Work comes home

Relaxed ambience

Adwait Pawar, an illustrator, designer and storyteller, wakes up every morning at around 5.30 am to go for a jog. He comes back home to let his cats out for a few hours, spends some time in the garden, has breakfast and gets ready for work.

Sounds almost similar to what you do every morning? Well, while you rush to finish your morning chores and spend hours in the morning traffic, Adwait has an advantage; he works from home.

This feature is one of the most sought-after job characteristics these days as it allows one to plan their day better, both professionally and personally. However, being a work-from-home employee has a few requirements.

You have to declutter your home and create a comfortable working space. Adwait says, “Depending on what my current projects are, I make a timetable using colour-coded post-its to organise and prioritise work. I take short breaks every couple of hours, play with my cats, read a book or do something that lets me shift my mind space,” he
explains.

In order to manage the work appointments, there are several apps and techniques that homeworkers use.

Geetika Gahlot, a digital marketer, has been working from home for a few years now. Her schedule has relaxed mornings  where she can wake up at her own time and not worry about braving the infamous Bengaluru traffic.

She says, “If I have a good internet connection and my comfy office space, which is a couch and table that is at a perfect height, I am set to start my day. I use apps
like Toggle to help me manage my time on certain projects and Skype and GTalk to
stay connected with my clients.”

Nivedith G, an entrepreneur, also has an office space at home where he works from. There are days when things do get hectic for him and he will have to work past his scheduled time, especially weekends.

He shares, “When clients know that you are working from home, they will take advantage of your personal space. If there is a requirement, they will call you and expect their work to be done; the concept of weekends doesn’t exist here. However, one advantage of working in a self-curated office is that I don’t have Monday blues!”

While the flexibility of time is a great benefit, there are certain cons that you
will tend to miss when you sign up to be a work-from-home employee.

Nivedith opines, “There are days when you get lonely. When you are working in an office, you will have your teammates around to help you with projects, joke around or even go for team lunches. I miss doing that. It becomes quite monotonous. But that said, at home, you have your own space, your freedom and time that you can use to your advantage.”

As comfortable and relaxing as it sounds, one cannot also be carefree when working from home. cautions Kavita Thanky, another entrepreneur who has been working from home since 2010. Over the years, she realised that one needs to be extra-dedicated to their work as there will be a lot of distractions around.

 “I usually have my husband, house help and dog in my office. I know that I can get certain housework done but I will need to isolate myself to keep up with the deadline. While this method has its own advantages, one needs to not only draw physical boundaries but also mental boundaries. It’s very easy to get the two mixed up.”