How I Try to Tackle WFH Challenges as a Newbie
Hint: This isn’t a productivity tips article
I always thought working from home was something that’s impossible to be done. Back in uni years, I used to struggle with finishing my assignments at home and will always choose cafe or library to work at rather than home. Home is the place to rest and relax for me and is never helping with my productivity.
…until I work as a product researcher in Gojek, a company that literally has remote working “embedded in Gojek’s DNA”, to quote the co-founder and co-CEO of Gojek himself. The more I hear my colleagues were going to work from home, the more I feel like an alien. Eventually, we’re all forced to work from home due to the spread of COVID-19 here in Jakarta.
As a complete alien to WFH, I have my own perception of the practice that might or might not align with the actual practice, and what I try to do to tackle the challenges.
Here are my personal perceptions toward WFH and what I have learned from practicing WFH as a freelance researcher in Gojek:
#1: Working from home lacks structure.
Myth or fact? Fact.
Prior to this experience, I used to think that working from home is a made-up excuse for someone too unmotivated to go to the office because WFH offers more flexibility, so they can simply get things done on the comfort of their couch or bed (while watching Netflix? Idk). Last year, a friend of mine once actually took advantage of the flexibility of WFH so they and I could work together at a cafe while I worked on my thesis. But that still isn’t the worst case.
When I was in college, every time I work on a take-home assessments, I often found myself procrastinating. I can always spend my day doing nothing and work on my assignment throughout the night, or the other way around, as long as I get things done. I don’t have to worry about time like I do when the cafe or library about to close. I can work anytime I want. You know what happened? I got burned out. Not because of the workload, it’s because I underestimated the importance of time management, especially when I work under deadlines.
This WFH period has reminded me the importance of simple time management.
During the first two days of WFH, I feel like it was super easy for me to immediately open my laptop right after I jump out of my bed and have my breakfast at lunch or have my lunch at dinner to get everything done quickly. In other words, I could easily fell into the chaotic work habit that could cause burnout.
To prevent this from happening, my colleagues and I are required by the Team Leader in Gojek to set our core working hour and let other team members know about this schedule so your co-workers have the idea of when to or not to invite you to meetings or have real-time discussions with you. Also, we’re highly encouraged to have away-from-keyboard lunch break like we do in the office and short breaks after every 1–2 hours of uninterrupted working session.
Not only time management prevents breakout as a result of procrastination, setting up clear schedule helps us with being accountable with our deliverables. An academic publication about time management strategy that I read suggested us to “set realistic and measurable objectives, break tasks into manageable components, set priorities and create schedule to finish the broken down tasks.”
To me, being accountable doesn’t translate into the need to always prove that we’re actually working by being online 24/7 outside normal working hour and routinely having our lunch or dinner in front of the laptop.
What I try to do:
- Utilize Google Calendar (or bullet journal) to schedule all my work. I initially used Google Calendar only for scheduling meetings, but now I try to always put my individual working session for every project and break time on my Google Calendar. We can also set our working hour on Google Calendar. Click here to find out how.
- Know what distracts me the most and how much time I might spend on those distractions. I read this article from The Financial Diet and I find that keeping track of my biggest distraction useful in setting my time management strategy. My biggest distractions are WhatsApp and online window shopping (lol retail therapy anyone?), so I allow myself to access WhatsApp and online shopping platform every short breaks between uninterrupted working sessions.
#2: Working from home cannot provide you conducive working environment.
Myth or fact? Depends.
Some people that I know claimed that WFH is far more effective and conducive than working regularly at the office. I’m not really sure why, but this might depend on what kind of environment our home have. If you live alone or if you have only one roommate or housemate, your working environment should be just fine. After all, you have to come to terms with one person only.
What about my working environment at home? To me, this is the most challenging aspect of practicing WFH. I currently live with my parents and two sisters. The five of us have very different occupations that require different work settings. My little sister’s still on college, my father and my sister are entrepreneurs, and my mother is a stay-at-home mother. Almost none of them experienced WFH like I do, so they simply don’t understand the concept of WFH itself.
All I’m saying is a thin & blurred line seems to be the only thing that separates domestic and working life during these times, and it’s completely normal to feel this way. For people with similar working setting as mine, setting boundaries is necessary, especially in this situation. I’d much rather go to the office working in the presence of daily office hustle-and-bustle than always having to explain to my family that working from home is an actual work like we do at the office, only now remotely.
What I try to do: When I’m in a meeting or having a phone interview, I usually write “ON CALL” on a sticky notes and put it beside my laptop if I’m working outside my room or on the door so anyone wouldn’t just get into my room. Honestly, this isn’t the most ideal solution to set clear boundaries with your housemates, but practicing this so far has helped my family understand if I cannot be disturbed at the moment.
#3: Working from home is just not productive.
Myth or fact? Doesn’t really matter at the moment because not everything is about productivity.
Quoting the co-founder and co-CEO of Gojek again, WFH requires empathy. At this time of uncertainty, productivity is not really in our top priority. We certainly want to deliver the best output possible, but we must keep in mind that this shifting and uncertain period might pose different challenges to each of us when working from home. Make sure to always listen to what our colleagues have got to say about challenges they’re facing when working from home, because it’s way beyond our capacity to intervene with our co-workers’ daily domestic activities.
In my opinion, the “perfect home” for WFH does not exist (I mean that’s why working spaces are invented, right?). Even when you think you have the “perfect home”, think of it as a privilege that isn’t possessed by people in general.
My team is putting effort in daily communication. We’re highly encouraged to do stand-up meeting everyday lunch break for 30 minutes and a one-hour chit-chat session near the end of working hour. We utilize sessions like this not only for work-related updates, but also health and sanity check. During this session, ask them how they’re holding up these days. This helps us in setting expectation towards each other during this difficult time.
What I try to do: I’ve read every single WFH guide all over the internet that communication is key. When in doubt, communicate. Use any kind of communication necessary. Remember those times when we always update our status on MSN? This is the perfect time for nostalgia! Whether you’re taking a lunch break, having a short walk around the house or praying, set your status to Away so your co-workers can have clearer expectation of when you’ll respond to their message.
Keep in mind that sharing with you about WFH doesn’t make me the best WFH practitioner out here. In fact, I‘m still trying my best to implement the WFH guidelines to help me working from home. We’re all allowed to feel tired and frustrated with WFH under this global catastrophe. Just be patient and gentle to yourself, as adjusting to this new working culture takes trial and error process.
This is a hard time for everyone, and I speak for literally everyone who’s struggling with WFH, whoever and wherever you are, including myself. Wrapping up this article with the six words that filled my childhood: we’re all in this together.
