinking that a lot of time is available to them as if the day is of 48 hours instead of 24. When you do so,the impression you make is you have completed everything in a hush and it has affected the productivity and quality.Yes, you can take care of your baby on your lunch break, or throw the laundry in the dryer between calls, but be careful not to let distractions creep into time you planned to work.Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can keep postponing your work and try to work it back during the weekends.
Those who hired you have more wisdom than you do…
Not having a routine:
You chose to work from home not only because you do not wish to commute through the serpentine traffic but also because your kids might need you, you need to take care of an ailing spouse and so on and so forth. In this case, set a routine and make sure your employers know your tentative schedule. They will not jump to all kinds of wrong conclusions when you do not pick up their phones.Besides, it will help to have a room, a workstation or at the very least a desk in a quiet area in your home. Here is where you keep your laptop, fax machine or phone, work documents like reports and invoices. Remember, it is your call to set a space and routine for yourself.
There is nothing more frustrating than the internet dongle going haywire during a call or the earphone wires dangling and staring at you, carrying everything sans the voice you had to hear…
Out of sight, out of mind…
The problem most managers have with their employees working from home is that they can’t keep an eye on them.Depending on what has been ironed out in the contract you will be expected to deliver certain working hours for your work-from-home job. The good news with working from home is that nobody is keeping track; the bad news is nobody is keeping track.Most of the employers are expecting a daily status from you whether in the form of a mail, a phone call or an update on a shared space. When you are at home, make sure you send an accurate and timely status of what was expected from you and how much of the work have you done. Out of sight should not be out of mind. If you do the work and frequently forget to send a status update, the message you are sending is you virtually did nothing.
The organization can do without you, which it would eventually…
Thinning boundaries:
Work from home is not the same as time off. You are still expected to do a day’s work. Make sure your friends, family, and neighbors understand that. They should know that just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you’ve got time on your hands.It’s definitely easier to understand that you are not to be disturbed when you are at the office than when you are in the back room.You can’t be held responsible for all household maintenance just because you’re in the house. When you work from home, treat it like how you would treat your old office.
Take breaks as you would in the office. Do not make it a solitary confinement. Move out of the house, you can sit in a coffee shop and go out for walks. Rejuvenate yourself. It would help you increase your productivity.
Hampering productivity
One thing that should always be at the back of your head is that your productivity should not diminish when you work from home. If it is counterproductive for you to be working from home, what’s to stop your employers from making you brave the traffic and parking wardens to turn up at the office again? They will never want to compromise on productivity and quality.
Sweating it out
Some of you might like to sweat it out and choose the other extreme by working too hard. If you do so, you might find yourself sleeping over your laptop every evening. This would also prove detrimental in the long run as the employer might feel that he can always hire you as a consultant. After all, he does not need to pay for the employee morale boosting activities that organizations keep having. The result- you miss out the fun and become a sweat shop.
Therefore, next time you land yourself in a work from home assignment, take it very seriously and make it work for you.
After all, it is all about work that works… and work that matters…
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