Employment: Working from home

Published September 6, 2015
Striking a balance is important
Striking a balance is important

When Mustansir Bandukwala moved to North America a year ago, he started managing his business operations in Pakistan from his new home in North America. “With a good internet connection, most of my work can be done online, so it doesn’t make sense to incur rent for an office. If I need to meet clients, I schedule the meetings in coffee shops.”

For Mustansir, the flexible timings allow him to explore his new hometown and go off on adventures at will. “When you work from home you can mix and match business, family, and pleasure at your convenience. The only issue is interruptions such as unexpected visitors or household chores that make it difficult to maintain discipline and schedules.” He believes that one can work from home with a relaxed schedule after reaching their 50s, but in the early years one should develop their career with a 9.00 to 5.00 work schedule.

Mustansir is not doing something innovative or unusual. With the growing and changing spectrum of work opportunities and facilities that include on-line communication, an increasing number of people have started working from home. Though they do face some challenges, they also enjoy a more relaxed life-style.


Relaxed timings and not having to commute are a blessing but one has to be disciplined and able to prioritise


Extra pocket money is always welcome, so Xeynab Hossein started a second job working from home in the business marketing field. Though multi-tasking from home, with no fixed timing or routine, makes it difficult for her to remain focused. Since she works solo, understanding client requirements and achieving client satisfaction relying solely on her judgment is also a challenge. She manages her two jobs, family and home by prioritising.

In 2012, Sophia Hasnain started her Innovation Management consultancy for the IT and telecom sector companies. She joined GSMA’s Mobile Money team in 2014. As the position is based in the region and not in headquarters in London, she has to work from home.

With the current three years’ experience of working from home, and a previous three year self-owned garage operation, Sophia has created a productive 9.00 to 6.00 work schedule during which time office work takes priority. “After my morning routine, I get ready and start work promptly at 9am.”

Her tips for productivity: discipline yourself to start work on time and finish on time. Be conscientious about honouring deadlines and adjusting your routine to fit them. Know your priorities and be willing to say ‘no’ when a demand conflicts with your priority. Stay focused on tasks or project delivery. Maintain a calendar of work and home lives and events to accommodate both. Don’t pick up a call from work after office hours and ignore the doorbell during work hours.

She does not need to drive to work and can choose her work station and time allocation, but coordinating with colleagues takes extra time. “Unless you are self-employed, home-based workers usually do not understand the full operations and politics of the organisation, so career development is slower. Work or tasks are just one aspect of the office; the politics and undercurrents can only be understood when you are physically present, especially during ‘water cooler’ and lunch break conversations. Home-based careers develop more in content specialisation than organisational hierarchy. However, there is hope that organisations will value their off-site employees as much as in-house ones.”

Farva Patel is a qualified educationist who chose to stay home after her baby was born. She missed her work and salary, and since she had always dreamt of having her own set-up, she started an online business page called Little Athletes. She imports and sells toys, gadgets and child-proofing items that meet children’s environmental, educational and social needs.

In your home atmosphere
In your home atmosphere

Over the past six months she has learnt to improve her time management skills, prioritise responsibilities and balance work and home with help from her domestic staff. During the day her toddler keeps her on her toes, so she deals with customers and suppliers during his nap and sleep time.

“Of course, there is a difference in my current income slot. Start-ups take time to form a clientele base and credibility unlike a 9-5 fixed income job, but for now this is sufficient for me and my enterprise is growing steadily.”

Omair Amjad is the regional business operations manager for a multi-national company. As part of a small team, he has to multi-hat and act as a bridge for several functions within his company that are not present in the regional team, including running operations smoothly and project delivery.

He started working from home two years ago. “I work in an emerging region, and naturally we are cautious about the risk of opening a formal office and making a large investment where the scale is not large enough.”

For Omair it’s tricky balancing work, household chores, two-year-old twins and explaining to his family that he is doing some real work and not just sitting in a room away from them. “Often the boundaries between personal and professional time and space become blurry, and you need to segregate the two; the moment they start to overlap, you will not be able to do justice to either. Follow a schedule and close all distractions when you are working (personal laptop, Whatsapp, Facebook, etc); similarly, do not get tempted to start work every time you get the chance. Working from home may also take a toll on your sanity.” Omair prefers starting work early before his family wakes up. He updates them about his schedule a day in advance so that they can plan their day accordingly. For small breaks he likes to come out of his workspace and interact and play with the twins.

He insists that for people working from home, a dedicated workspace is a must. A spare room with a door that can be shut is sufficient.

Working from home makes communication with colleagues, intra-organisational coordination and coming into the limelight a challenge, but he enjoys the flexible, comfortable schedule. “You can go see a movie at 11.00am while the rest of the workforce is stuck in office. The best thing about working from home is being with your family all the time and not missing out a moment of your children growing up.”

Muhammed Ali Sheikh, a film director and producer, produces local and international documentaries, and promotional and corporate videos. Ali always knew he wanted to be self-employed, and after gaining some experience working nine to five, in 2013 he started his own company from the spare room in his house.

Travelling to and from work would take hours, which he can now spend productively. He can do whatever he wants to or needs to and still meet deadlines. Being single, he doesn’t have to worry about giving time to spouse and children, but he does get to spend more time with family and friends.

“On the down side, I do miss the office camaraderie between co-workers and the small talk around the tea station or smokers’ corner. Working from home can become monotonous, and without the pressure of a boss to keep you on track, it’s easy to lose focus and let the routine slide. I have to be my own boss, and a tough one at that.” For Ali, the most important part of his routine is to wake up on time and set a plan for the day. He works daily from 10 to 8, with a two-hour break for chores or errands. He evaluates his performance according to the daily and weekly targets he meets.

“Being self-employed is completely different from office life. Being your own boss means that you are completely responsible for your work, since quality work is the only thing that will keep your clientele. There are no fixed promotions to achieve, and some days you don’t have any work despite your best efforts while on other days you have so much work that you need to hire help. It is a financially unstable position but one with greater potential than a nine-to-fiver.”

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 6th, 2015

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