Working from Home during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Boon or Bane!
By Bahnik Biswas, Head – Operations & Copy Desk, CREATIVE INC.
‘WORK FROM HOME’ – three words that have different positions in different people’s lives. For corporate employees, it’s just a routine and probably no less then a fundamental right but for people like me who work in creative digital marketing agencies, they are three magical words. So, if your creative agency allows you one, take it and make the most of it!
Yeah! Even I felt the same! My excitement knew no boundaries when I received an email and a Whatsapp message mentioning ‘WORK FROM HOME’ for 21 days. But my excitement could wait till the time I reach home. As a responsible citizen, I had a bigger job at task – support the country in handling the Corona outburst. As a dutiful citizen, I decided to follow the government instructions and, on my way back, stacked up my car with the necessary grocery, medicines and other essential items… not to forget, the innumerable packets of potato chips of all types and bottles of cold drinks – after all I was supposed to ‘WORK FROM HOME’ for the next 21 days. Well that’s what I assumed happens when you ‘WORK FROM HOME’, a lot of binge, work at your pace and a lot of spare time for family. Little did I know I was in for a big surprise.
Believe me, ‘WORK FROM HOME’ is no less than actually our daily office routine. In fact, it is all the more taxing… yes! You read it right! I’ m sure my corporate friend would support me in that. Bing, family time… you don’t get that time dude as you are married to your laptops, dekstops, mobile phones, ipad… and what not! Not that I am complaining! All I’m trying to do is collect my thoughts on is ‘WORK FROM HOME’ a boon or a bane for people like me who work in social media marketing agencies? Well, I am sure that is a debate which can continue for long! I in a very humble way tried to just share my experiences and my understanding that ‘work is work, it really doesn’t matter if you work from home or work at office!’ I have tried to articulate some simple tips that I followed, in fact I am still following to make myself stay productive during this country-wide lockdown phase.
Follow your routine: Get up early, shower and get to work on your workstation even though you might be in your pyjamas or shorts. Prioritise the work better and create your schedule. Follow it to the ‘T’ but keep time for anything ad-hoc that might come your way… after all you’re in a work from home scenario!
Set up a temporary work space: Though your sofa or bed will tempt you to work in a relax mode… simply stay away! Try to create an office like space in your home and work… I mean work and not check Netflix, etc.
Stay connected with colleague: Check regularly with your office colleagues when you’re working in a team. Create ‘to-do-lists’ and ‘status check lists’ to be on top of the job. Besides Whatsapp and email… you can use other online platforms like FaceTime, Skype, etc.
Multitask my friend: Believe me, this isn’t the time to be choosy… multitask and be proactive. You know where it will strike the chord! (Employers… yes, we are talking about you!)
Till the time we are in a lockdown phase, I believe let’s keep our productivity at our very best. Like the best digital marketing agencies, it is imperative that we prep up for ‘the next’ after the lockdown phase gets over.
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