Guide: Moving To Work From Home

Rohan D’Souza takes a deep dive into shifting operations in a pandemic world where work from home and online operations are not just buzzwords.

This post is dedicated to all colleagues who volunteered to go on site so that we could work from home.

The question I get asked most these days is how I am coping with the lockdown. My answer surprises many.

I have loads of work and our we are actually able to improve the productivity with fewer people.

If you apply a mathematical model to it, one will find that the more things are getting done with limited resources using basic technology, more efficient that operations during so-called normal times.

For any enterprise, the sales may be lower but the logistics are the same. Cargo arriving at port must be cleared. Trucks must be loaded. Containers emptied. Cargo warehoused on racks. Payment has to be collected and accounted for. Invoices raised and material dispatched.

And the challenges that come with it. Many phone calls to get a task done, slower internet bandwidths curbing response time. Constant video conferences to be attended.

Leading teams during this crisis is not so easy.

Each one has to volunteer and you cannot force participation as you could normally do. Safety concerns are paramount and I think if fewer people work outside their homes it is better for all of us. Hence, I think we all need to think logically about working from home and start evolving a model.

Yes, remote work is possible and was a norm for some industries, especially services and software, for several years before the pandemic forced lockdowns. It is only today that it has become a necessity.

We were early movers as indicators were available to all who could see that is going to be long battle ahead.

Taking leads from these early cues, we immediately moved IT assets to remote locations. Most of us were lucky to be connected to a good quality internet pipelines. We immediately formed a core team and made a disaster management plan. Challenges were enlisted.

We had cars, fuel and drivers ready, but cold rooms, servers, accounting, factory and warehouses needed to keep functioning. We identified members staying near the factory and warehouse and activated them. A routine emergency operation schedule was prepared and many volunteered.

We made sure that no one took any unnecessary risks. Then we started calling up our customers and distributors, assured them that we are on the ground with an emergency plan.

We started a regular coordination with logistics providers and they all responded. We were delivering emergencies supply from the first week of lockdown.  Yes. we were able to achieve the impossible because of proper planning.  

We had started digitizing our operations, during the last few years when such a lockdown was not even a remote possibility.

So we were ahead in terms of infrastructure. We just had to move the workstation from office to home. Once this became a routine, colleagues accepted it as a new normal and all contributed.

We established a protocol that work from home actually meant ‘work’ from home and we are keeping at it. Even our families cooperated.

In the past when a colleague went on leave, s/he had to complete the work beforehand. This is sometimes difficult to understand for many as they have a clear difference between what is work and what is being away from work.

But we looked at it differently. It needs for us to be smatter, efficient and dependent on colleagues. Each one supports the other and volunteers to build a robust system. I read long ago that all can be achieved if people work together. And today that is a reality.