Skip to main content

Working from Home

The service sector has embraced its long waiting armour, "work from home". As tech-powered solutions to avoid social gatherings continue to rise, I was concerned about the long-lasting ripples it might leave behind in the modern work culture. In fact, there could be other changes that this phenomena of working from home might trigger.

The push for using technology to create a virtual presence rather than a physical one was booming over the past few years thanks to better communication architecture. The coronavirus pandemic, only served to coerce it. But there is hardly any way of getting back from this. Infact, its better in two aspects one that if something could be done more comfortably from home there is apparently no point in forcing a culture. In fact, large corporates like google were actively working to make employees feel home at their offices. Now they have to feel official at their homes. Which can be done by simply having a soundproof conferencing room (or maybe corner) in the house. What has the employer to gain from this? The workhour suddenly expanded, the falsehood of segregated professional and personal life is now over. its deadlines that will now become terms of working not the office hours. To some extent that sounds like exploitation of the workers. Maybe a just exchange for a newfound comfort.

The second important advantage is less commute:- the single greatest burden on modern cities. This means lesser pollution, no rush hour traffic jam and lesser accidents. I understand that the changes might be unnoticeable since all corporates might not switch to work from home. The other greatest advantage is that working from home does open up a hoard of jobs, most in geographical locations that were earlier inaccessible. Germany could get its cheap tech-labour from Bangladesh (both of these countries are just an example). The very idea of urbanisation or bringing workers together is a product of industrialisation, and it makes no sense that the services sector still holds to this archaic policy. 

There are disadvantages and complications too. Without social contact co-workers would get alienated from one another, meeting mostly online like gamers. This could serve to fall of dedicated unions that enforced labour rights. Also these days, social living is mostly based on the jobs we do. Apartments filled with strangers who probably work in the city. Given that the social life of office has now dried up, you still need friends to share a beer with. This is where I believe we could look back at our neighbours, going back to the culture of the countryside or maybe into something new and interesting. Whatever may happen, the impetus that coronavirus gave to tech in the field of running offices will spin changes in the social fabric like none other. 

Popular posts from this blog

The persistence of war

Countess authors have written on war, whether war and peace or the art of war. It's sometimes astonishing how pervading the idea of a war is over human civilisation. But the nature and structure of war have mainly changed, while the similarities are uncanny. But without just being philosophical, let's understand how the terms that are floated today are a realisation of power and limitation of its projection. In that sense, this piece is a treatise on peace or, if I can, a seeming decline in war's enticement. Wars were fought for the expansion of one's territory. But it remains a question of how and who the war served. In that sense, the armies were a protector of the ruler. Thus, the war was intended to gain rule except when it was led by vengeance or the decree of a religion. But what was expected was that most of the greatest conquests were in the form of an expedition, thus having to have a geographical continuity, which became necessary for people to establish loyal
dive in...

The Gems on Coursera

I found myself in a rare situation this April. Had things stuck to their schedule, I would have completed my graduation curriculum and would have been ticking off any college goer's dream check-list, which did include a few travel and adventure. But, the situation as of 2020 has a different story to tell. With no end to this quarantine insight, the check-list became an impossibility.  So I took the Coursera COVID offer for colleges and started my odyssey to various areas of studies, my mechanical engineering syllabi had prevented me from. So without much ado, here are the "Gems" on the courses platform, each one must give a shot at.  Model Thinking This course gives an unusual approach to what we have accepted as complex socio-political phenomena. With simple logical and mathematical principle, Prof. Scott E. Page recreates results which have puzzled global leaders. He argues that this approach to reality is a must for all in this 21st century, and I could not agree mo
dive in...

Election afterthoughts

The unfolding of the Indian election might have come as a surprise to many, for one is the BJP who steamrolled the campaign seasons with slogans of "400 par". While it remains 240 seats popular in a house of 520 members, a few stories should not go unnoticed. First, the BJP's popularity and the win for a third term is no ordinary feat. Only a few leaders of the past have managed such an elusive feat. This, indeed, is the trust that the brand Modi has built over the years. In politics, we often get acclimatized to the situations, in certain aspects too critical of it. When the young generation looked at Indira Gandhi's cabinet, they vowed never to again let such a solid mandate to a single party that its chief could declare an emergency, and no structures would be able to prevent that. This, however, ended up in fragmented colours in the Lok Sabha, the era of coalitions and surprise prime ministers. Needless to say, the horse-trading of MPs and the mindless corruption
dive in...