If you WFH, what's your Friday afternoon like?

It isn’t piss taking though. This is a very old school view. When I worked on a checkout, I worked very hard for all the hours I was there, couldn’t work from home and wasn’t able to take any down time on the job as with many other jobs - but then I went home and didn’t think about work or need to stay late unless I volunteered for overtime.
I now run a team and work in a very senior job and am available pretty much 24/7. Therefore I take down time where I can, because the couple of hours I might spend doing that on a Friday afternoon are offset hugely by the hours I’ve spent working into the evening, early mornings and weekends during the same week. I feel the same about my team, if they are doing their work and are delivering to a high standard they can do what they like in terms of working hours. It’s about outcome and management, not clock watching old school working hours. If someone isn’t delivering then it’s managed appropriately in line with their goals and objectives- not whether they are “piss taking” by having a couple of hours downtime in the week.

Yes your job, not everyone’s but I know teachers think that their job is the single hardest one ever.

I was answering emails at midnight last night because a customer raised a seriously escalated complaint and I had to organise a variety of different people mainly across the US to investigate and produce a response.

My core house according to my contract are M-F 9-5.30 but with the expectation that I'll work as needed to get the job done.

So yeah, I'll be taking it easy Monday if I can, might go to a cafe in the morning and start my day with a latte, slice of cake and a bit of time reading a book.

I work on/off during Fridays. DD goes to nursery 4 days and has a childminder Friday for 3 hours each afternoon, but both work 5 days. We just take it in turns to look after her in the morning. She has swimming at 9.30am so one of us does that, the other works, then the one who took her works whilst the other makes her lunch and puts her down for her nap. We can both make/eat lunch/work whilst she naps. Childminder takes her post nap until about 4.30 and one of us takes over again. The 3 hours childcare vs 5 days nursery means we can see more of her, have more relaxed start/end to the day without nursery runs and we save a bit of money.

I wfh 90% of the time. I couldn't just log off early. I'm always busy and my phone is on until 5pm and it's common to be on a call after that time.
I took an hours holiday this week as my son had an emergency dental appointment. Next week I've got 3 hours holiday booked so I can go to sports day.
I often don't take a break throughout the day and on the days I manage to it's a quick 30 mins and I usually spend that doing household things.
But no commute and can do the morning school run and be back at my desk in time to log on.
Have never worked anywhere where I'd just be able to log off if my work was done. I have so many screens open that it's hard to even move away from my desk with just my laptop and be able to work effectively

Why is it piss-taking to take some downtime where you can? Especially when, as PP says, you've likely worked much longer days earlier in the week instead.

I always take a half day on Fridays - I work for myself so no "piss taking" involved, I just don't book clients in after midday. It makes such a big difference to my work-life balance and has no impact on my finances.

It’s the opposite of flexible! Not complaining- just stating facts. I’m told what days I have to do and given a timetable that is organised down to the minute. That’s not flexible (or ‘agile’😂). The workload is massively varied though - due to the great holidays.

These threads always bring up people who are convinced that businesses per se are mandating that people come back to the office. Nobody ever offers any proof of that, though. There are certainly examples of it, but that isn't proof that it's something happening across the board. It would be perfectly possible for remote working rates to stay the same, or even increase, even whilst there are some high profile examples otherwise.

But someone always says it, and gets agreement, because people like the idea of it.

This.

Yes, the homeschooling was stressful. I had that too for the first part of lockdown before key worker care was sorted. But I’m saying my actual job was much easier at home. And we did do all live lesson for the second lockdown (private school).

Omg an hour for lunch is a thing of the past for all schools I am aware of. 30 minutes according to the timetable but less because you have to get sorted for the afternoon and then are probably teaching in a different room.
When I was teaching in secondary school you'd be lucky to have a wee and a sandwich.
Expected to line up your form if there was a fire bell over lunch.

Absolutely this. I get that there are loads of jobs where you have no choice but to be completely present during your contracted hours. But, there are also lots of jobs where getting the work done and delivering what is needed can be much more flexible.

My work is very very flexible. My company is very anti ‘presenteeism’. If you have delivered, your work is a good standard and you are committed and present for all the important stuff, happy days. If you go to the gym every day at 3 or if you have a quiet afternoon, nobody cares.

There have been people in our team who were performance managed due to shoddy or constantly incomplete work but that happened pre wfh when we were all in the office too.

Yes, I work in a large London primary school. We all take a full hour for lunch on a Friday, it’s good for us and our wellbeing and SLT recognise that and make sure it’s always possible.

Ugh I don't even like to think about what a shit time that was. We got sod all too, for which I don't blame the school at all. Meanwhile nearly half of DCs class were in school in the 2021 lockdown.

But I’ll never agree that working from home is as stressful or draining as actually being at work. During the pandemic, we taught from home and it was nothing like as tiring or demanding as being in the classroom! I could mute the buggers for a start…

During the pandemic I had to do my own job wfh and homeschool both i
my children at the same time.

Although we didn't get any live lessons from the teachers just pdf worksheets and some YouTube links.

Now the at was demanding and stressful and draining.

It may be that Admin stick to 9-5 all week while others work later and longer hours through the week so a couple of hours on the Friday evens it out.

I think the point to make is that different ways of working affect different people in different ways. There are people who find remote working much easier, and others who hate it and struggle to function. If someone says they really thrive off being physically in the presence of others to do their job, I don't feel the same but it's not for me to disagree with them either.

Teaching is flexible working but rather than balancing week by week, ie working hard Monday-Thursday and taking an easy day Friday, you balance the year by working around the clock during term times but also having 13 weeks minimum off a year.

My workplace do not track and state this clearly but I worked briefly in a call centre years ago (onsite) and every single move you made was tracked and your stats were what was discussed at one to ones with management. They tried to discipline a heavily pregnant woman for having too many toilet breaks, thankfully there was a union.

Never even heard of ‘agile’ working policy until this thread! Does it just mean flexible? But I’m a secondary school teacher so it doesn’t really apply to me. I certainly don’t begrudge people their flexible working practices- I get that people make their choices, and my choice to continue working as a teacher certainly is influenced by the fact I get good holidays!

But I’ll never agree that working from home is as stressful or draining as actually being at work. During the pandemic, we taught from home and it was nothing like as tiring or demanding as being in the classroom! I could mute the buggers for a start…

The thing is, most types of work are different and it’s pointless to try to compare really. To me, the work I have to do in the holidays is fairly relaxing: preparing resources, writing schemes of work, general planning. This is because I can do it in peace, without thinking “quick, quick - year 10 will be here in 5 minutes” and I haven’t also got a growing list of parents to ring/kids to see at that point. The environment makes all the difference. So I guess I do sometimes wonder about people for whom all work is calm, desk-type work in the comfort of their own homes; are they really as tired as someone who’s been on their feet in a hospital all day, for example?

But, as I said, I like my job - I like the structure and the holidays, even if term time is completely manic.

No, not everyone is. But it's common in call centre type roles, whether working in person or remotely, and has been for decades. I had a call centre job in the 00s and we were monitored on call length, time active, breaks etc even back then.

@TarantinoIsAMisogynist employers would need to declare this for it to be legal. I don't think everyone is being tracked.

Tracking employees who work with computers is extremely straightforward using software - most business track their employees to some extent.

What the poster describes is often the case with e.g. call centre jobs, where the system will track when you are available to take calls, on a call, time spent between calls etc.

The days of having to be at work for a set number of hours or submitting a timesheet are becoming an anachronism. Most organisations, like mine, have an agile working policy. There is absolutely no expectation that I am in front of my laptop at set times. We are actively encouraged to have a work/life balance and to get our work done at times that suit our lives. Sometimes this means I might be working in the evenings to finish reports or present them at committee meetings.

We are a public facing organisation, so our admin support staff so have to work office hours to be contactable. But I do allow them flexibility where I can.