Work From Home- which was once a reserve of the ‘selected few’ (read blue-eyed-boys of the bosses, star performers and even bootlickers)- has been turned into the new normal since the Covid-19 outbreak.
Free Press interacted with the professionals who have returned to the Ujjain due to corona outbreak and are working from home.
Connectivity woes
'' I work for a renowned IT company in Nagpur. I am working from Ujjain due to corona outbreak. My work requires a steady and fast network connectivity and here lies my biggest concern. We are urged to fend for ourselves. Despite spending on high speed internet connection from our own pockets at times I end up all frustrated due to poor speed of internet. It seems to be jinxed as whenever there is an important my network starts acting up.''
- Pragati Tripathi, an employee with an IT firm
Concentration challenge
'' It is easier to concentrate sitting in the formal atmosphere of an office space. There are several distractions in the house which eats into ones on job productivity.”
- Pulkit Dubey, an employee from Mumbai.
Misunderstandings galore
Conference calls pose a lot of challenges. As everyone on call need to have good connectivity- otherwise it leads to communication gap and misunderstandings. We lack professional grade gear like business laptops and dedicated internet so there are a lot of issues in holding virtual meets. The online meetings are simply not as effective as the face to face ones.''
- Khushbu Narwani, audit firm employee, Pune
Overtime and underpaid
''I am working as a sales and marketing team head in Bangalore. Work from home is a nightmare for us, as it requires us to multitask amid domestic distractions. We are burdened with lots of work and overtime unpaid activities. This online working has adversely affected our health. Sitting for long hours in front of screen is taking a toll on our eyes and back.”
- Prince Kumar, Head of sales & marketing, Bangalore
Sans socialisation
'' Earlier we use to work for up to 9 hours but now working for 12 hours is a routine. My company has extended work from home till december. It's difficult to adopt the WFH as it has eaten into the socialising part of professional as well as personal life.'' Said
- Shashank Sawant working in MNC
