Changing Work Practices

moomal shekhawat

We at SEA believe that the pandemic has a granularity of meta, non-linear narratives that become useful in making sense of the relational complexities of the pandemic and society. Thus, we set out to collect stories of fears, joys, agilities, fragilities, friendships, networks, collectives, home, work, infrastructures, entrepreneurship, privileges, marginalizations, migrations, desperation, gender, equity, etc. The glossary as a method became useful to reflect on this granularity of experiences and account for slippages during these times. These spatio-temporal stories, when read together or as individual instances produce a new sense of the emergent contemporary. This framework also allows us to speculate on the kind of world we will inhabit once the storm has passed. We draw on multiple readings to bring out the nuances and patterns of social life produced in a pandemic. This we hope would allow us to collectively reflect on the restructured ideas of the self, the collective, society, space, and time. Individual micro-curated expositions are linked together for www.covidglossary.net in order to generate non-linear readings of the pandemic.

Staying in a nuclear working family, we all used to stay outside our house for the entire day. We would come home in the evening for the dinner. My house previously was like a rest-house where we would go just to sleep. But now, due to this pandemic, we all are at home entire day, spending time with each other working, eating, resting and gossiping.

My home became a multi usage space where we started working during the work hours, playing during the weekends and back bitching about the respective bosses. We started taking lunch and tea breaks, like a usual offline office. This kind of made me realise how my home shifted its attire to serve new requirements.

Pervasively disruptive

Impossible to ignore

Flexibility - remote

Business attire

Low-tech reality

Gender equality

Unpaid economies of care

Half-Salary

Workers who can’t work from home

Diffused spaces

Will our jobs still give us value

Intangible ideas of trust, accountability and boundaries

“better normal”

Which new habits will stick around

Changing Work Practices

The pandemic was like a Tsunami that hit our underprepared, underinvested and fragmented public health system. It acted as a venom to the already tanking economy and became all encompassing for our daily wage workers. A dark phase like this needed re-imagination of our systems but unfortunately reactive economic reforms continue to instigate growth and put this on the back burner.

One positive evolution however that I believe will last is how we imagine service delivery. Various on demand platforms switched gears and became all inclusive portals for everything from groceries to medicines, hospitals found ways to provide at home care and local kirana stores moved to a more efficient and competitive delivery only model to most large e-commerce powerhouses. An important one was when the government failed miserably at providing transport for migrant workers multiple college alumni groups across India came together to raise funds and buy plane tickets for many migrants, our networks of NGOs in the nation became the guardians of equitable food distribution during this time as well. Frugal innovations have defined Indian entrepreneurialism, it has the ability to challenge bureaucratic red tape and corruption and I thus hope that it will positively guide our path ahead.

Some initial thoughts on this include:

Even with the economic downturn personal vehicle ownership in India is increasing.Changing the service delivery of on-demand transport through pricing mechanisms would encourage people to order cabs and leave work at different times of the day. This will significantly reduce congestion in our cities and make public transportation more accessible to those who can't afford AC cab rides.

One of my friends is an engineer, who graduated this year, is working in a company called 'Think Analytics'. He got a job through the college placements, which were conducted online (during the pandemic) and he started and completed his training period through WFH. So, as a party to celebrate the completion of their training period, the company offered to reimburse for any order that they place on Zomato (up to 700). The employee was required to send a screenshot of the order to redeem the amount. My friend ordered multiple boxes of ice cream from naturals (the sealed plastic container) worth Rs.650 since he and his family found this form of food and packaging the safest option to consume.

Kitna dena hai usse?

Are, mujhe kaise pata hoga, dedo aapko jitna dena hai.

Are tumhe kya lagta hai woh batao na. Kitne mahine ka baki hai dena? Aur kitne mahine kaam nahi kiya hai usne?

Ho gaye 7 mahine, woh ratnagiri gayi thi lockdown ke ek mahine baad. Abhi ganpati par hi aayi hai. Gao wala tha ussi ka, woh bhi jaa hi raha tha van me, toh isse bhi le gaya tha, warna bata rahi thi 25,000 le rahi the itni si doori ke liye.

Entry pass bann gaya uska?

Haa woh baaju walon ke yaha aa toh rahi hai kaam karne itne ganpati ke baad se. Pehle usse bola tha ki agar zaroorat ho toh le jaana paise, 4 saal ho gaye na kaam karte hue.

Ha toh de do na fir, mahine ka 2,500 hai na, jhadu pocha aur bartan ka, toh 7 mahine ka 18 ho gaya, 9 dedo.

Woh bata rahi thi ki dusre gharon me se usse 2 mahine ka mila hai, 5,000 hi diya hai. Hum nahi deknge toh lagega ki dekho unlogon ne toh diya bhi nahi.

Dekh lo, dosti ke hisaab se hi dedo, koi competition thodi na hai. Aapko bhi toh appraisal application aaya school se. Waisa hi samjho. Kuch shikayat hai kya aapko usse? Kaam me ya aise bhi?

Nahi shikayat toh nahi hai,Chalo dekh lete hai. Papa se bhi puchte hai, aane do. Waise bhi ek saath thodi de denge pure, abhi 3 de rahi hu, aage ka dekhte hai. Tum diwali ke kapde, jo dene ke hai, theli me daalo... usse keh dungi ek baar dekhne agar usse jo chahiye nikaal le. Ek baar watchman ko bhi puch lungi.

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