WFH - do you ever just relax?

I WFH when not seeing patients (nurse).My ledger has to be fully or I'd get called out by my team.I never have a minute and work constantly.My day flies by.However when I'm at home and not the office I love that I can put the washing on in my lunchbreak or watch 15 mins of TV.I worked in an office for a few months when I was thinking of leaving nursing and found myself trying to find something to do, doing pointless jobs to fill the day.I found it so boring and the day was so long.Honestly I prefer it to be busy like my current job.

I'm the same. I've got ADHD. I work in a team with the same work load. I get mine done in about 3/4 of the time of everyone else to a high standard. I can just work really hard and fast for a few hours. Everyone else seems to either!

It's very odd.

The concept that tasks might not be automatically available and suitable to fill a particular quiet time for a worker isn't a complicated one. Someone having two hours with nothing much to do, or ten minutes, doesn't make a two hour or ten minute task automatically appear for them. In particular, it doesn't mean their colleagues or managers suddenly become available to devise something.

Based on your comments both to OP and @SleepingBooty ,it's becoming apparent that if you worked on your comprehension, and made a concerted effort to be less deliberately obtuse about everything, maybe you could get your work done a bit faster too.

Hello,

I have been in the same situation in the past, and no doubt will again, I freelance, so different contracts, come and go. In fact, the job I am working in at the moment is a bit like this.

If I was in the office, I'd say, I was getting about a good, four hours of working, there is so much chatter, wondering around, and at least an hour in the morning of drinking coffee, and talking about Love Island from the night before.

I actually genuinely hated working in the office, so work from home works well for me, but there are often times when I can, and do step away from my desk, if at that point, there is nothing to do. Or I am waiting for an answer to progress something.

For those who say, that means you should work part time, that doesn't really work, because it doesn't work for me financially.

But most importantly, it doesn't work for the businesses I work for. The business I work for needs to retain me, I need to be working for them, to be available to do the work that needs to be done, and if there's nothing at one point that needs to be done, there would be no judgement, and is no judgement to just crack on with something else, go for a walk, head to the gym for an hour, whatever it might be. And then just pick up when I get back.

It's a well-paid job, with a lot of respect between colleagues. Personally I think it's brilliant, but I understand this isn't everybody's experience.

Because it's a weird question. Maybe OP works in an area where things come in overnight that she can pick up today, or she'll have meetings scheduled this morning that will generate work, or people who weren't around to talk to / work with yesterday afternoon will be in today?

I mean, there are a million reasons why yesterday might have been slow but yet she'll still have stuff to do tomorrow!

Such odd, old-fashioned ideas on this thread. Can some of you really not envisage a job where the work ebbs and flows sometimes? We're not all Bob Cratchits bent over our desks scratching away until the boss says we can leave.

That seems to be a particular issue when remote working is discussed. It's like a red rag to a bull, the bull being people who can't cope with their ideas and experiences of work not being a universal standard.

I have new daily work that takes me a few hrs a day too, more than the other staff (and directors have). I have days when I am busy but not every day. I like being busy.

We all really should be part time, but because our organisation is reactive, we all have to be available to solve problems for our customers. Basically, the company has passive long term income, with the odd issues that need dealing with ad hoc for the customer.

No I don't really have time. But the nature of my work is there are often little 5 minute breaks here and there while I wait for people to send me things- not long enough to do anything else but long enough to make a brew or go on MN. Although tbf I used to go on the Internet in those times even when I was office based.

I wish!
Usually I end up working far more hours than I'm paid for as there is too much to do.

My 3 days in the office are a waste of time because I can't concentrate due to the constant phone calls going on around me, people chatting, team meetings, people coming and going etc. Open plan working and hot desking is a nightmare.

So my working from home days mean I get tempted to work for longer as I can get the more important or legal stuff done which inevitably takes longer. We have an oddly laid out house and my office is tucked away so if the kids are home they never bother me. I also end up working in the evenings for free and also weekends and my days off.

They've needed me many times to write up a report or answer a query, just not every day. Probably 1-2 a month. I don't find it soul destroying, I absolutely love my work/ life balance. It's satisfying to get my work done properly.

My previous job had a huge workload, that was soul destroying and exhausting.

No, I can't because my job is customer service so I have to be answering phones or replying to emails. Can't keep people waiting.

I never run out if things to do, my work is full on. But I do need to take regular screen breaks and I make a lot of decisions which i feel are best reflected on over a bit of time. Sometimes 10 mins putting the washing on the line or unloading the dishwasher is just what I need in between meetings. Also if I finish my intense periods of work I might de-camp to the sofa and finish off a few bits with the TV on in the background. But to answer your question, no I never just relax during my working day.

I have asked the Directors many times over the years and there is nothing else. They want me on standby in case they need me urgently. The other staff have far less regular work than I do. It's our industry and organisation, reactive rather than constant slog of work.
At least my pencils are sharpened and my paperclips are in order.

You'd no problem telling her what to do earlier.

This! I work so much more efficiently since WFH - the occasional popping the washing on, or having a walk round the garden in no way compares to the amount of time that got wasted in the office. I generally have more work than time, but there are rare occasions when I'm waiting for something, and yes I've sometimes grabbed a tea and a book. Equally there are times when I've done extra but not bothered to record it for TOIL or overtime so I reckon it evens out.

How on earth could I possibly tell you how to fill your day? Speak to your manager and ask them.

Professionals are paid for our output.

If I go to a restaurant and my main is served quicker than I expected, I don't try to negotiate my bill down because it took that chef less time than the one next door.

Threads like this are very telling. The posters with minimal qualifications who have gotten themselves the tiniest taste of line management responsibility out themselves very rapidly.

@SleepingBooty you must ask your line manager for more work, or ask your colleagues if they have any work they would like to hand over to you, or drop your hours to part-time as you're obviously not needed full-time, or build a paperclip effigy of your CEO and set fire to it, or do some useful e-learning.

Just as long as you're doing WORK and not being an immoral workshy fop taking the absolute piss and making the bosses sad and probably stamping on kittens too when you should be WORKING. Or something.

Do more what though? If I've done everything and I have nothing else; my desk is pristine, my drawers reorganised, my emails cleared, my diary planned, my server folders organised, everything is professionally labelled, what other "work" do you suggest I do? I spent a week last month reorganising my office, fitting a standing desk and cable management, they took some hours up.

I've made my role so effective and eliminated most of the wasteful work that is no longer needed. I'm mostly reactive to the 5 emails a day I get and maybe 2 phonecalls a week.

You are paid for your time, not just your expertise. If you can do more, you should do more.

Yes. This is my life now and it's amazing. My work life balance and my health are better than ever. I was a teacher for 15 years, absolutely run ragged, exhausted and drained every day. Always ill, prematurely ageing, suffering symptoms of long-term stress. I was a bloody great teacher in a good school but my goodness I can't believe the difference.
My boss thinks I'm amazing. I get all my work done. Some days are busier than others.