Blog post number 3 in our Work from Home series: Joao is our Senior Support Specialist. He is a student who has transitioned from retail and has been with KHIT for one year.
In the Beginning
As a person who always worked in retail jobs, I couldn’t wait to work from home as soon as I got the opportunity with KHIT Consulting. Just the thought of working from home and being able to work at my own time was enough for me to make the switch.
As a person that loves to be up late at night and prefers to sleep in, waking up almost every day at 6:00 am to go to work is no fun task and more when you have to go to work for a retail company where interacting with customers is inevitable at such an early time. Customers would already be there, lined up outside the establishment, ready for it to be open so that they could shop. In some ways that would demotivate me at such an early time to make different types of time-consuming food dishes from scratch.
Don’t get me wrong, working in retail has its perks, like free memberships for its employees, a mandatory 30-minute break, and two paid 15 minute breaks that you had to take every 2 hours. Being able to take small frequent breaks kept our minds fresh to keep making food dishes that were so repetitive. The breaks also had perks because there were always free types of different foods to pick from because the bakery would bring their “expired” goods to the break room for all of us to eat.
The Cons of Working Retail
One of the many cons of working in retail is the set schedules and the mandatory holidays I would have to work. The position I worked had a strict schedule that would not change no matter what I told management. I also became very crucial to the company because at times I would have to work two positions at the same time and because of that I could not miss or ask for a day off, which burned me out.
As a person that hates the cold, I had to work in a room where the temperature had to be cold because of the different types of refrigerated foods I was preparing. Also dealing with rude customers wasn’t fun either, since they weren‘t polite when we didn’t have something specific they wanted and they were paying members; I have found out that not having to deal with customers like this has boosted my work efficiency and morale.
Transitioning
At the beginning, the only challenge I faced was quitting my retail job and going full time to work from home. I tried to do both at the same time and it was not until I really thought about all the benefits that I realized I had to quit my retail job. As a student that has been taking classes online for 2 years, I always wondered why not also work from home too? Thanks to KHIT Consulting I am now able to do that.
Two things that have helped me transition smoothly is being computer savvy and being able to learn new skills quickly. KHIT provided me with many things that I was looking for, but the two that I was looking for were working at my own pace and most importantly working from home. One of the many reasons I love working from home is the many new sets of skills I have learned with KHIT that are now in my toolbox. Working from home has also allowed me to be able to focus more on school because the hours are so FLEXIBLE.
Working From Home
One of the things that I noticed was that working from home does not necessarily mean stay inside and work. I make it a point to take my work station outside in the backyard with a view of the lake, the birds are chirping at all times and enjoyable music to go with the scene which makes for a more productive environment for me. Thanks to how flexible my schedule is I am able to begin work at any time even if that start time is 2am; I am also now able to enjoy more time with my family and loved ones at any given time.
Now after working over a year from home I can say I made the right choice, working from home has its benefits too. The most valuable benefit I have found from working from home is not having to commute to work since traffic is such a tedious thing during rush hour and in general. Another benefit is not having to interact with rude customers as I would have to encounter daily from working in retail. Lastly, the weirdest benefit of working from home is that if you are sick or not feeling well, you still have the option to work.
Being able to work from home is such a luxurious freedom that not many people get to experience. I believe that working from home is the future because with technology, so many jobs can be done from the comfort of one’s own house.
As a person that has always wanted to work from home, joining KHIT Consulting to me was a no brainer.
