The concept of work-life balance is already a tricky one for working married couples. But when you’re doing the same all on your own, it’s an even bigger challenge. As a single parent not only does one have to juggle the logistics and responsibilities of childcare, but also has to handle the financial and practical aspects of managing a household. When one is single-handedly managing the same roles and responsibilities that a dual-working-parent household normally would, it can become taxing, stressful and extremely challenging.
Such was the situation of Sunitha, a single parent who never returned to work after taking her maternity leave. After all, she wanted to be the ideal parent who spends time with her daughter because she felt she had the additional responsibility of compensating for her father not being around. But this often clashed with her need to work to pay the bills and have a decent lifestyle going. But if she did go to work, who would take care of her one-year-old? Her daughter was too young to be put into playschool, her parents lived far away from her, her ex-husband didn’t want to be involved and Sunitha didn’t particularly like the idea of leaving her daughter in the care of her cleaner for the time she was at work.
Without having someone to share the load, Sunitha at the age of 33 was diagnosed with depression. She had all the qualifications to work but she didn’t have the resources to do the same. She tried to do a bank job that required her to leave her 6 month-old daughter at a daycare facility for an entire day. She was tense all the time, she would call up the daycare centre multiple times, her mind constantly at other places; eventually leading up to a point where she had to quit the job. Six months later, she tried odd stay-at-home jobs that barely paid her anything. She did medical transcription, proofreading, data entry, etc. But none of these jobs had a fixed salary and didn’t work as professionally as they should have. Ever since Sunitha’s divorce, her parents had supported her financially. She was accepting of this and promised them that they could stop funding her once she gets a job. But that was the whole issue, her finding a job was getting harder and taking longer than she had anticipated it to be. She was taking online music classes and that was her only steady source of income. But even that wasn’t enough to manage a household with a growing baby. And to add it, with the onset of the Pandemic, a few students of hers had stopped classes altogether. Sunitha was broke and she was aghast. She didn’t want her daughter to grow up watching her struggle like this.
This was around the time when she found out about VOIZ. One of her students’ parents worked for VOIZ as an agent in the Telesales process and recommended she sign up with VOIZ and get started with working. Sunitha was apprehensive initially as she had already tried working from home for several distant employers with no clarity on the job process or salary, which eventually led to her not getting paid or getting cancelled due to the calling-off of the project itself. She immediately read up on the company and clarified her doubts with her contact who was working at VOIZ. Satisfied, she decided to give this remote work opportunity a shot and signed up with VOIZ.
Sunitha found the signing up process smooth and hassle-free. She was impressed with the flexibility in timings and workdays which allowed her to prioritize according to her daughter’s sleep cycles. She chose to work 6 days a week and selected the 08:00 to 12.00-hour time slot and 16.00 to 20.00-hour time slot. She applied for every job she was eligible for and she heard back from three of them within the next week. She also had the liberty to choose her interview schedule and she again planned that around the time her child was sleeping or in the care of her house help. She didn’t have much experience in outbound calling or the various sub-processes involved in it. She knew her interests were in cold calling, upselling and cross-selling and she decided she would learn as she went. And that was what she did.
Sunitha landed two projects which required her to reach out to existing clients and potential clients to present the latest products and service offerings. It required her to communicate with customers to understand their requirements and needs and offer solutions based on that. Sunitha found herself suddenly interacting with so many people and realized a newfound adoration and loyalty towards her job and her job role. She enjoyed every minute of those eight hours while also getting to be around her daughter. She was overjoyed when she completed her first month and received her paycheck and the amount was exactly as mentioned on the job posting while she was applying for it. She could focus on being a full-time mom while also pursuing her passion as a music teacher and most importantly have all that going with a steady job at VOIZ.
The editorial department caught up with her a few months ago and these were her responses to some of the questions we asked her:
VOIZ happened to me at a time when I needed employment the most. Now, I can afford to provide my daughter with things I didn’t think was possible a year ago. With regular time-off and a flexible work schedule, VOIZ stands out when compared to so many other remote employment options. And I can tell you that because I’ve been there and done that. So VOIZ for me is like that support system I have never had and always wanted.
Everything! But honestly, unlike other desk jobs; this one is far from monotonous and requires a lot of creativity in problem-solving and interacting with customers which I enjoy. During the lockdown period, when everybody was isolated, I was still interacting with hundreds of clients per week. This teaches me so much about consumer preferences and behaviour and the kind of market they require. By being an agent at VOIZ, I have learnt to understand people and their needs and also learnt about various products and services and how they fit into the current market.
Yes! I struggled with finding that all through my twenties while I was married and working. But it’s now that I truly understand the concept of it and I count myself lucky that I can work at my convenience. I see a lot of my friends struggling with family commitments and work, and I realize how very lucky I have been to have gotten a job here that allows me to be a full-time mom, follow my dreams as a music tutor and also have a stable job which challenges me and makes me a better person.