WFH more since I gave birth 2 years ago. Even before I got married, may home office set-up ako, lalo na since I do some freelance design gigs. I also work ng US time so even before, medyo bago-bago pa lang Zoom ginagamit na namin.
Sanay na sa WFH set-up. I go to the office pag kailangan talaga. Right now sa amin, open na offices ulit since late February pero super strict entry/exit sa building. 3 times lang ako nagpunta sa office, 1 time to get our papers sorted out when the building opened, and another 2 for items na kailangan ng mismong signature ko and just to go out kasi I needed a change in scenery at saka tapat ng building namin eh yung import goods store so shopping after.
For me who needs to be on the field for my work, nakakadisorient ang WFH. May official hours nga, pero people tend to go beyond their working hours kasi nakakawala ng sense of time. Hirap din makipag-usap nang di harapan, and umaapaw na ang Viber groups.
Siguro, mahirap din (and partly masaya) na may nangungulit na bata on your side while working. I think di naman nabawasan ang productivity ko, pero you’ll really have to do things differently.
I can WFH (work from anywhere actually) since more than 3 years ago. So not much difference pre-corona and present. But thru the years, my observations:
I am waaaay more productive WFH. Why and how? I am in a “western” work environment but the way I work is still largely “eastern”. I’ll explain of course. Here, people try to maximise their free-time, take breaks religiously to rest, catch-up, exchange banter, chissums, paninipsip, network and other extra-curricular activities. When in Rome, do as the Romans do so in a day’s work, I spend time for essentially non-work stuff - the camaraderie, work-life balance, mental health, or whatnot. When I WFH, I am alone. I have no one to “disturb” me to hear about last night’s My Kitchen Rules drama, some AFL team winning against another AFL team, and of course, am not “accessible” for work questions. No small talk. No distractions. No walking from one meeting room to another. Since I love what I do, I try to always do a good job, and the Asian in me can do more, is willing to help, need not be micro-managed, dire-direcho lang ako and I finish more work.
However, drawback is I overdo it. I forget to take breaks or even lunch, especially when my day is meeting after meeting. And I even finish up late in the evening na. So, the absence of human “structures” or “triggers” (eg. lunch time lets eat! The see-you - tomorrows or the ooh-chissums-time! Mental health! ) makes koya_gidz an efficient but unnecessarily overworked humanoid, with a heart. Nudaw.
I feel more productive under the wfh set-up. I don’t need to spend 3-4hrs in traffic a day. The drawback is mas nakakapagod siya. If you don’t consciously set your boundaries, you tend to overwork kasi ang nasa isip mo nasa bahay ka na naman. Unlike in the office na if it’s 6 or 7pm, you start packing-up because you need to get home pa.
Okay for me ang WFH, because you can do work stuff at the comfort of your home and your own time. However, not all jobs can be done at home. My current work cannot be done at home since it involve huge amount of records, which are stored in the office. Ang mahirap pa sa mga records na yun, physical records. Ang dami pa.
Hindi ako pumapayag na wala akong side hustle, so meron akong isa sa LGU (maps and drafting plans), then dalawa online. Kapag matumal yung isa sa mga work ko, hahanap lang ako sa Reddit ng mga available non-voice jobs. Mas nakakaipon ako and may time pa rin ako kahit tatlo na work ko.
Tulad kanina at kahapon, wala halos pinagawa sa akin ang isa kong boss online, pero diretso lang bayad nya sa akin, okay na rin. Hindi ako nakakatulog pag walang trabaho. Greedy
Easter Sunday na pala ngayon, hindi ko na namalayan. Normally, aware naman ako sa kung anong araw na, but since the ECQ was implemented, hindi ko na minsan alam. Siguro kasi pre-ECQ, nakakapag-schedule pa ng mga lakad, so nailalagay pa sa scheduler/calendar.
^ Also, ayan, masipag naman talaga ako mag-work, lalo bilang contractor, wala akong kikitain if hindi ako magtrabaho. Pero ngayong ECQ, kung di ko pipigilan, pakiramdam ko malalampasan ko ang usual workload ko, which is great financially, but feeling ko magiging mentally drained ako. Buti na lang may Peyups!
WFH for us started a few days before the official ECQ started. We were actually planning to have a practice run lang, so the company was more or less ready in terms of systems access and whatnot… pero game na pala talaga.
Pros:
I can wake up at 8am, take a quick shower, turn on my laptop (have to be online by 8:30), and have leisurely coffee
Can work in whatever clothes I feel like wearing for the day. Nung week 1 nageeffort pa ko mag-collared shirts with pambahay shorts. Ngayon kung ano ano na lang
Cons:
I live alone so I do literally everything for myself, by myself. It’s a lot of adjustment from my life pre-ECQ. At least pag sa pumapasok sa office, minimal chores lang. Eto magwwork ka, magluluto ka, maghuhugas ka ng dishes, maglalaba ka paunti unti kasi wala ka sampayan, etc.
All those online meetings that go on for hours buti na lang audio lang kami lately so people don’t see when you’re just playing with your phone (which is a Pro)
the additional email exchanges that should have just been a quick chat if you’re actually in the office
the dismal wifi connection (I miss our fast office wifi huhu)
not being able to have lunch/chika/coffee with colleagues
no printer
no space to walk around if you need a break. Either cr or kusina lang ang ending
missing after-office activities too
less boundaries kasi andyan lang laptop mo and wala ka naman pupuntahan after work
WFH since the ECQ started–if you don’t count the weekday nights and the weekends when we’re required to work while at home (or on vacation…). I can be productive anywhere if it’s quiet and I have deadlines. Minsan mas distracting pa sa office kasi nakakaengganyo makichika sa neighbors.
I’ve always worked from home whenever the need arises. At my present law firm, sa team namin last year, allowed ako mag WFH as often as I wanted since I went back directly after my obligatory maternity leave rather than take the usual 1 to 3 years of parental leave or just give up their careers that most mums are wont to do. So since hindi nila alam pano ako i-handle (they were grateful), go lang sa WFH — though I only did it sparingly mga max 1x a week.
For me it worked that way kasi i get to snuggle with my baby while taking calls, breastfeed directly rather than pump, and I did not miss any milestone (I was going over a pleading in her room when she rolled on her tummy the first time and ang saya ko nun!). Ang hassle lang e firm laptop lang meron ako. Ang liit ng screen, whereas mas madaling mag go iver files kapag may 3 big screens ka. Yun lang. I’m not the social type at closet introvert ako so I prefer communicating by emails rather than harapan o sa phone even.
Now, every lawyer and most nonlegal staff in our firm are working from home. And our countey managing partner just emailed saying even if irelax ng government ang measures, we may have to prolong our WFH and gradually come back.
I was on parental leave for the last three months and papunta palang akong office ngayon (first day ulit!) To get my laptop, monitor, at kung anu pang kelangan ko para magset up ng official home office. So hindi ko alam ano iexpect this time.
All I have right now are: 1) low expectations—que WFH or hindi, stressful ang trabaho and especially kung magsabay ang mètings and deadlines namin ng asawa ko, goodluck; and 2) pretty happy feeling since my baby (na hindi makapagstart ng day care kasi sarado pa lahat) and my husband (na nagWWFH din pero mas chill lang work nya) are still stuck with me!
I’ll let you know how it goes after today or after this week.
May struggle, lalo na dahil company is not 100% fully equipped for WFH setup. Ngayong period pa talaga kami sumusbok ng mga remote work setup and access to on site files. Kagandahan lang siguro is I think mas maging open yung company sa WFH at least partially.
Mahirap din kasi may kaakibat na anxiety sa lahat ng nangyayari around us. May days lang talaga na mahirap magtrabaho with that clouding over your head.
ang setup namin mula noong 2017 pa ay 3 of 5 days naka wfh kami. kaya halos walang nagkaiba in terms of work stuff. so mejo naka adopt na yung sked na mag balance ng oras ng work at for family.
ang nawala lang talaga eh wala ng sidetrip kwentohan with your opismates sa mga araw na nag kikitakita sa opis sa days na nagkikita kita ;). wala ng chismisan. ganun. ahahaha
struggling with work from home. siguro kung regular na work from home ayos pa, mamamanage ko yung oras ko ng mabuti. kaso with this one, hindi siya regular na work from home. parang wala kasi tayong choice kaya stay muna tayo sa bahay. pero tanggap ko na kaya talaga ang work from home sa field natin. kahit pag serve ng pleadings kung tutuusin kaya nang online lang eh. it’s just that nasira talaga schedule ko so ngayon slowly sinubukan bumalik sa daily grind ng. pag-lagari sa pleadings.
I like WFH so far. Sa mga feeling overworked, that’s how I felt when I was going to the office. I always worked 10-12 hours each day just because I am at work by 6am.
Now I set boundaries. I take my time, di kailangan magmadali because of traffic. Wala mahaderang taong gusto lagi makipag meeting. Now I start at 8 and end at 430.
Baka mag iba sked by May 1, but for now steady lang.
Dito online (may portal at lahat ng abogado e required magkaroon ng card at card reader para maacess ang kanikanilang accounts) ang communications with the court, between and among parties to a dispute before the court (yun nga lang, minsan sa ibang lawyer napupunta ang notices for hearing minsan—like nakatanggap ako ng labor law hearing notice last week from the court at super panic ako dahil wala naman akong alam dun! Namali lang pala ng send ) so pag ganyan, mejo comöatible sa WFH set up.
E pero pag asa corporate M&A ka tapos closing tapos ikaw magcocompile and hold in escrow ng mga papel at kung anu anong physical things for a lot of parties… abay goodluck sa maghohomeoffice.
Agree ako with @KAMANDAG na madalas ko makita anak ko pag magWFH so yun palang, masaya na ako. Kahit na stressful pag iiyak sha kasi kelangan ko magbanyo sandali. Baka via WFH hindi ako ma burn out. Well. Sana nga hindi.
Hindi para sa lahat ang WFH. (Captain Obvious) and hindi everyday masaya o perfect. Pag walang choice (like now), let’s try to squeeze good things out of it to cheer us up. Like my neighbor says (na super stressed na sila ng asawa nya at msy toddler pa sila), invent a co-worker na ibblame mo kung something goes wrong during the day. “Si Susan kasi…”
Same!!! I’ve always preferred working outside the office when I want to focus on something. Sa office kasi you always get distracted — a phone call from a client, a quick discussion with the boss, some papers from the secretary, etc. I like the idea of doing things at my own pace. But… for the past month na WFH setup, I have been struggling talaga. It’s just not the same eh. I don’t really feel like I have control, because movement is limited, and there are so many uncertainties.
I read somewhere (NV): you are not working from home. You are at home, trying to get work done, in the middle of a pandemic.
I wish I could get my mojo back na, though, because I need to reach my required total billable hours at work if I want to maintain my leave credits
buti na lang audio lang kami lately so people don’t see when you’re just playing with your phone (which is a Pro)
so I prefer communicating by emails rather than harapan o sa phone even.
