JOIN USWhen work comes knocking home...
Spending nine hours in the office cubicle means you are left with very little time to spend with your family. How nice would it be if you could stay at home and be with your family members rather than going to work?
The idea sounds impossible on the face of it. However, with a good number of organisations extending Work From Home (WFH) options to their employees, one does not have to miss family life for the sake of work. Work From Home, though a new concept, has been catching up quickly in the private sector, especially among IT professionals. There is no doubt that employees get benefited by this arrangement.
But why do organisations allow their workers to be at home? The logic is simple. Less workers in the office means less maintenance cost, reduced power consumption, no transport allowance and saving on snacks and tea provided to employees.
“You cannot put a price on time spent with one’s loved ones. Job is a necessity and at the same time, family is a priority. Due to busy work schedule, most of us miss seeing our kids growing up and we cannot be with them when they need us. WFH is a boon in a city like Bangalore where people waste their productive time travelling,” says Achinta, an IT professional.
Flexibility is another great benefit of WFH. “Even though I work from home, I have to report online to my seniors on time. But I can wake up just a minute earlier to my reporting time. All I have to do is to switch on my laptop and get connected with my team online. I can enjoy as many breaks as I like and I am my own boss. However, I have to maintain self discipline, otherwise it is difficult to complete the work in time,” says Anoop, a project manager with a software company.
Unfortunately, this option does not go well with all types of work. If the nature of the work is technical, then an employee cannot take his work home. “I lead a technical team in my company. During emergency, we have the option of WFH. Getting access to all the essential servers is quite a difficult task at home. So, despite the WFH option, we prefer to come to the office where we get access to all the authentic servers,” says Durga Prasad who works in a software company.
Rita Ajmera, who is into event management, says that WFH option has helped her manage professional and personal life in a smooth way. “Unlike office, nobody will monitor our work here. Ours is a joint family and I have two kids to look after. My family members understand my profession and are a great support in my career. No doubt, WFH is flexible in every sense but at the same time, family members should be co-operative. Otherwise, one cannot simultaneously juggle family and professional commitments,” she says.