After a long wait, many Dragonflies are enjoying the opportunity to catch up with family and friends around the world. Most of the travellers are choosing to take their work with them.
We currently have people working from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and England. Others regularly work from home in Whanganui, Waiheke, Wairarapa and Wainuiomata as well as in our Wellington office.
Sadhvi Selvaraj usually works from her home in Auckland but this month she’s heading back to India again to spend some more time with her family and friends.
“It was great to go back in April. I usually make a trip every year, so that was the longest time I’d ever been away. I’m from Chennai in South India – it’s noisy, it’s crowded and it’s what I grew up with. I miss the tooting horns, the busyness, and my Mum’s cooking, which is just the best!”
Sadhvi likes to visit for several weeks at a time but says she doesn’t have enough leave to stay away for that long. It would also be disruptive for the projects she’s involved in. So she takes her work along too.
“Having the flexibility and the ability to work from home or away from home is just fantastic. I don’t know of many workplaces that would let me do that.”
In India she found it worked best to make an early start – about 4:30 am. “That was when I’d be waking up naturally because of jetlag, so I just carried on. It also meant I had a good overlap with the team here to keep the communication going. I finished by midday and spent the afternoons with family and friends.”
Sadhvi says visiting after such a long time helped boost her morale but was tinged with sadness. “It’s been a hard time for them. My family was lucky but a lot of my friends lost their parents to the virus. They all had to cope with restrictions on going to funerals and visiting people.”
This month she’s heading back for the wedding of a close cousin. Besides her laptop and headphones, her luggage will contain a small folding desk.
“I don’t have a comfortable desk in India so it’s better to take one with me. My parents like to be able to put everything away, so I’ll be able to leave this for next time – it’s perfect.”