Work During Lockdown

I stepped out of home at 7.00 AM today, which is to go to work. I was driving and I looked around to see how people looked. Everybody was wearing face masks and some were even wearing gloves. Everybody looked very concerned and I believe that it's fair enough. Traffic was very low, I didn't even see one bus traveling in my rout. Things have changed a lot. People are being very careful. 

My phone started ringing, and it was a member of my staff, he said: " Ma'am the train has already left". His train was at 7.39 AM and he was at the station on time but the train has left early. So it's one staff down. I think to myself, that's ok we can manage. Then five minutes later I get another call. It's another staff, this one traveling by bus. She says "Miss I have been waiting at the bus halt since 6.30 AM but no bus. Now I am a bit annoyed, they say we can bring 1/3 of the staff to work but there is no way for them to come to work. I think, it's ok I can manage. Then I get the third call, I answer the phone and I talk first " No buses? It's ok, you can stay home we'll do something. 

I was feeling helpless. How can I fulfill the client requirements if I cant get my staff to come to work? Unlike other companies, customer service have businesses even in a pandemic situation, rather we get more businesses during these times. You may ask, why can't we work remotely? It is easier said than done. 

While all this is happening during remote working days,  some of us got e-mails saying: " Collect money from your detours as soon as possible". People are not in the office, some companies don't have online fund transfer facilities and some of us were being pushed to collect detours.The answers from the detours were hilarious. " Payments can be done only when the office is open, but you are expected to work during lockdown". Why only the payment is postponed and not the service. The payment is as important as the service. We all had some intentional downtime and some systems issues. There were few " Company is going to close" discussions as well.  

Then comes the full innovative thinking." I must do something on my own" talks followed by round table discussion on the subject with family, some conference calls, even some zoom meetings with friends. Panic happens when you realized that you don't have enough money to invest. So back to square one, 8.30 am to 5.00 pm salaried job. The rest is history. I must say there are a handful of brave souls who took the leap. My congratulations to them. 

The month of April's performance report is next in line. Who can give performance reports for April this year? most of the people were not at work, no systems to work with  but the client wants what the client wants and that is the monthly sales lead dashboard or the customer satisfaction survey or hundreds of other reports they request. Some even ask why there are no sales for April. Hmmm, I wonder why, maybe it's because of a pandemic situation going on at the moment. 

Truth was, most of us didn't know what to do. Some worked tirelessly during the lockdown, some didn't work at all. Regardless of the amount of work we did, the companies tried to give us the full salary. Heartfelt appreciation to those companies.

I was not ready to work remotely. Sri Lanka was not ready to work remotely and it's time that we start getting used to it. It's time that companies invest in remote working facilities. We might have to live with COVID 19 for some time, but we shouldn't let it break us, our companies, or our country. 

#peacelovehappiness