Work from home going for a toll
When the multinational company Shaker Hossain works at introduced work from home option from the third week of March, just as the rogue coronavirus was gaining a foothold in the united states, he was beside himself with relief.
Relief that he no more would need to sit through the Dhaka traffic for just two hours on his commute to and from work; relief that he has fewer chances of catching the deadly virus now.
After a few days of working remotely, the novelty soon wore off. And in its place entered insomnia, backache, weight gain, restlessness, stress and anxiety.
"It has just become a 24-hour job for me," said the mid-level employee at the multinational company.
He now opens his notebook at 9 am and shuts its lid at midnight as his bosses are giving him work, one after another.
"The day and the night time seem the same to me now. A strange sense of ennui has taken your hands on my entire life," he said, adding that his output is not satisfactory in comparison to his input.
Still, he is enduring his bosses' whims as worries of losing his job looms large on his mind. A lot of his friends from his business school have already been furloughed or laid off recently.
Like Hossain, hundreds and a large number of jobholders 're going through the gamut of feelings as companies shut office businesses after the nationwide shutdown was announced from 26.
Initially imposed for 10 days, the shutdown has been extended thrice as the coronavirus caseload escalated in the country. At the moment, the shutdown will succeed until May 16.
The sedentary lifestyle that Tariqul Islam Khan, a deputy general manager at the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla), leads means he has gained 5 kilograms in weight within the last 40 days.
While working in his office space, he would be attending meetings and getting together with people. But, now, absolutely everything has truly gone virtual and managing it that way is proving to be highly stressful for him.
"Anxiety and stress are such things that may devastate any one's life. My blood pressure is constantly fluctuating and I can't sleep during the night," said Khan, who also is suffering from Type 2 diabetes.
And it is not merely the middle-aged jobholders who have found the brand new working arrangement difficult to obtain a handle on.
Munir Momtaj, a sub-editor at a news portal, working remotely was immensely enjoyable initially and did not mind doing twice the standard amount of work.
"But my entire life feels monotonous now without going outside for days on end," he said, while expressing an overwhelming sense of anxiety of when normalcy would go back to his life.
To make matters worse, the distressing news on the novel coronavirus pandemic can be taking a toll on the mental health of people.
Sharmin Ahmed, a faculty person in the University of Dhaka, thought she'd be focusing on her academic interest with the leisure time she has been afforded for the suspension of classes.
"But I can't concentrate on my work. So many people, including a few of my students, are in such distress and it is hampering my research work," she added.
The tremendous strain that jobholders are now battling for homeworking and overall sense of doom has given rise to calls from clinical psychologists for employers to be a little sensitive and reassuring.
Many people are actually suffering from depression due to the fear of getting infected with the virus, concern with an uncertain professional future and monetary vulnerability, said Mohammad Hossain, professor at the neurosurgery department of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
"People need to be assured of monetary safety. For that, a concerted effort of the federal government and the riches are needed," he added.
Kazi Inam Ahmed, a director at Gemcon Group which has introduced home based from March 18, though is looking at the bright side.
"Personally, i feel holding meetings over Zoom makes them better. Maybe the biggest positive from this is we might figure out how to do more work from home, which means, taking into consideration the Dhaka traffic we can also spend additional time with our families," he added.
