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

I sat in traffic this morning for an hour, have to say that didn’t feel very productive.

Yes this too

@Hedjwitch well that's refreshingly honest!!!

Yep. I used to spend 3+ hours a day on this kind of stuff in the office (I actually timed it once or twice to work it out!)

It's not necessarily a waste of time because it's important social interaction for wellbeing, also forming strong connections with colleagues is good for work as well, so I wouldn't say it's pointless at all.

But it does take time away from desk work and 'churning stuff out'.

It really depends on the demands of your role, what you need to do/ your priorities, and how easily distracted you are by chatter. Everyone's different.

We don't get many WFH days and I'm more productive in one sense- no meetings across site/staff visits/chatting or phone calls. I find it deathly boring though- I love chat and having a laugh and find myself checking my phone a lot and idly grazing in the kitchen.

@nokidshere so true. I had to deal with someone in a customer facing role with their bloody dog barking in the background the other day 😬. And I know a lot of people who do both school runs during their working day which is a huge chunk of time 🙄.

My main thing is that I cannot concentrate in an open plan office at all. They are too noisy, too bright and usually either too hot or too cold. I am perm WFH due to disability anyway, but I am definitely more productive at home. When I did used to work in an office I had to wear headphones to cope which doesn't do much for the collaborative work environment they bang on about. Besides the fact management go on about office working but never come in

I think you’re right, op. Productivity isn’t great in the UK. Most research demonstrates its managerial issues but I think it filters down. Not having the back and forth with other people will stem a lot of ideas/understanding in personality nuances and how people cope.
But I think people who like wfh would find it very hard to admit that because there’s so much more flexibility than before.

Yes this

Well I don't know where any of the PPs work but it's definitely not with any of the companies that I have had to deal with in the past few years. Customer service is rubbish, phone queues are forever and that's if the phone is answered at all, background family stuff going on, people distracted, appointments are non existent across the board.

Strictly speaking he’s not more productive in that example, he’s working 2 more hours. More productive would be getting the same amount (or more) work done in the same time

I get your point but he is only allowed to work certain hours and that has to include travel time so he is physically able to do more work on days he’s home, by some considerable amount. So, in essence, is more productive.

I'd caveat with the fact that I was self employed for a decade+ before I got this job so I'm used to producing the goods under my own steam with minimum supervision

I have deadlines. If I don't hit those deadlines I get bollocked. When I'm in the office I get less work done because people, so when I know I have to be in the office, I have to plan at least an extra day into my processes so I can hit my already stupid deadlines.

YABU

There seems to be a suspicious number of negative threads about WFH at the moment...

It is strange that it is so hard for some people to grasp that flexible/home working is a huge advantage for many of us especially those who have disabilities/health conditions, single parents, carers, older people and so on and that it can bring many benefits to companies as well (cutting down on office costs, better staff retention, wider pool of candidates).

Working 9 to 5 in an office is just an arbitrary concept and it is a bit silly to suggest that no other way of working can be as successful or to imply that most people are unable to manage their time and don't have the discipline to get through their workload unless a manager is breathing down their neck.

That is really is just infantilising employees.

As someone who has a health condition working from home allows to stay in the workplace and do my job well. Being based in an office would make my condition difficult to manage and I would waste most of the limited energy I have on commuting and I would rather spend it on actually doing the job.

It is as simple as that...

Bu there’s so many things I get in the office that are broader than this. I can talk and get to know colleagues, which makes it a lot easier (and yes ‘productive’) when I do need to collaborate with them.

It's a home office, not a Chinese prison, you can communicate with the outside world! I have colleagues that I have never met in person, we work in different side of the world, we've always managed to communicate very well, we have phones, internet. Complete non-issue when you are in the same time zone.

If we needed to be all in the same office to be productive, I assure you quite a few businesses would have folded a long time ago!

I think a part of the issue is that those who claim they are more productive at home often are more productive… but only within a narrow definition of productivity.

Yes, when I’m wfh I can free tick off more items on my to-do list, and have the space for some thinking and writing. All very good and productive.

Bu there’s so many things I get in the office that are broader than this. I can talk and get to know colleagues, which makes it a lot easier (and yes ‘productive’) when I do need to collaborate with them. I can have quick in-person chats rather than long Teams ones, or can have a random unplanned but useful conversation.

Also wfh has made me realise how much I pick up by osmosis in an office setting. Overhearing people talk about their work, or hearing some useful gossip, is all really valuable.

So - I think a lot of it comes down to whether you have a broad or narrow sense of productivity.

A lot of it is sexist defensiveness because working parents now find it much easier to work flexibly. For most white collar jobs which there's no credible argument that wfh damages output.

Yes It is invariably the female employees who have to leave on time to collect children having done their work in the allocated time while the ones with no children or a wife at home who could piss about all day, start working at 4pm and show the boss how ' dedicated' they are by staying late.

I think it has evened out for us. We have a 60/40 hybrid model in favour of WFH, with one fixed anchor day in the office and the other at our discretion.
I think by virtue of not seeing each other during the week there is far more chat and distraction on the anchor day than pre-covid. Then most get the head down at home.

We have been experiencing hiring difficulties for some time now so there is no option to slack at home as the workload means deadlines would not be met and you would be quickly found out.

We also find that due to the anchor day, most other days the office is a ghost town, so there is no collaborative benefit above WFH. Personally those quiet office days are my favourite. I like the quiet but away from my home surroundings.

I am much less productive WFH. Way too many disractions. I keep an eye on my emails and phone but spend the day getting on top of housework and gardening. WFH days are late starts and early finishes.

Agree entirely with this. I have wfh for about 5 years. My targets are the same, I have regular team meetings. The only difference being most of them are now online too. If a manager can't keep track of their staff and make sure they hit their targets it is they that aren't doing their jobs properly. The people who are productive in the office are effective at home. The ones who put their jackets on the backs of their chairs while they went out for a 2 hour lunch or stopped at every desk disturbing others trying to get work done are shirking at home too and being found out.

I feel super productive at home. But will echo PP who spoke about busyness being key. I thrive on being busy in my job and I love it! The quiet times are trickiest but I am pleased to not be in an office environment when times are quiet. Love WFH and am told I am productive and actively involved in lots of projects and support colleagues.

Lazy people will be lazy in the office or at home though. The initial boost of targets being met may dwindle again now people are back in the office. If it does, then the problem is staff and management not location.

Totally depends on the individual.

I work with someone and his entire friendship group (all male, all forties) work from home. There's about ten of them and they are LAZY. My colleague has to mute the group chat as they are never off WhatsApp. One works for a bank or building society and has been going crackers about having to go back into the office three days a week despite fully admitting he is just hanging on in there for redundancy when they realise he has nothing to do. He is absolutely offended that he might have to do something for his wage if he's in the office.

My sibling however, works from home. Long hours and absolute and utter dedication.

All comes down to personality.

I know I'm more productive wfh, by a country mile. TBH I sometimes wonder what planet people are on when they say productivity is lower when people wfh. I go in two days a week and on the two days I'm in I spend most of my evenings catching up on the work I was supposed to have done in the day but couldn't. About half of my job is writing, for which I need focus and a lack of distractions and I get three or four times more done at home than in the office.

The average office is a constant stream of distractions. Endless meetings, coffee trips, people wandering over and asking you what you watched on telly. Gossip, chit-chat, having to try to screen out the noise of other people. If you are in a white collar role and you're more productive in the office you're either quite junior or not working hard enough, it's as simple as that.

The reasons employers are often keen to get workers back into the office has bugger all to do with productivity. A serious element to it is teamwork, support and mentoring, which does suffer if people are fully remote. But that's a separate issue from productivity.

Aside from that, most of the other reasons which people cook up to bash home workers are nonsense: some of it is the silly Daily Telegraph rhetoric about slackers (which is purely people being old-fashioned) some of it is overbearing managers who don't trust their staff, a lot of it is sexist defensiveness because working parents now find it much easier to work flexibly. For most white collar jobs which there's no credible argument that wfh damages output.

I have always had the option to wfh. Im
now hybrid but our office is now a collaboration space. It’s very trendy (think comfy sofas, high tables with bar stools. It’s a nice change for once a week, and it’s good to spend time with coworkers but I find it easier (to do work) at home with my bog standard desk and everything close to hand. I do travel for some meetings.

My job is field based, so I’ve been WFH in it for the last 10 years.

My results at work speak for themselves. So I have evidence of my productivity.

Comparing it to previous jobs I had that were office based, I find I can be far more productive at home than in an office as I haven’t got colleagues wittering at me about their weekend etc or yapping away on phone calls next to me and instead can just be left alone to get my head down and get on with what I need to do.