ian the pedestrian

A reminder to all chaps who WFH or with colleagues who WFH at the puff of this unprecedented COVID situation:

(1) Keep your values intact, quid pro quo. I am blessed to work in a company to which employees come first. My colleagues are not laid off, our benefits are not severed and our bimonthly salaries always come on time; and so, let’s reciprocate that altruism and do our part. Any company who adopted this Work From Home (WFH) arrangement (I believe), has only 3 unsung sine qua nons for its people: Honesty, Productivity and Commitment. Work as schedule dictates you. Are you being checked if you are before your PC or Laptop screen on time and is hollered every 10 minutes just to confirm if you are really working? I bet you don’t experience this kind of mental strain and physical torture but my brother-in-law, who is an Engineer/IT Specialist working remotely, does.

(2) Have a straitlaced schedule and exercise respect. Be sensitive to your colleagues’ personal ticks. When this WFH arrangement started about 2 months back, I made a schedule on how my typical M-S would look like. I strictly work from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm M-F ONLY. S-S are devoted to my rest and recreational toots (online Francais & Creative Writing classes and some random light workout). I don’t take meetings beyond 6PM, holidays or weekends. I don’t answer any calls and SMS outside the prescribed work schedule unless (1) a message is coming from the “royal family” or (2) a matter of life-and-death situation that has to be addressed immediately ie at the wee hour today, I received a call from one of our merchants with concerns on its store’s fire suppression and gas leaks.

WFH doesn’t mean you have to be overdemanding to yourself or with your colleagues. If you have truly rendered your effort, time and productivity during that required period, then your decency should be respected at all times BY ANYONE. Courtesy breeds respect. Respect breeds trust. You owe that courtesy to ANYONE you’re working and dealing with, even if the rank is lower than yours.

Another thing is when setting up e-meetings. (1) if you are the host, kindly please alarm the bell for notices first. Don’t just call people and insist to meet them in 10-15 minutes. You can peer in asking this question first: “Hey are you available to meet?” If the answer is yes, then your whims are granted. If it’s a no, then please understand that the person might be caught up with something or have other important matters to deal with. (2) If you are the host and you suddenly have other important meetings on the same schedule, please alarm the bell of notices (again) beforehand that the meeting has been postponed or cancelled. We all have a pre-planned calendar and that dissipated time waiting for you in Zoom, Viber, Hangout or whatever platform it was(is) could have been used for other things needing overriding attention. Again, at least be sensitive. Be courteous. (3) If you are one of the attendees and suddenly you cannot make it, then, kindly send a representative to take notes on your behalf. Brief your sub so he/she may not be flabbergasted during the e-meeting.

(3) Speak to your boss for any hint of nonplus feelings. Try to open supple discussions with your boss. Early April 2020, I told my boss about my disquietude. Although, I was religiously working from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm plait with deliberate ironclad commitment, I didn’t feel gratified at all. I work in Leasing and Retail Operations and as a Department Head, I tried exploring all department initiatives even those beyond-the-box-edges just to keep my calendar in rainbows. I filled it with meetings and the pre-meeting invites from other departments. I also reviewed plans and drawings relentlessly, set schedule with all my merchants and that quintessential checking and sending out of emails. Looked a lot at the hindsight but I missed the action at the forthsight – the beautiful noise and the graceful chaos (OPERATIONS) and the scouting of potential merchants (LEASING IN ACTION).  No matter how much I deputised each day (that time), I still ended up having a lot of trance and reverie click-clacks.

As we spoke over the phone, my boss was somewhat painting on my panache how her typical day looked like and how much work she pinned each day during the quarantine. It was very inspiring and I God-willingly told her if she could accord the Department some additional works to at least assuage my discontent of feeling half-full-days. Uh-uh! It is never about self-flagellation nor self-deprecation but more of self-actualisation.

***B: Are you sure of what you are asking and are you sure that you wouldn’t be stressed out with let’s say, irate buyers?

***Me: (Cajoling in my language). I’m good at that. Resilient as ever.

***B: Alright, this Department needs help, I will tell the head.

Wherefore, my Department was given the additional tasks and up to this time, we’re riveted performing at nonpareil.This is never a show-off, nor seeking pardon for all the department/interdeparment decision mishaps I’ve made in the past, nor a promotion agenda (I think being an executive at 28 is already a milestone for now). I just really wanted to feel useful and satisfied in all aspect. The company has been doing a lot for its people, some of my colleagues (front-liners) still reports to work despite the risks, some lends a hand for commodity distribution, while I am just at home doing less. I wanted to help in my own little way. I am also jovial that my team members have the same frame of mind and enthusiasm as I do. They were both receptive to the idea and both thought it’s an opportunity to show that #LeasingCares. To Ivan and Irish, you have proven the posit of the life-advice guru Kevin Kelly, that, being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points. Apart from helping, I am sure that you also coup d’œil company’s values and precedence.

BTW, salute to my CSR friends across the globe.“)

(4) Take leaves for personal errands or ask for letup consent from your boss.  I’d really feel guilty if my work-time is being eaten up by my personal errands. Treachery is the more appropriate word, I guess. We are being paid for our service and effort, we should yield what’s expected and rightful then. The company deserves that! Kindly try to do your thing – groceries, going to banks, visiting relatives, taking online classes, working out, etc – outside the prescribed work schedule. Better yet, ask a consent that you’ll be in a recess for a while for so-and-so reasons.

(5) Limit your social media prominence while working. Leisurely, start to detach yourself from cosmopolitan pleasures and your life will be even more meaningful. Multitasking is okay but I don’t think this is the most sensible paradigm. I keep my messenger open since some salient communications and updates are sent through but I only browse my FB scarcely, weekends the most. I even rarely pin a thumb (I am in IG every day but check by night time or early morning though).

(6) Be thankful. Working from home is indeed challenging due to myriad of reasons-  intermittent internet connections, sporadic phone signals, the howls of your domestic breeds, the spur-of-the-moment teases-and-piques of your kin and next of kin, the constant battle against distraction and the relentless note-to-self to keep sane. But hey, you are reading this, so it means you are staying safe in the warmth of your crib.  That, my friend, matters most in this unprecedented situation.

(7) Yay, you’ve reached the end and here’s the most important note of all: Please, at all times, regularly and timely pump cerebral spinal fluid through your brain cells and remove all metabolic by-products of the day’s thoughts. SLEEP! That, my friend, is a borrowed line from my favourite sitcom BIG BANG THEORY and was reverberated by Sheldon Cooper. I normally wield this virgule among my friends to sound cool. You can borrow this too to remind yourself that you need sleep to recharge. And by recharging, means, enough hours of sleep should be wangled according to the number of hours recommended for your age.  

We all have different strategies and level of comfort on how to do things. We also have recalcitrant limitations. This is not a judgment or a juxtaposition on how you manoeuvre or re-manoeuvre both your smart and stretch goals daily vs mine. If you found this helpful – THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS because you are about to embark the journey to self- actualisation . If it offended you – well, perhaps it kicked you through and through. BUT, at the end of the day, you only have to answer to yourself and to that still-small-voice:

• Have I been productive?
• Have I been lackadaisical?
• Have I been honest?
• Have I been helpful?
• Have I done enough?
• Have I shown the right blend of courtesy and respect towards others?
• Have I sent the right tone of email?
• Have I exercised my initiative?
• Have I been both efficient and effective?
• Have I been too torpid to my colleagues just because someone has also been pressuring me?

Be the judge and purr your answers to that still-small-voice. Au revoir!