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

Secondly, respondents confirmed that distractions are always there at home. Focus can be quickly diminished, and work productivity lowers, resulting in working extra to finish the projects and meet the deadline and ultimately having an insufficient work- life balance or free time for oneself. Adjusting to this work modality was a bit stressful for many. People working in this modality did not know many things and were confused about their performance and the quality of their work. These could have been avoided, as they responded so if they worked from the office. Work from home modality resulted in extra work pressure. The assumption of managers that working from home is like vacation has led them to delegate more tasks. Plus, as they cannot visibly notice each employee’s workload, they are ignorant of their subordinates' work pressure. This work pressure results in late-night finishing up projects with little or no time at all to self or family members. So, even if the respondents are with their family members, they are not there at all. Finally, some other issues hinder the peace and work-life balance of employees. These are communication gaps and less representation of one’s work. All in all, these problems contribute to an employee’s working up to more or procrastinating more or even wondering what to do not getting clear instructions—finally, these result in a poor work-life balance. Theme 3: Preference for work policy Every respondent unequivocally agreed that a hybrid work modality is better among the three options: Work from home, Work from the office & Hybrid. They believe that the hybrid modality gives them the best work-life balance, and it takes up pros from both the other modalities. VII. R ecommendations In this section, the paper suggests recommendations that tackle the problems and negative impacts of WFH modality and combine the positive effects of WFH modality and work modality preference of employees. Breaking the monotony: WFH can get very monotonous, as supported by the case studies. Organisations can include fixed free time every day to mimic employees’ interaction in their office to tackle this case. In that free time, fun activities, usual chit chat, etc., can be done to break the monotony of employees. Easy approaching and problem-solving process: During the WFH modality, employees face the problem to approach their managers or other employees to solve problems or even get feedback. While in office, this can be quickly done, but in the WFH situation, this has become tough. A straightforward approach or problem dropping system can be introduced. As illustrated from Case V, many employees, new employees especially, do not know whom to approach to solve a new problem. Our recommendation will be to develop a site or use Google Sheets or any other interactive office document system where employees can drop their problems. Every other employee will have access to the site or document and can contribute to solving the problem instantly. It’s like a Quora for office problem-solving. Specific time frame of work: A specific time frame for doing work must be ensured and monitored. For example, a particular hour for lunchtime where no other meetings will be conducted. Plus, a fixed overall time frame like the work from the office module (9 AM-6 PM) should be ensured. Not maintaining a proper time frame has resulted in an overload of tasks for most employees, and if this specific time frame of work can be provided, it will give a better balance to employee’s life and work. A system to easily understand employees' workload: As evident from the interviews, during the WFH modality, it is difficult for managers to know their subordinates' work pressure effectively. This is primarily due to: a) Subordinates do not usually disclose their work pressure. They cannot say no to new work from their managers; b) Managers cannot physically see the project that the subordinates are working on; c) There is no policy that organisations ensure that managers check first before delegating work to their subordinates. An interactive system where everyone can see their current work can be maintained to solve this problem. For example, a Google Sheet for current projects can be sustained where every employee can fill up details like the project they are working on, the name of the manager that delegated the task, etc. This will help the managers to know the current project that one employee is working on. A corporate practice to ensure managers check work pressure before delegating can also be followed. Training up to perfect communications in the online world: Communications gap arises during working from home, as evident by Case V. Training on how to conduct communications in this online modality for all employees can help teach the employees of the organisation the techniques and methods that they can follow to ensure effective communications. Following the hybrid model of work: As all respondents suggested, the hybrid modality is the most preferred form of working and gives them the best work-life balance. Organisations can implement hybrid modalities to provide employees with the best working experience and help them achieve a healthy work-life balance. VIII. C onclusion This paper seeks to explore the impact of work from home modality. This paper shows that working 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 79 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue IV Version I Year 2022 ( ) A © 2022 Global Journals