Many organizations are now asking their employees to join the office. Various professionals speak to Monarose Sheila Pereira about their preferences. What do they have to say?

Praveen Nagda - Festival Director, Culture Cinema 2021 and Kidz CINEMA 2020

I personally believe that work from home is not the best option for ensuring a high degree of work productivity. The environment at work is always conditioned for you to interact with your peers, and execute work. Also, many people look at work as an important part of life and a break from their homes. Not many people may have great spacious homes allowing for a lot of personal space, especially in a city like Mumbai. In this situation, workspaces offer most people a personal space, colleagues as friends, and other work relationships that help them shape up their creative faculties. Working from the office is any day more preferable than working from home.

Pratik Rajankar - Art Director

I definitely prefer work from home. It helps me remain comfortable in my space, which directly enhances creativity. It's not like the team is away. They are all a phone call away, making work efficient. Work from home has also helped people like me, who stay in smaller cities to live with their parents and family around.

Bernadette Matthews - Pharmaceutical Business Development Executive, Asia Pacific

I prefer working from home any day in comparison to working from the office. Well every coin does have two sides, so I understand my choice, too, has its pros and cons. With this thought, let me pen down a few reasons why I personally prefer a WFH. The primary reason is the time and energy I save on commuting from home to office. I have observed that I could maintain a better work-life balance in addition to an increase in my savings stemming from the cost cutback. In conclusion, WFH gave me the boost and most importantly the time, of course that I averted from commuting, to nurture my hobbies and be actively involved in constructive activities for my body, mind and spiritual growth. This resulting change has been clearly visible in my personality and corporate output.

Dr. Kshipra Vora - Clinical Psychologist and Academician

I have started an online helpline. It is my way to reach out to those in need. It is to help them regain their composure, accept reality and build a healthier, happier outlook on life. The current COVID-crisis has not only endangered our physical health but also put our mental health at stake. The control we had over our lives has been snatched away clouding our lives in uncertainty. The pandemic has drastically altered our lifestyles and has given us loss, tragedy and struggles. There have been optimistic outcomes too, to those who are resilient. Tough times don’t last but tough people do. Online helplines play an important role as much as clinic visits.

Dinesh S. Chindarkar - Co-Founder & Director MediaMedic Communications

I prefer a hybrid model with a mix of both. Since I run a communication business, it’s so important at times to connect with your team, socialize a bit, have that personal connection to help build a good productive team. When one is given the flexibility of commuting during preferred hours on certain days of the week with a flexi-time option, it helps reduce stress significantly and has a better work life balance resulting in happier employees.

Baleshwari Ponraj Nadar – Designation: Content Moderator

For the last 17 months due to the pandemic we have been working from home. We have got many facilities like laptops; Internet bills are paid by the organization and bonus too for working in a pandemic. Also working from home saves a lot of time, as we don't have to travel. But I would prefer to work from the office, because office work can be done in the office only - not at home. Also we don't have much privacy at home. Especially for me as I stay in a 1 room apartment and it's very difficult for me to attend meetings, to stay focused and concentrate on work as some other things are always going on in the background. Also if we work in an office we can clear doubts on the spot and ask questions from our colleagues. But when we WFH we have to wait for the response, as sometimes they are busy doing other work due to which productivity is hampered. Also when there is power or Internet outage we have to give a deficit on the same day or maybe on week-offs. I contend that working in an office is more efficient and it will lead to a better yield - although working at home may seem to be more comfortable at first sight but it is not so in the end.

Misbah Shaikh - Counselor in an IT based institute

Working in different organizations, I used to think how it would feel to work from home. I would be fascinated while watching web series about how it would feel to work from your home and in your comfort zone. When last year actually the pandemic hit us hard, we were almost caged in our houses for more than 1 year. When actually in December 2020 things got a bit normal people started working with regulations. In March the lockdown was imposed again and we started working from home.

I was so happy that finally it would be so relaxing and you will be your own boss; no one is watching you and you don't have to work with regulations or sit in a particular way, no meetings, no extra pressure, nothing. But within a week of working from home I realized it's actually boring and challenging at the same time - as we live in a 1 Bedroom Hall Kitchen (BHK) flat with 7 people in my family and the main challenge was to find peace. As a counselor I need to talk to many people in a day to guide them and get them placed in good organizations. There were a lot of noises from my siblings, my mother cooking and more. It would be so frustrating at times.

Working from home was a challenge, as you cannot discuss anything with your seniors. You cannot have lunchtime masti or chai time banter with your colleague. I would literally miss the motivation I would get from my seniors and boss. I would work 9 hours sitting at the same place and would get really annoyed by the end of the day. I would miss travelling, going to the office, meeting my colleagues, our daily routine, interacting with new people and also the parties to celebrate our success.

My personal experience from working from home was not so fascinating, as I had thought because you cannot focus on your work properly. When you know that no one is watching you, you become irresponsible. My performance usually was appreciated by my organization but in that 2-month period I only did business of 20k as compared to lakhs of rupees, which was my record and it affected my salary too. So when my office opened in the month of June 2021, I was the happiest person as I am a foodie and love to travel. So from my end I like to go to the office.