Both WFH and WFO can be unsettling

Working from home may have helped people cope with both work and life more efficiently. But in time, WFH can be equally unsettling as working from office

In a new Netflix web series titled Modern Love: Mumbai, actor Chitrangada Singh plays a work-from-home mom who is struggling to finish off her first fiction novel. Her husband, played by Arshad Warsi, is a busy hotelier. While trying to write the opening sentence of a chapter, Singh forgets about the subzi cooking on the gas stove. When the smell of the burnt subzi engulfs her house, she rushes to the kitchen. Finding the dish entirely burnt, she throws the subzi into the bin and then snaps at her husband for not doing enough work around the house.

She asks her bai to clean the kadhai, but the bai is getting late for the next house. The madam upstairs has to leave for the 'office', and she has to do her work on priority. To add insult to injury, Warsi asks her to take responsibility for not finishing her novel and not pass the buck on to him.

Working from home ain't easy. Having worked from home for nearly 17 years, I know exactly what it's all about. When the pandemic forced everyone to work from home (WFH), many people tried to tell me how lucky I was. "Nothing has changed for you. It's us who have to adapt to WFH."

They couldn't have been more wrong. Everything had changed. I was not used to having my husband and kids around all day. I wanted an empty house to do my work. And like everyone else, I was also not used to the lockdown. My morning walks, yoga classes, and outings with friends had meant so much to me, all because I was working from home.

It took some effort, but I adapted to this new order. My office-going friends, too, adapted to WFH. They were now able to look after their kids and old parents, all thanks to WFH. By early 2021, they were loving WFH.

Earlier this year, when offices called them back, they began complaining. Many news reports and studies pointed to this general sentiment — that employees prefer WFH. If bosses made working from the office (WFO) mandatory, they resigned and began looking for another job. For many companies, it's becoming a challenge to get employees back to the office. They are dangling all kinds of carrots but to no avail. If you aren't a single, 20-something professional, chances are you, too, are enjoying WFH.

In March this year, a friend called to say her office had made WFO mandatory. She is back to the grind. And she's complaining — about traffic jams, about not being able to focus on her nine-year-old daughter and about her maid, who doesn't do the job as well as she used to during her WFH days. Life, as she knew it, had been disrupted once again.

Last week, she called to say she was down with Covid, and her office had asked her to WFH. She sounded happy once again. She can help her daughter prepare for her English unit test. But the happiness, this time, is going to be short-lived.

These stories of happy WFHers seem all too familiar to me. For the first two to three years of freelancing, I, too, was euphoric about WFH. There was no dearth of work, and I could focus on my home and family. But soon, the perils of WFH began to kick in — such as snacking in between meals, sitting in odd positions with legs raised while working, not feeling motivated enough to exercise…

Both WFO and WFH have their pros and cons. Though water cooler conversations can be a real waste of time, we often share jokes, news, our feelings and much more with our colleagues. And sharing, I have heard, is good for mental health — the buzzword for 2022. WFH takes away the opportunity to 'share'.

After the first few years, I developed a mechanism to cope better with the perils of WFH — I began to meditate, exercise, go out and meet my friends, take breaks in between work and sit upright while working. Holidays and weekend get-togethers became important. Self-discipline brought work-life harmony.

Today, I know that work-life balance is a myth. As Alain de Botton, the British philosopher, has said: "There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life." You may think you have struck a balance, but the moment your maid calls in sick, you start wondering whether the plant you bought to correct the feng shui of your house is working or not. You take deep breaths, but it's too late. The disruption has already taken place.

Two years of WFH has shown corporate India that their employees will fight for both work and life. Their employees think work-life balance is for real. Not knowing that the euphoria around WFH will soon subside and make them realise that WFO was not all that bad, after all.

(Swati Prasad is a freelance business journalist.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.