Away from the office walls

The trend of working from home has increased drastically over the past few years. Companies are more open to the idea and choose employees who have the technical and communication systems at home to run this smoothly. An increasing number of Bengalureans are prefering this option in order to avoid traffic, save time and be comfortable.

Sanchita Chakraborti, a Product Management Analyst with a leading MNC says, “I started working for the company in 2010. Initially, the entire team had to be present in office, but since our core team is based abroad, we would have tons of conference calls to attend at very inconvenient timings. Finally the management decided to give us the option of telecommuting where we just had to come to office once a month but otherwise attend calls from our homes.” She would also go to office twice a month for a group meeting and once a month for team meetings. Unless there was an urgent meeting, the employees would have to be online and work from home.

Many IT companies not only offer remote working option where virtual employees get things done round the clock, but also give them the choice to meet the needs of employees who don’t want to or can’t live near the company.

Neha Baid has been working with Housing.com as a freelance content writer for about a year now. She was later offered to take up a full-time role that she gladly accepted, but with conditions. As their head office is in Mumbai, Neha opted to be their full-time employee as a telecommuter.

“Since I’ve worked with them earlier, I knew the basic drill. But with my new role, the responsibilities increased. Luckily, it allows me to be flexible — sometimes I get a week’s worth of work done in three days and sometimes I don’t have that much to do, so I plan mini-vacations,” she explains.

Neha says that with her weird sleep cycle, sometimes she writes five articles before 1 pm and at other times waits till 10 pm to begin her work. The hiring companies show empathy, emotional intelligence, and sensitivity to what the employees need, and the willingness to provide the necessary tools to empower the virtual teams.

One such company that encourages this is Dell. They provide the option for all their employees to be telecommuters. A Business Analyst, Kuheli Datta, says, “I love the fact that the work culture I am in allows me to feel free. I get all my work done and more by just sitting on my bed and being available on chat. I just have to attend the monthly meetings. But because I stay close to the office, I go in by 11 am and get out by 4 pm. And when I don’t feel like going on a particular day, I have the freedom to do that as well.”

Often remote working requires one to be self-aware. They need to know their abilities, learn what motivates and alienates them, prioritise their work life and personal life and come up with a routine to work around. “I used to work full-time as a tech support a few months back, but I went on maternity break and couldn’t take up a full-time option. Now I work from home; I save time travelling to and from office, instead I get to spend time with my newborn son. I spend a few hours on work, finish it off as quickly as I can and come back to take over my full-time job as a mom,” explains Uzma Siddiqui, an employee at ApnaStock.com.

Whether one is working in a corner office or from the corner of their kitchen, the telecommuting option also has its disadvantages. Being at home can lead to “procrastination that eventually piles up the work”, “the growth suffers when the core team is based out of the country”, “get easily distracted”, “need to be good at multitasking”, and “doesn’t give you the opportunity to have team activities regularly”.

However, remote work is a well-designed programme that enables both the office and virtual employees to sit wherever they are and share the same values and culture. It gives an opportunity to strengthen the foundations of trust and workplace culture, and celebrate the differences at the same time.