Every morning, an individual past the age of 18, being completed with his or her basic education, has to step out of their homes, as a move towards their livelihoods. Be it a daily job, or their very own entrepreneurial venture, be it meeting with a client or be it running a company, one has to step out of their comfort zones in order to earn a living. 10-15 years back, this was the scenario of almost every household, in every country round the globe. The office was like the second home to majority of the adult population, as most of their times were to be spent there. Meetings and overtimes have been the most commonly used words among partners and parents when they could not be present for a certain family event with their loved ones.
With developing times and with the subsequent growth of technology and internet services, a mindset got into the professional world that some works, could possibly be done even if a person was not physically present at the office. Hence, certain offices hired teams like that of freelance tele callers or commission based salespersons, or even sometimes freelance advisors, who would work for a particular company, from their own places being compensated with a lesser salary, or diminished perks than the full timers, but howsoever being employed. But, looking back not more than just a year ago, could we imagine a world, where major position holders of a company, or even the boss himself would be continuing with their work, while not even stepping out of their homes?
No, we could not…but today that is a reality.
With the Covid-19 pandemic at its peak, working from home has become a reality that is quite simply undeniable. Major workforce has been assigned job roles that require nothing more than a personal computer or laptop and a working internet connection. Even, certain offices have gone fully into the remote scheme of conducting business. Let us look into ‘the world beyond office’, and how it has changed the entire conception of working for the world.
It has been always noticed that whenever there is a new initiative taken by mankind, there prevails certain good and certain not so good sides to it. Similarly, this conception of remote working has certain considered disadvantages as we look into it from a near sighted perspective. But the larger picture, is what we often tend to miss.
Bossing around and micromanaging is not a possibility when employees are working from home, but when work results are evaluated, we see a certain rise in the performance resulted from the lack of a boss peeping over the shoulders. Some great examples are when we find companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and so on, making headlines leading the top ranks among worldwide businesses, even after having a majority of their team members staying home, and as can be deduced, giving the best of their performances.
Household chores are something that sometimes become more demanding than the presentation at hand, when working from home. But also, it has been observed that even after the distractions, the clients remain not quite dissatisfied when the presentation is played over a video conferencing platform.
While at home, there is not really a strict office time that is adhered to and lunch breaks seem to be longer as a packed sandwich and a mocha is replaced by home made curry and rice. But despite the fact, emails are exchanged at middle of nights, and sometimes project analysis notifications break the silence of the dawn.
Creativity and productive results seem to flourish the most when a person is sitting on his bed, beside an open window rather than the wooden cubicle, at a shared office space.
The ultimate fact being, the world being faced with a grave crisis, has developed its own ways to keep functioning. Embracing the change is what we humans are best at doing. And when the change is for a better today and tomorrow, focusing on the negatives is what we ought to reduce, in order to adore the positives and hence, striving every day to make it better.
