Article: Soumyasree Chakraborty (née Mukherjee)
Work-From-Home as a Career Option Imagine being employed sans the trouble of commuting to workplace. Imagine office work sans piles of paper. Sounds interesting? Well then, welcome to the growing network of work-from-home professionals. Work-from-home, once a not-so-fashionable concept, has become a realistic choice for many who want to save time and spend more of it with their families. Says Madhumita Das (name changed on request), mother of a five year old boy, "There are many (me included) who gave up their career for some reason or the other. With work from home opportunities, they can use their skills and earn even from their home. My husband is out of town very often due to his profession. There's nobody to take care of my son here. Working from home seems to be tailor-made for people like me." Soaring fuel prices, increase in pollution and unpredictable traffic made the concept of working from home gather pace as more and more people are reconsidering commuting to work place. Advancement in technology has made it a practical and achievable reality. Says Satrajit Sanyal, Lecturer, NCLD, NSHM Knowledge Campus, Kolkata, "When one gets to work from home, it is at one's own convenience and leisure. For the truly independent and cause-dedicated, no situational scenario could be more Utopian." Today when everybody is talking of "going green", virtual office seems to be a natural choice. Shares Dr. Nishi Viswanathan, Chief Content Officer, Chillibreeze Solutions Pvt Ltd, a content and design service provider that employs Indian writers, "When employees of a company work in virtual space, doing away with the need to commute to office or use paper, they set an example for the community and encourage energy conservation. For example, most Chillibreeze employees and writers telecommute and work in the virtual space from their own homes, eliminating the need for fuel to commute to the workplace, almost all the work at Chillibreeze is done electronically thereby eliminating the use of paper. While the writers' network is part of the virtual office, the small team of nonvirtual employees works from Shillong, Meghalaya in North East India, one of the most environmentally pristine places on earth, in a 'green' office." However, working from home is not a cake-walk, of course! It takes a phenomenal amount of self-discipline to start work when you know you don't have to be at the office by 8 a.m. Continues Nishi, "When Chillibreeze was initially launched, we told our first employee that she could work from home and come to the office whenever she wanted to but she eventually never came to the office to work. And she did not accomplish much পালিক পড়ুন o পড়ানঃ http://calcuttans.com/palki
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from home either so our first attempt was a big failure. But things have changed since then, and today, at any given point in time, we have more than 150 writers working on different projects, all from home." Establishing a schedule for both work and break helps to organise matters. Setting up defined goals and deadlines ensures productivity. A functional designated workspace can keep distractions to a minimum. Above all, you should be self-motivated and disciplined to handle the freedom as you have to work without direct supervision. Many people will assume that because you work at home you would be available at beck-n-call to tend to their needs. Flexibility is a bonus that can be availed when necessary, but never be abused. So you have to learn where to draw the line. Opines Madhumita, "A whole bunch of stuff can be done sitting at home, like, academics, proof-reading, writing biographies, doing market research, translations etc. But there are very few companies with unquestionable credibility in such areas. And it's tough to understand which site is genuine by browsing the net alone. So do your research work well before committing to work for a particular company." Points out Saikat Basu, writer, web developer and MBA in marketing, "It is a lonely job. Sometimes, I do miss the hustle-bustle and the interactions of a regular day job. Emotions are emoticons. But I guess, we win some and lose some." So you see it is easier to dream of having a job that can be done in your pajamas, but to carry it out well, you need loads of grit and determination. Author Introduction: Soumyasree started writing very young patroned by Voices, the school supplement of The Statesman, Kolkata. Since then she has freelanced exhaustively for the Kolkata editions of The Statesman, The Telegraph, The Asian Age, The Hindustan Times and The Times of India; the Pune edition of The Times of India; and of course for Palki. She's also associated with Chillibreeze, a content and design service provider. Working for children as volunteer for the Youth Wing of CRY and Mentaid has been her passion. Contact:
[email protected]
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