To think that everyone WFH thinks they are more productive but this view isn’t necessarily shared

I'm as productive in the office as at home, my workload is 50%, I used to be PT but the boss wants me FT even if I'm not busy to be on hand to answer any query or produce a report which isn't very often tbh. The difference in being at home is that I can get on top of home chores instead of sitting bored at my desk clock watching to home time before crawling in traffic for 45mins to travel 7miles and then do all the home chores.

I think it depends on the job role, type of work, workplace culture etc. I've worked in offices where presenteeism is important.

Same here

But I do have a dedicated office space in my home with a very good set up that I invested a fair amount of money in. If I had to work in a communal space in my home I might find it less productive.

I fanny about when in the office - I start before everyone else so I open the building turn on the lights printers etc- I have lunch with my friends we talk about random crap at various intervals we spend time making coffee and filling our water bottles I fix the printer that someone always leaves jammed I change the toner cartridges empty the shredder bin because everyone else just leaves it full I help new starters work out the stupid printer log on I spend time helping visitors who arrive before reception opens see also couriers - just because I sit nearest the door - non of this is even remotely related to my job but I can lose a whole day a week just being engaged with the people in our building and doing odd jobs.

There's loads of evidenced research showing how WFH can benefit both employer and employee. As always it's an individual thing, there are piss takers in all walks of life and no one-size fits all. Common sense required.

Also a lot of “sit at this desk at this computer all day rather than the one in your home” thinking isn’t about productivity at all it’s about fancy office space that some very rich people own and are don’t like this new eco, work/life balance, forward thinking way of working if it hits their bottom line.

no actual real workplace has ever said wfh was less productive in my knowledge its
just a myth. Working without already spending an hour in rush hour traffic/ on a commuter train means you are much fresher and ready for the day rather than decompressing from the commute and eating your breakfast in the break room at
work.

I'm staying WFH and have no time or interest in what 'people' think. It doesn't matter. I prefer working in peace. It's entury suitable for me

I think it depends on the person.

DH has ADHD and works much better in the office as there are less distractions

I definitely work better from home because I am a talker, so being at home don’t get caught up in the coffee room for twenty minutes asking how Sandra’s son’s girlfriend’s dog is.

From a really basic point of view, if WFH was genuinely more productive for a business as a whole then that business would be making more profit and the directors and shareholders would be encouraging it. At the end of the day for most businesses it comes down to money. Say what you like about ineffective middle managers, or big landlords etc putting pressure on government, but most businesses ultimately don’t care about that, they care about what’s going to be most profitable for them. If wfh was more productive and therefore more profitable they would be doing it.

For some it is, and they are - so the opposite can also be true!

The problem is most of the people who are big return to the office fans are not actually doing evidenced based observation of productivity. What they are doing is judging someone else's productivity simply by their availability for the person doing the judging. For more senior people, having junior staff in the office means they are more available and that generally makes the senior person's job easier because they don't have to plan as much, are more likely to have last minute requests actioned in time, etc. So when they are faced with a situation where they have to plan more and have to accept more of a lag time in response to their requests they don't like it. They don't care that those staff are actually being more productive in their day to day tasks because it is rarely visible to them. I was there during the pandemic and saw how it affected our directors and CEO (I reported directly to the board at the time) and how difficult they found to not being able to wonder around the office interrupting people to get what they needed at the last minute.

That is not to say I don't see the value of the office - training, workshops, relationship building all work better in the office, but focus work like reviewing reports etc. is much quicker at home with fewer distractions. My colleagues interrupt me far more in the office than anyone does at home. I'm now in a technical role and being at home is really important for me to get through my workload. I've been in the office 3 days this week and there is focus work piled up that I've had to work through on the home work days, not because I am being lazy in the office but because office days are full of "Oh can you just..." and "Could you give me 5 minutes for some advice on..."

I was in the office yesterday and was playing musical chairs all day. Office chairs are really uncomfortable.

If employers really want people to be in the office they've got to sort the furniture out. And I have a nice employer with a new office. Chairs are still crap especially in the "focus" rooms. Maybe that's so people won't hog them all day :)

@Spendonsend "I think some people are efficient and contientious wherever they work and others are a bit lazy and crap wherever they are.

But i reckon its easier to manage crap people you can see."

100% this!

Did you not read the part where I make up anything missed when I’m in the the office?

And you don’t need to worry about my employer, he would be the first to tell you that I more than earn my keep!!

You really can't look at individual's own isolated productivity - you have to look at the wider picture. You not being in the office may make life easier for you, and may make your own work more productive, but there will almost certainly be knock on effects making life harder/work slower etc for your colleagues, boss, etc

I work in a very small company, in collaboration with other small companies and everyone has different working schedules and we all work round them. Some people are semi retired and only work 1 day a week, some have long breaks during the day, others have a hybrid working pattern. If a job is required for a set date it is completed within that timeframe.

Yes, but as you say yourself "he gets the work a day later", so that could well be causing him a problem. If you were in the office, presumably he'd get your work a day earlier, i.e. the same day.

As for queries, who else is bearing the load of answering "is x possible" if you're not there - presumably, someone else is bearing the brunt of those questions, causing them to be less productive.

You really can't look at individual's own isolated productivity - you have to look at the wider picture. You not being in the office may make life easier for you, and may make your own work more productive, but there will almost certainly be knock on effects making life harder/work slower etc for your colleagues, boss, etc.

My client has (again) appealed for me not to wfh at all next week "because there's so much to do!" ....as if wfh means not doing anything.🙄

What he actually means is he can't see me doing anything and doesn't receive work the day I'm wfh so wrongly assumes I'm doing bugger all. (He gets the work a day later) Depending on the nature of the order I can be much more productive at home because I'm not answering the door, or being interupted by someone asking me to "fit something in" that day, or querying if something is possible. I'm not running errands which might account for 30-40 min per day and I don't have a 50 min commute each way.

From reading here people need better offices! Why are all your offices so noisy and cramped? Who is paying £3.50 for a cup of coffee at work and moreover waiting 10 minutes for it?

Who the hell are you all working for?

People might have been more productive in the office when they were in small offices when they had space and privacy to think rather than cramped open plan rooms common now

I thought there was an edit button now? Please ignore the spurious strikethrough.

I think it depends. Some days I can get so much more done at home I can start earlier and end later but some days I'm distracted by all the things in my house that also need my attention (I might remember I need to put a load of laundry on, or take the dog out, for instance). Some days I'm just extra lazy. And some days my husband is also home and drives me to insanity with his constant interruptions. I go to the office when I know I need interruption-free time.

But I work for myself, so my office is people-free. If I had colleagues constantly coming up and asking me things then I wouldn't be any better off than working from home.

My workload varies in quantity throughout the month, so I don’t necessarily have to work at 100% every day to get things done. I also get one WFH day a week, so I sometimes plan my week in such a way to get the important things done in the office so I can slack off a little when I’m home.

We did get a new member of staff a few months ago though, who constantly asks questions, so it’s become really difficult to concentrate in the office. I definitely feel more productive at home now.

This. I am definitely way more productive at home. I had to go in twice last week, and the week before that and am regularly in at least once a week but find it MUCH harder to meet deadlines if I'm in the office because I'm constantly interrupted! My output is way higher wfh.

I worked from office for one day last week, as had to replace my laptop.
Spent an hour in the car getting there and 45 mins back, great for the environment.

With the 7 hours there I I Spent probably about 10% answering the phone for other people, 15% being disturbed.
And when I wanted a coffee break I had to queue for 5 to 10 mins each time, and it cost me £3.50 per coffee.
Also got distracted by people asking me random questions.

I certainly won't be going in for a while again, as was then behind with my work.

If you are envious because you can't work from home, change your job. Pretty simple really.

He.actually regularly works more actual hours when he’s at home during the day, because he doesn’t have the commute, which loses him one and a half hours each time.

It's not just popping on the laundry though is it? You said you worked out and cooked the evening meal too. If you were in the office would you work out at work? Or is that just kept for when you should be working at home? In between popping on the laundry and cooking an evening meal. In your opening post you said you have to catch up when in the office implying not much gets done by you at home if you always do other things and fall behind.

But surely what she means is that she can start the evening meal earlier than if she had to commute to and from the office? Not that she’s using work time to do this.

Also, surely it’s about the number of actual working hours per week? My DH does hybrid working. He breaks off work to do jobs occasionally, when necessary, and when our DDs come home from school. He just finishes work a bit later in the evening so that he works his allocated hours.

Admittedly he doesn’t cook the evening meal usually, I do this as I don’t have paid work. (A long story as to why, including illness and SEN, which I’ve spoken about on other threads.)