Working from home

W of the A-Z Challenge

It never ceases to amaze me what technology has done. People separated by thousands of miles are a phone call away. One can not just speak to these far off people but also see them! Gone are the days of snail mail where letters would take months to get delivered.  Internet speeds have gone up radically and have changed the way we communicate, watch tv and even work.  Working across borders has become so much easier despite different time zones.

I work for a company that interacts with other countries may thousand miles away.  But what makes it easier is the flexibility that allows me to work from home. All I need is my laptop, a high speed internet connection and I am set. I don’t really need to travel every single day all the way to my office on congested roads where all forms of transport jostle for space.  Working from home is a boon for many like me who prefer to not spend their time traveling, atleast not everyday! But the problem of working from home is that everyone around you thinks you are on a holiday and that I am free to do everything else!

And yes, it can become a holiday if you don’t have the right attitude to working from home. It is extremely easy to flop on the sofa in your pyjamas with the laptop and find yourself reaching out for the remote…or start cleaning up and clearing up the kitchen and rearranging things…or opening the door to the neighbors and engaging in long conversations…or getting your kid home and starting to play with her!  Well, no one can be blamed, if they think you are on a holiday then!

A few tips for people to not succumb to the many temptations of wfh (working from home) –

1. Get dressed as if you are going to office
2. Set up a home office – a table space in the quietest room in the house, a phone connection, a high speed internet access, a printer if need be are all musts
3. Get a back-up internet source and a power supply source if you work from India where there are power cuts
4. Don’t get your kids home
5. Don’t run errands and stop cleaning and clearing up the house!
6. Work during office timings as you would at office and in the same routine including breaks
7. Be available on phone or office messenger
8. Tell everyone around you that you are working and have deliverables just like office going folk do and you are not available to do anything else
9. Deliver the goods without getting distracted
10. Go to office if you have one sometimes at least or it can get boring to work in solitude every single day!