Expanding work spaces: For first-time jobbers work-from-home is the only work style they know

By Manisha S

Consider the following scenario: Your bedroom is your office cabin and your couch is your work chair. Your snack drawer is also your pantry. The route map that you have to follow is the area of your hallway and the only traffic you have to negotiate is the mess in your room. This was the reality of most employees for almost two years.

But that is over now. And most employees are making their peace with the back-tooffice reality.

But for the first-time jobbers work-from-home was the only reality they saw. Or for some they had seen the real work place for a short while only. The shift back to the office was sudden and unexpected. No one knew how much working from the comfort of your house would change the work world. But what followed was that people had gotten used to working within the four walls of their homes, especially the newbies of the corporate world.

In what’s being called the ‘Great Resignation’, 95 percent of workers are considering changing jobs, according to a report by Monster.com. Though at their spurring ages, youngsters are starting to think of leaving jobs and finding more of what suits their mental and physical well-being. Work time flexibility is one factor that most of the employees want.

The hectic deadlines, submissions, presentations all pile up one after the other without the workers even having a Kit Kat break. In contrast, the home has a work setting which is comfort zone with all the necessary reinforcements. “Extending our work hours by one or two while at home didn’t burden me nor did it affect my output. But in the office I get exhausted after the usual work hours are over,” says Sanjay, an ex-IT employee, who preferred to quit his job than go back to the office.

Doing your best doesn’t mean working yourself to the point of exhaustion. And working more hours for the same output leaves both the workers and employers, productivity losers. A study by the Owl Labs found: “Productivity while working remotely from home is better than working in an office setting. On average, those who work from home spend 10 minutes less a day being unproductive, work one more day a week, and are 47% more productive”.

“While working from the office, we spent time commuting, gossiping, celebrating events, and tea breaks. All these activities became nil and it majorly contributed to self-development and other activities when we were working from home,” says Shankar Narayanan, an associate staff engineer.

Some people don’t want to return to commuting after spending almost two years at home. They prefer the flexibility of remote work at least a few days a week. Others are simply exhausted from working long hours while juggling child care and remote schooling. Every employee is eager to see what options are available other than the frenzied hours spent in the office.

“The urge to stick with work from home has come up either because they are unhappy with their work or because their priorities have changed,” says Shrilakshmi, an HR professional.

The work from home tenure was more vibrant providing the sense of freedom and composure that people dream of when approaching a new job. Youngsters these days have varied interests. Work from office restricts it all to the computer screens and balance sheets. The ‘me time’ whose necessity is found increasingly important today, is absent in the office.

Besides there is the economics too. “As a fresher, the pay that I receive is worth the effort only if I am provided with work from home,” says an employee of an IT firm.

Though MNC’s like TCS and Infosys have decided to provide permanent work from home for almost 50% of its employees, rest of the firms are asking their employees to return to physical offices.

Many offices are striking a balance between personal comforts and a professional corporate image. They are changing the look and feel of the office to make it more relaxed. A trendy setting full of colour, life, and inspiration for team members to flourish in, leads to a healthy work environment.