<p>In recent outbreak of COVID -19 Pandemic, the mandatory requirement of<br />
keeping physical distance has made many companies, especially those in IT<br />
sector to ask their employees to work from home. Work from home has<br />
started mainly with third industrial revolution. Use of computer, the need to<br />
be on internet or any such connected platforms has enabled companies to<br />
offer their employees flexibility of working From Home (WFH) with sufficient<br />
monitoring. In this essay we will discuss about pros and cons of work from<br />
home, how can it be made more effective etc and the way forward.<br />
<br />
Pros of work from home:<br />
<br />
Related to Transportation:<br />
<br />
First and foremost would be that it saves a lot of time &ndash; commuting back and<br />
forth from work - Especially in dense urban areas with heavy traffic jams. It<br />
also saves lot of fuel, eases burden on public transportation and road<br />
infrastructure. Hence saves cost also.<br />
Savings on office facilities and infrastructure:<br />
Companies need to provide office space, desk, chair, computer, lighting, air<br />
condition, conference rooms, parking space for individual&rsquo;s vehicles etc. All this<br />
can be minimized, though cannot be completely done away with, if we adopt<br />
WFH wherever and whenever possible.<br />
<br />
More work &ndash;life-balance:<br />
<br />
Time saved in commuting can be spent qualitatively with family. More over<br />
work can be scheduled according to one&rsquo;s team&rsquo;s choice and can have leisure<br />
time to pursue one&rsquo;s passions. Many people quit everything upon joining work.<br />
This has increased the stress level of many.<br />
Can help in women empowerment:This also restricts their career choices. With WFH getting more acceptances,<br />
they can have wider career options. Women participation in work force can be<br />
improved. Work place harassment can be avoided.<br />
<br />
Cons of Work From Home (WFH):<br />
<br />
Loss of social interaction:<br />
<br />
In many creative fields, ideas emerge during social interactions. For example, in<br />
a seminar new ideas are discussed over a Tea or Coffee break. This cannot<br />
happen in case of WFH. Work gets easier when you are surrounded by people.<br />
You can ask your superiors for help whenever you are stuck. You have<br />
meetings in conference halls to pitch in ideas and improvise upon them. This<br />
all is going to be missed with WFM</p>

<p>May affect women negatively:<br />
<br />
Women may get relaxation from house hold work when they are at office. This<br />
is true in joint families where women abuse is accepted as a daily routine.<br />
With WFM, they may never get off from house hold work. More over many<br />
Indian house hold have minimal infrastructure to support office work. For<br />
example, they only have a single laptop- this is used by man head of the house,<br />
leaving women with no options. Internet connection is also not universal (not<br />
even 50%). In rural areas the situation is even worst.</p>

<p>Effects livelihood of small shop keepers:</p>

<p>There will be a small coffee shop near every office. If WFH becomes new<br />
norm, all those people will be jobless. Housekeeping, Security, Clerks work force<br />
will be minimized. Since they are not skilled work force, it will be very difficult<br />
for them to move to a different kind of job.<br />
Lot of distractions and no leisure from work, change in lifestyle:<br />
Kids always are around to disturb us. For most of us job gives a regular<br />
routine to follow. This makes our body and mind organized. With WFH &ndash; the<br />
sleeping, eating habits may go to a toss.</p>

<p>Can WFH be adopted universally?Answer is a big no. There are many jobs where you need to be present on field for effective or any learning. For example, a lab technician cannot guide an engineering student to perform a chemistry experiment over online. Similarly, school is not a place to just learn academic subjects, but a place the personality you are.</p>

<p>Way forward:<br />
<br />
To begin with we can chart out what kind of organizations have 100% WFH,<br />
what can have partial and kind of jobs where WFH is not effective. Then find<br />
out certain parameters to compare the efficiency of workers while working<br />
from office and Home. Once this is done, we can start with a giving 1 day or 2<br />
days in a week mandatory to WFH for all possible employees. If this goes well,<br />
we can have 1 or 2 days mandatory office days for all employees. Divide<br />
employees in to teams to have office days in rotation. This will have a win-win<br />
situation as employees and employers will save cost and time, will not miss on<br />
socialization. To avoid discrimination towards women or any other potential<br />
employee, employers can offer a laptop to them from the savings they make<br />
on infrastructure cost.</p>
