With lockdown 4.0, many offices have opened their doors for employees. Though the fear of being infected with the virus lingers amidst every businessman and employer, the employees have to strictly adhere to the new office policies and rules when resuming work. Apart from the mandatory installation and use of Aarogya Setu App, facility management services are at the centre point of this decision as every office and company is focusing on strict cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitization of their surroundings. 

We have a few employees sharing their experience of the new normal at work. Anurag Mishra, a software engineer from Force Motors said, “To start off with, we were sent a 31 pages SOP PDF for resumption. It has been a week of going to work and I am glad I am still safe. We are all strictly following the social distancing protocol at all times. But offices are fun only when I can catch up with my colleagues at the coffee machine or during lunch. We cannot do that anymore. Lunch room is out of bounds. We have to eat our lunch at our desks only. The washrooms are monitored by an office boy so that only one person is in it at any given point of time, though we have 3 stalls in each washroom. Moreover, we have a 30% attendance policy right now so most of the time I miss out seeing all my colleagues on the same day. I know wearing a mask and following social distancing is important but every day there continuous checking of temperature. With no human interaction, masks all the time, and the concerned faces of the few who come to office, it almost feels like I’m not working in my office but some concentration camp.”

Girish Bhargava, Senior Executive, Finance for a metal trading company based in Bangalore, said, “After such a long break, it is difficult to get up and get ready in time for the office pick-up. And my office, it doesn’t even feel like my office anymore. All the cubicles have been redone to maintain the 6ft’ distance. Most have been shifted along the wall, with our faces towards the wall. There are transparent fibre glass partitions installed between two seats; there is so much space and distance everywhere. Coffee machine is out of bounds and employees are encouraged to carry their own beverages. There are sanitizers everywhere—near the water filter, attached to the door of the office refrigerator, on our desks, at the entrance of the boss’s cubicle. We enter the office like thugs, wearing masks and gloves and temperatures are checked at the entry. One good thing is that we don’t use the biometric attendance anymore and we’ve all been asked to use apps for attendance. Sanitizing my desk before starting the work, carrying my own coffee mug without anyone to talk to in close vicinity during the breaks, it all feels so disconnected. We have meetings via Skype, Zoom or Teams and are using more technology and less paperwork to avoid any kind of transmission errors and risks. Even the office boy doesn’t drop in anymore to ask for coffee, tea or to carry papers etc. I think it would be better if we just continued working from home as that way we could at least lowered the risk and extra effort of travel and being alert every single moment. This is just too exhausting for me at the end of the day.”

Kavita Khanna, copy editor, with a leading daily, in Gurgaon says, “All said and done, our office is taking good care that we do not come in contact with the virus, but working a full day shift, without any human interaction—share a gossip over a cigarette with a friend, discuss a story with your boss—is becoming very heavy to tolerate. Even if I have to give a feedback to a writer sitting 6 feet away from me, it has to be via my phone or email or video call....it feels abnormal, weird, and sad. And then even if we are on zoom or video call, the essence of a conversation is lost...emotions are lost..the passion is missing. When earlier we used to discuss stories in the edit room, it used to be a very lively discussion—people butting in with their dissent or agreeing passionately, walking around while talking, standing up to get better heard and now we are all on mute on Zoom and wait for our turns to speak. It feels very dead and insipid. There are days when inspite of being in a room with 15 other people, I hardly have spoken a word to them, except for a hi or bye wave from the distance.”

Keeping in mind the virus, most companies are carrying out the necessary precautions required to keep the office and its people safe. But in all the cleansing, sanitisation, contact-less working, they forget that people are social being who need to interact with other people for the sake of emotional balance...but that is for later.