Are techies stressed out by the pressures of Work From Home (WFH) arrangement increasingly turning guilt-ridden on not being able to spend quality time with their families?
A nearly month-long tele-counselling campaign organised for women techies by the women’s forum of Prathidwani, a combine of IT employees, points towards such a possibility.
“Guilt was an overwhelming sentiment shared by majority of the women especially over the perceived neglect of their children, as the separation of personal and professional lives become increasingly blurred. The popular perception of WFH being an easy arrangement makes it even more difficult for these women to convince others about their work pressures. My advice to them has been to say ‘no’ against work overloaded and to find personal time through better planning and scheduling,” said Anju Minesh, a consultant psychologist.
Radhika Ramachandran, a Kochi-based techie, suffered from that sense of guilt when her three-year-old child kept knocking on the closed door while she was working. “Since I was home, he would not go to the maid either. He also insisted on me giving him time during his afternoon nap, which was tough amidst the work. WFH entailed this added burden of not just doing the work but convincing your manager about it,” she said, even as she shared the frustrations of leading a reclusive life away from friends for over a year now.
Dr. Minesh said that the stress and the resultant frustrations of WFH seemed to be on a never-ending loop down the hierarchy.
However, there were exceptions like Deepa Sasi who found WFH arrangement rather acceptable thanks to her ability to multitask. “Earlier, I could hardly spend time with my children, as it was almost their bedtime by the time I returned from office. Now I can spend time with them and schedule my work late night mostly after putting them to bed. But that has completely disrupted the life cycle and noon has become the default breakfast time,” she said.
The constant chattering on social media groups of techies about the anxieties and stress of WFH is what prompted Prathidhwani to organise the ‘Talk to Counsellor’ campaign. “It was originally planned as a fortnight-long programme but was extended till the month-end owing to the greater response. Though meant for women techies, even some males responded inadvertently and we didn’t turn them away,” said Bibi John, executive of women’s forum of Prathidhwani.
