Loss of personal time during the pandemic
During January 2020, I took a policy offered by my firm called work from home on the day of Australian Open semi-final between Djokovic and Federer. The work carried out that was way too less as compared to the work being carried out in the office. The WFH policy was once considered a cute little version of taking leave without actually applying for one.
Little did I know in a couple of months, this policy would become a norm for the rest of the year. In March, just after my birthday, my firm decided to put this policy into effect in order to safeguard the employees from the dangerous novel Coronavirus. Initially, for the first month and a half, despite being in probation period the work was manageable considering there was a closure of work around 9/9:30 pm across levels on a unanimous basis. This can be substantiated as I was weekly awaiting for “The Last Dance” on Netflix with me done for the day.
But as months passed by, the time for personal work/ learning diminished over the period as there did not exist a cut-off time. The work went on till late in the night, yeah one can say that the manager/senior I am working with needed to be responsible for looking after the junior as they are the one in a commanding position as they are a ‘de jure’ leaders. I believe that in an organisation where the hierarchy structure is the way to succeed there is a need for the ‘leaders’ to take a conscious call to determine a cut-off time as in no way work can be bigger than a person’s health/ mental well-being. However, what I have experienced is even if you find some time for yourself (for me writing a blog) and if your senior gets to know then they have taken it as a bait to criticise your professional work.
The above had a very bad effect, in a way it demoralised me to release my stress/ frustration level through writing about sports. One can even consider switching from one firm to another to obtain peace of mind.
It is not like WFH policy has to be scrapped. The WFH policy needs to be worked upon in a broader perspective. The leaders/ managers/ employers need to understand that that junior at home is not entirely available for office work. Maybe setting up of deadlines, where it can be set, should be set in such a manner where the person executing the groundwork has been given enough time. Maybe not going after an employee late in the day just because he was held up with other manager’s work for the whole day. Maybe coordination between the managers themselves for organising the work schedule of their juniors.
We are now 8 months into the pandemic, 8 months into the WFH policy but I believe, from my experience, the employers/ leaders need to be more open to the idea of working by providing an extra day being taken for completing the work, with setting up a cut-off time and not taking pride in working late for any professional work whatsoever.
