CHENNAI: Years of absorbing motivational movies have lent my mind a standardised version of the first day at work — a busy office, files spilling over desks, chatter travelling across work stations and the lingering scent of tea in the air. Joining a new workplace during a pandemic, however, was something for which my imagination was thoroughly unprepared. Clad in a blazer and sweatpants — the new normal as far as formal wear goes — I logged on to my new workplace from across the country.
Like me, several office-goers stepped into new roles under unprecedented conditions. With remote-working taking over office culture, new recruits across industries were set up for changing variables in a cloud ambience.
Getting the hang of things
On the first day at her job in May 2021, catalogue associate Saranya Sree found herself lost in virtual networks. After an online orientation with the hiring manager, she still awaits a virtual meeting with her team. “Currently, I am not sure who my teammates are or who to contact for my doubts. At an office, I would have known, or could easily communicate with an immediate senior or colleague,” she says. Her concerns are shared by Hindi-English translator Vijyeta Shaw Gupta, who struggles with her first job despite her online training on video-call and the support of her seniors. “Until I go to the office and see the process of my work in-person, settling in will be difficult for me.
So far, I have only been able to do basic tasks, since I know little about the details of the files I must translate and the office environment in general,” she says. Betting against the pandemic, Vijyeta shifted from Kolkata to Chennai in May 2021 amid sporadic lockdowns. While she was apprehensive about the journey, she knew it came at the cost of a golden opportunity. Unfortunately, the city went into complete lockdown the week after she arrived.
Not everyone, however, was faced with bumpy transitions. Communication professional Vishakha Agrawal has only good experiences to share. She was sceptical of a switch in jobs as it meant not meeting her teammates daily, but constant communication and a flat hierarchy have made the shift smooth, she reports. “Having no hierarchy is a blessing because you can reach out to any and everyone for work or otherwise,” she says. The team is encouraged to always be available to each other and communicate with video calls to maintain visibility. There is a call every morning and a huddle again in the evening to check on the progress of the day.
Content specialist Safiya*, who joined her organisation in April 2021, also has to participate in as many as five meetings a day. Admitting that remote connectivity has become the new normal, she adds, “It was initially difficult to get around because you are used to interacting with your colleagues in person. But now, we are constantly in touch through apps like Zoom, Google Meets, Slack, and WhatsApp.”
Team dynamics
The essence of a team is not just in meeting deadlines and completing projects but in the camaraderie of attending meetings together, sharing meals, and hatching inside jokes. For Gokoulane Ravi, however, these bonding moments come few and far between due to the lack of social interaction. “Nowadays, conversations with my team are 99% about work and 1% personal. The friendship or rapport I used to build with my team is missing. I know how competent my juniors are, but nothing that would help me empathise with them,” he shares. Like many, the digital marketer lost his job due to the pandemic in June 2020.
In December, he was offered a position at an organisation with which he had previously worked. While he is familiar with the upper management, there is a struggle to create a social connection with his junior colleagues. This was quite in contrast to the pre-pandemic experience at his earlier organisation, where he was accustomed to small talks that helped him build a relationship with his team and allowed him to make better decisions. On their part, his current organisation is encouraging of social interaction between employees, he shares. “They do events and online conferences from time to time. Recently, they even arranged a quiz. The HR team is making an effort to bring people together,” he adds.
Beyond the office chatter, corporate activities and events that encouraged teamwork have been replaced with online social hours for software quality engineer Ashwini Kumar. “At my earlier place of employment, we would meet up every Friday for fun activities — lunches, cricket tournaments, and such. Now, this seems to be lacking,” she says. Although her new organisation has attempted to connect people remotely, employees often forget about them since they are held after work hours.
Work-life balance
With work bleeding into her home life, Ashwini is faced with bittersweet consequences. On one hand, the lack of set work hours has led to working longer than usual. “Overtime is not expected of us, but unlike an office where we could leave work when we left for home, remote operations keep the mind engaged in work and make us voluntarily extend our work time. It is our responsibility to take breaks and make ourselves comfortable at work,” she points out. On the other hand, the time spent on the commute is now dedicated to her daughter. “We used to see our family members only one hour a day due to eight hours of work plus commute. Now, I am able to be with family at work and manage household chores along with a career. My bond with my daughter is stronger.” She has also been able to postpone her move to Bengaluru — where her new organisation is located — thanks to this set-up.
The effects of work-life imbalance have also been felt by Gokoulane, who sometimes works from the early hours of the morning to beyond usual work hours. He copes with the screen time by taking periodic short breaks, something that he says might not have been possible at an office. A room in his house is dedicated to his work. “If you don’t have a designated space for your work, it can be tough to focus. I have a toddler and a niece who is 3-4 years old. Thankfully, clients and vendors have become sympathetic to the situation where a crying baby in the background is no longer considered unprofessional,” he shares.
A corporate effort
Companies are also becoming more adaptive and cooperative with the needs of their employees. Vishakha’s workplace had introduced a four-day workweek policy for the month of May. “It was an open discussion where we shared challenges with the team lead and how to give time off to the employees. The management was proactive and made the decision to give us a breather,” she adds. While her work is no longer 9-6, she claims that the teams are accommodating if anyone takes time off. Furthermore, they also have bonding ‘Fri-yay calls’ every week where they discuss everything except work — shows, movies, hobbies, food and vacations.
Safiya’s organisation has also been considerate about work-life balance. “The company is doing whatever they can to help us out. If you’re overwhelmed or feeling stressed, you can easily ask for a day off,” she says.
Apart from work stress, junior creative executive Nigel’s* organisation has taken into account the mental health struggles induced by the pandemic. “They have introduced mental health counsellors for employees, free of charge for six sessions. This has been really good considering how many people have been mentally affected during the pandemic,” he shares. Being the first hire of the pandemic, Nigel was anxiety-ridden when he first transitioned from experiential marketing to digital advertising in a remote set-up. He had joined the company on the cusp of the advent of the pandemic and in fact, had a fearful period of uncertainty between putting down his papers and receiving the offer letter from the new organisation. “The process was getting delayed but my new employer fast-tracked it considering the lockdown. I am glad I shifted at the right time as many employees at my previous place of work were put on furlough due to the pandemic,” he details.
Nigel’s colleagues were welcoming and soon enough, he settled into a comfortable relationship with them, even indulging in work-related rants at times. Unfortunately, several of these colleagues left the organisation before he had a chance to meet them in-person. “I didn’t get to make any good memories in the 10 months I got to know them. It’s sad that even the memories I have are limited to video calls,” he rues. Now, it seems like Nigel has to start his gregarious journey afresh. While he is nervous to meet his new team in-person, he does not wish to squander the opportunity this time.
The first encounter
Some offices are opening up to accommodate a percentage of the staff and the new recruits will have to learn how to replicate their online associations in an office set-up. For Saranya, this has set nerves on edge as she gets a second chance at first impressions. “I am awkward in-person anyway, but this lockdown has made it worse. Since I started work virtually, I can’t gauge what it would be like to meet the team. I’m looking forward to it but also anxious,” she mentions, adding that she wishes to have met them before the lockdown, if even for a short while.
Now good friends with her colleagues, Vishakha awaits a chance to catch up with them in office. “I am really looking forward to meeting each and everyone in our team. There are no inhibitions or fears. We have been on video calls day in and day out!” This pandemic is a period of firsts. And for these newcomers, there are many firsts yet to come.
*Names changed