A thin line between work and life seems blurred during pandemic with endless working hours

As the working from home is new normal now, for an unforeseen amount of future, the craze and excitement about staying at home seems to fade away. The employers have started to realize that “working from home” has invariably translated to “always available.” Never ending zoom calls at odd hours from employers – it is taken for granted that employees would be at home, free or not doesn’t really matter, after all they are working from home.

No segregation between personal and work life due to working from home as laid down a troubling situation for employees amid pandemic crisis.

International Labour Organization says that on an average the employees are working way over 48 hours a week. According to the international labour standards employees have to work a maximum of 8 hours per day. The endless working hours don’t seem to end with odd time for meetings being put up and employees being expected to attend them all.

Since the pandemic has struck, there have been drastic changes in lifestyle and routine with everyone stuck at home and amalgamation of work and private life. At beginning while this was looking like a refreshed change and “have fun while it lasts” scenario, now it is taking a toll on mental being of individuals. Anxiety and insecurity are the leading feelings employees are going through, especially with economic slowdown globally and job insecurities. Physical health is too on edge with no movement or exercise possible.

Working from home has led to a new set of issues – low connectivity and internet problems lead to decreased work productivity. Furthermore, setting a comfortable environment for working at home is a daunting task at most, especially with a long term setting in mind. This is also overlapping the personal life after office as professional tasks never seem to end.

The already thin demarcation between work and persona life has disrupted even further during pandemic. This has resulted in chaos while trying to maintain a healthy work-life balance. It is important for employers and employees to consciously try and limit the working to office hours and respect the work-life boundary.