The Acceptance Of the ‘Work from Home’ Concept and What We Can Learn From It!

When I started my corporate journey in the early 2000s, WFH as a concept was not an ‘acceptable option’ in most companies in India. In my first job, I remember I was almost ridiculed when I suggested in one of our team meetings that someday I hoped that we could work from home a few days a year (it was in response to a question – what would your dream job look like?). I had heard relatives working in the US saying that they worked from home and I wondered why not us! If technology supported it and the job could be done efficiently, then why not allow employees some flexibility and login from home a few days a year? But my point of view at that time – where efficiency was somehow proportionate to the time you left the office building, was no less than a scandal! Although some of them came to me later and said ‘well, wouldn’t that be great?’ they refused to support this thought in the open forum as this somehow reflected that you were ‘lazy’ or ‘inefficient’. I just couldn’t figure out what was the big deal. Why was it that leaders refused to even consider it as an option? Anyway, I thought my idea was bad (going by the stares and silence that followed my suggestion) and the only thing that I now needed to do was somehow rearrange the perception that I was not ‘lazy’ and ’inefficient’ and left office at 8pm the next few days. It was ‘not ok’ to at that time to dream of Work from Home – a concept which now, 20 years later, has become well accepted and mainstream. And it took a virus, not visionary leaders, to do the same. In my second job, after a stellar career start, I had to take a hard decision to quit my job due to a complicated pregnancy. Me being passionate about my work, I asked my doctor if there is any way I can continue my job while pregnant! And the doctor said “well you can keep your job if your manager allows you to work from home” followed by a loud laughter as though what he suggested can never be a reality. I remember begging my manager if he could allow me to do that just for the first trimester till the complications reduced. He said no our company policy did not allow that. Why not change the policy I implored? We were a technology company with quite an advanced technical infrastructure that could have easily allowed for work from home. But the mindset of the decision makers and leaders unfortunately was not on par. I had to quit with a heavy heart and take a pause in my career. In my third job (I refused to stay home after popping babies!) and the next couple of jobs, work from home concept was slightly more accepted than before. Plus, I was slightly higher up the org chart. But supervisors and HR almost made employees feel like they were doing the biggest favor by allowing occasional few days of work from home as it was not something ‘normal’ work situation allows. Even though job productivity was in no way affected! It continued to make me wonder that colleagues in the other part of the world doing similar job as me, had this option while we in this part of the world, didn’t. The most pleasant surprise happened when I interviewed for my role at Sabre. I explained to the interviewers that the only reason I was looking for a change was that I needed work from home option.  In response, the interviewers clarified that in this company, work from home was quite the norm and many employees in India chose to do that same since many years. I couldn’t believe my ears. Something that many companies in India avoided was quite mainstream in this company. They were decades ahead not just in terms of technology but in terms of mindset and trust and openness to new ways of working and employee satisfaction. I immediately accepted the offer and to this day I am so proud that our company did something way before other companies in India could catch up. Once the pandemic happened, everyone suddenly started to see the golden benefits of trusting their employees and allowing them to work from home. Remote working is a mainstream idea that we no longer must beg for, or think of as a favor that needs to be sought, or hide it lest it brands us as lazy. Today, not only are the maternity leaves longer, but new mothers get to work from home and take care of their babies – a luxury that never existed earlier which forced many mothers like me to quit their job. I am in no way trying to say that work from home is the only way to work or that I am against working from the office. On the contrary, I am all for a hybrid way of working, as long as the job is not impacted. What is important is to have proper checks and balances in place to make sure no one misuses this concept. But I have a question. Why is it that it took so long for companies in India to accept work from home as a feasible option? In my opinion, work from home was not a mainstream concept, NOT because of lack of technology or because the job would get impacted if not done from office; it was not mainstream because leaders and decision makers in many companies refused to think out of the box and think futuristic. It was not mainstream because there was a pre-conceived notion that work from home somehow connected to luxury and to inefficiency! Of course, the virus threw these assumptions out of the window and we now have comfortably proved that it is definitely a healthy option to allow employees to work from home and one that is here to stay. So, the question to ask now is – are we stopping ourselves from experimenting with an idea or a concept because of our pre-conceived notions? Are we branding an idea as not ok just because it ‘seems’ like it is not ok? Are we as leaders refusing to experiment? Are we stopping innovation in the tracks because something is not tried and tested…yet. Are we not trusting enough to allow our employees to feel comfortable while being productive? These are some things to think about before waiting for an eternity and losing talent and letting another disaster show us innovative ways to move ahead! This is what acceptance of ‘Work From Home’ concept showed us and we should be learning from it.