Global Journal of Management and Business Research, A: Administration and Management, Volume 22 Issue 4

Representing one’s hard work iscomplex, and it affects performance “I could not properly represent myself and my work while working from home” (Case V) Now that I am working in an office, people are seeing my work and giving much value to my work” (Case V) The communication gap increased, resulting in lost time and productivity and hampering the work-life balance. “Communication gap increases during WFH modality” (Case V) “Applying emotional intelligence to understand other person and their feelings and talking to them accordingly becomes difficult while working from home” (Case V) Theme 3: Preference for work policy Table 4: Analytical table for work policy preference Key findings Supporting Quote Example People like the hybrid option much better than the other two options. “ Hybrid work policy takes the pros from both works from home and work from office” (Case I) “ You can enjoy working around people in the office while also managing days when you have less work and just simply work from home” (Case I) “Mixing WFH with a physical office seems to be the best way. I can complete most of my work from home. We have that technology. I will only need to come to the office for product testing and corporate events.” (Case IV) Hybrid is being followed primarily on many companies with the possibility of getting into complete stream work from office based on the situation of COVID 19 “ My office is following a flexible hybrid approach and depending on COVID situation, complete work from office may start soon” (Case I) “With Agile leave, I can be working without actually being present in the office or attending meetings. It is a boost to my productivity and work-life balance.” (Case III) “Given the pandemic situation, we may not have much reason to complete WFH again. However, given that we are already used to it, we can use a mix of WFH and WFO in future.” (Case IV) “My office is planning to continue this hybrid model in the long term” (Case V) VI. D iscussion Theme 1: Positive impacts of WFH on work-life balance WFH bears positive sides with it. WFH modality allowed employees to work from their homes and stay with their family members. This is a privilege that every professional long for. From our results, we see almost every respondent treasured this privilege. This advantage of the WFH modality gave a significant drive to employee morale and, more importantly, helped them spend time with their family while enabling them to achieve an excellent work-life balance. Our findings ensured that respondents liked that WFH saved their valuable time. This did not come as a surprise. Employees of both sectors responded that they could save up free time. This free time helped them gain a fresh mind and achieve better balance. In a few cases, respondents mentioned that they get good focus while working from home. The overall analysis shows that respondents working in both sectors focused mainly on two positive impacts: Time with family and Free time. Theme 2: Negative impacts of WFH on work-life balance When it comes to negative aspects, the negatives easily outweigh the positives. Our analysis reveals almost the same pattern from all the respondents, irrespective of their working sectors. To sum it up, working from home is not as good as we initially think. First, professionals responded that they do not have a fresh mind while working from home because they have a terrible sleep schedule and extra work pressure. This hits upon their work-life balance. Impact of Work from Home (WFH) on the Work-Life Balance of Professionals Working in the Telecommunications and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Sector: An Exploratory Study in Bangladesh 78 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue IV Version I Year 2022 ( ) A © 2022 Global Journals