7 WFH Essentials We All Need To Follow

As some of us giddy up for resuming work from office after 2 years of working from home (or pretending to work from home), most of us will still be working in a hybrid mode and a few good men(It's a classic movie, do not cancel me because I did not mention women) will continue to work from home permanently. Here are 7 things that I think everyone must follow while working from home in 2022 and in future too.

1.Respect IT Helpdesk

Yes, share all the memes about the IT support person who always asks you to restart your computer for every issue you report, but please respect them. During the last 2 years of this pandemic, IT support people are also among the most overworked professionals and they haven’t even been acknowledged by anyone. Neither have we lit any lamps, applauded for them nor have we flown choppers showering flower petals over datacenters in their honor. They work equally hard as a anyone with a fancy job title. They deserve the respect which they barely receive. Be nice, follow the steps they want you to try, do not be a “I know it won’t help” person with them. If you knew it, you won’t need support, right?

2. Respect Individuals And Boundaries:

Do you like it when people call you for something that can wait until the next day? Or how does it feel when someone wants to drop everything that you are doing and help them right away only to find it’s something that doesn’t need urgent attention. I am sure we all do not like this, so why not be the change that we want to bring? You should be familiar with the internal SLAs and initial response times set by your organization. Refrain from pulling the rank card when there are arguments. That’s the fastest way to lose respect others may have for you. No one likes a person who asserts their superiority by force, at the end you may win the argument but, in the process, you will end up creating people who dislike you forever. You do not want that. World is a small place. While it is difficult to establish a personal connect with someone while working from home, it is not entirely impossible. Be respectful to juniors and newcomers. People remember how you made them feel. We all have an internet friend whom we have never met or haven’t met since years, why can’t that kind of camaraderie happen with our colleagues?

3.Do Your Homework

If you are reaching out to someone for help, please do all the possible research before you do that. It’s your workplace, not your school or tuition’s doubt clearing session. Even if it’s some technical issue that you need help with or just something you need clarification on, make sure you have taken all the steps you could have taken and are reaching out for help as the last option. The benefit of following this is half of the times you won’t even need to reach out to anyone for help. Besides this, it will build a habit of solving your issues on your own and of course learn things a lot quickly. More often than not, you will have cool colleagues and they will not be salty about you reaching out, but hey; the more your sweat in peace, the lesser you bleed in war. Remember there will always be a day when you are out on your own and there is no one to bail you out. This homework habit will save the day for you. Trust me, the internet has everything you need. E.V.E.R.Y thing.

4. Email/Chat Etiquettes:

When you send someone an email or connecting on IM (Skype, slack, Teams etc.), be crisp and get to the point ASAP. Do what Vasooli bhai told us. i.e. “Jaldi Bol”. Do not say “Hi” and then wait for them to respond before you tell them what you are texting them for.

Understand the difference between “reply” and “reply-all”. We are in 2022 and an unprecedented number of people DO NOT understand this difference and end up spamming everyone’s inbox. This is not very difficult guys, is it?

5. Your Calendar Is Important:

We have already discussed how we do not want people to call us at odd hours. How do they know whether we are available or not? No points for guessing, it’s your calendar. Make sure it’s updated. Accept or reject meeting requests you receive well within time, if there is a last-minute conflict (Yes, it happens) let the other party know about it. Sending a meeting request with some agenda is also a very good habit to have. You might be able to skip the meeting by looking at the agenda, because sometimes we invite the entire group and not everyone is needed. Again, if you are not joining, you must let them know !

6.Take Days Off:

Just because you are working from home, and you can take your laptop to Goa, does not mean you should do that. Indians are the most holiday deprived people in the world. Attending a wedding 234 kilometers away from Jaipur does not really count as a “Rajasthan Trip” does it? Do not feel guilty of taking a 15 days holiday if you can. Plan it well, hand over your work, set correct expectations and just go away. It’s high time we take our days off based on what we want to do rather than trying to fit in what we want to do in the number of days you can take off. You deserve better. Carrying your laptop on your holiday is fine only if you are seated so high in the hierarchy that your daily calendar does not have a scrum meeting in it. Until then, let’s just say you aren’t so important and your work can be taken care of by others in your absence

7.Friends At Work:

This is the last one. People who say “you make friends only during your first job” have never really left their first job. You can absolutely make friends everywhere you go. These points mentioned above are not for your friends at work. You do not need to be so professional with them all the time. When you mess up (trust me, you will), it's your friends at work who will give you the moral support you need. I do not want to sound negative here but you should also be very careful about who you want to call a friend at work. You get the gist right? Who wants to have unnecessary toxicity at work. Choose wisely. Lucky me, some of my closest friends today were once my colleagues and trust me when you have good friends at work, it becomes a lot easier :)

While this list is never ending, these were some of the things I try my best to follow. Yes, we are all humans and following a process or code is not always possible and that’s fine too. But what are the things that you want everyone to follow? Let me know.