When I was caught with in the MRT Kajang line disruption due to technical faults and couldn't take my usual route to work, I had three options:
- Take a Grab directly from MRT Phileo Damansara to my office at KL Sentral (RM40+ for 10km)
- Take a Grab to the nearest LRT station and subsequently take the LRT to KL Sentral (RM22 for 5km + a very, very packed and suffocating ride to KL)
- Walk home, and call in to WFH (Free)
As Monday signals the start of the week, it didn't feel quite right to call in and WFH, to start of the week without physically aligning priorities and items to close by the end of the week with colleagues in the office. It also felt like I was giving a bad impression and a lack of discipline to my employers, which is probably what a Gen Z fears most these days.
However, I could also not afford to the financial costs of the my first two options - as I only found out about the train disruption at 7:30am when I arrived at the station, it was in the midst of the Monday-morning-rush-hour, which hiked up all the Grab fares, making them much more expensive than they usually are. I would also likely get stuck in the jam, which would make me late to work. So much hassle, would it just be better to bite the bullet and call in to WFH?
The answer was - yes. I gave up on my ego and walked home, changed my clothes, informed my colleagues and started working on my laptop. A simple call saved me from hours of frustration trying to get to work.
While WFH-ing has always been a benefit allocated to me by my employers, it's always been at my beck and call. I could choose when I wanted to WFH, or when I wanted to WFO besides the mandatory WFO days. I've always treated it as something extra that I can use whenever I wanted to. Until today, when I ran out of (free) options to get to work, is when I finally used my WFH card out of pure need. It truly saved me a lot of hassle, and I'm truly appreciative that I even have this option on hand.
This reinforces the need and purpose of WFH policies for employees - sometimes things happen in our day-to-day that disrupts our passage to work, or ability to WFO. In these times, having the option to choose a work setting that works best for us is an extremely powerful card that makes employees feel supported and appreciative. It's not just about physically deciding where one should work, but giving employees the freedom and ownership to shape their work-life balance the way they see fit.
When utilized responsibly, WFH can be one of the most efficient employee productivity strategies to exist. It reduces travel time, and gives employees back time to reinvest into work, or family.
Do you agree?
C Chai (crystal.chaijeecheng@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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