Be honest… what do you really do if working from home?

These threads always go the same way. MNers being honest about their workflow and other completely losing it about how unfair it all is.

It is really important to note that not all jobs and organisations are the same!!

Some jobs have lots of work constantly, others have ebbs and flows depending on their role/ industry. I have completely reworked my role to as efficient as I can be which saves me hours a day. Previous businesses I've been in would not be open to change and would be happy for me to do things the long way round for no reason other than we don't like change.

I work.
I sometimes take the dog for a walk but this is effectively lunch time - i don't have a problem taking time off to do appointments but thats because i work a lot of hours - outside of the working day (and i have no problem with my team who also work hard doing the same) -
We're going back in the office a lot more- because of the people who take the piss like the OP- ie those people who take time off in the day but don't do work outside of their hours ( flexibility works both ways) or those people who don't have proper childcare.

And before you bleat that its output related - what would your output be like if you worked properly? whats to stop your employer deciding he can save costs by reducing the staff from 2 people having baths to one person working properly?

I work in publishing in senior management. I was promoted recently, I've been doing this for years and it is a notoriously competitive industry, so no promotion would have happened if it was poor work. I deal with authors, editors, publicity, blah blah blah all day long. This is how we work, and this is how I tell my team to work, too, because there's no way in hell I want a bunch of miserable overworked sods chained to a desk and hating their jobs.

My manager is quite happy. As are my clients. I can assure you that your concerns are rather misplaced. We're not measured by hours at a desk.

When you go to the shops? How can you always be by your laptop?

I work really, really hard. Unlike some people, apparently. It’s very obvious if I don’t get my work done. In fact, reading some comments, I do wonder if some people’s jobs just don’t need to be done at all, if the only way to tell someone’s working is if they’re visibly sitting a desk. I’m very happy that I no longer have to get up stupidly early and waste hours commuting

I work damn hard. It would be noticed if I wasn’t pulling my weight. I fact I work more than I would if I was just office based.

I know you think you are smart, but you cannot provide the same level of service on a phone screen. You just can't. If you could, the IT bill for organisations would drop dramatically.

My job is very social 🤷‍♀️😁

I work... have a nicer lunch...

I work.
I start just before 9, and I work all day until just after 5pm except for during my lunch hour. And I make sure I take that because I’ll have a quick soak (soothes my aches and pains) then dash around getting bits of housework done, then I’m back at my desk just shy of an hour later.
My work get much more out of me now than they did when I was in the office all day every day. Those of us that have remained productive at home have been allowed a contract change to 100% wfh if we wanted to. Those that weren’t (i.e, like yourself) were allowed to sign a hybrid contract or remain 100% in office

I have 6 weekly reports that I need to send out so I don’t really have time to properly piss about. On pretty much all hands calls/town squares I definitely will have it playing in the background whilst I make lunch/prep for dinner. I walk my dog at lunch and have him on my lap the majority of the working day.

Well that's absolutely crap then because that sort of thing is why we're tall being pushed back onto the endless broken trains every day.

Let's be honest. I'm almost 40. I have spent 10 years working in the office 9 to 5. Did I work 9 to 5 even in the office at my desk? No, I didn't. I have had days i literally did nothing all day long ... there are days that are just slow in December for example it's really quiet.

So now that I wfh do i have days I watch movies and do house chores. For sure. Do I have days I work 9 to 5 and don't move from my desk. For sure. Not much has changed. It's a myth you work work from the office... come on ... Just being at home is more practical and you can actually do useful stuff when there is no work to be done.

I do about the same amount of work because I'm working throughout the 3 hour round trip that is my commute. Today I did do a bit of life admin. I cooked dinner while I was waiting for the sandwich maker to warm up at lunchtime after my run. In other words took a full hour for lunch. That's it really.

I have worked form home for nine years. My job means that I can be quite flexible about when I work, but the work still has to be done. For example, if caring responsibilities mean I do not complete all the tasks I scheduled to complete one day, I will have to add the tasks to another day's work.

I know this thread is light hearted, but many people work from home because they combine work with caring responsibilities. This means they are doing two or more jobs and the paid job is often insecure.

My colleague I know goes swimming at lunchtime and then does the afternoon at the health club !

I work my socks off…. I do have a lie in until 8.30 and then get up, have a wash and brush teeth, head to laptop and get logged straight on. I generally don’t have any lunch and work straight through until 7,8 or 9pm. When I’m at the office I’m in for 8am, usually take half my lunch hour and I do try to finish on time as it takes over hour and a half to get home.

Im missing a trick here…. But having said that I feel better as my wfh days let me get on top of my work without worrying about a long tiring commute with the other bus wankers….

I have a device in my pocket. It's oblong, and it has a screen. Sometimes it rings and voices of my staff come out of it. It's incredible, because I can also press the screen and a keypad comes up (looks suspiciously like my laptop keyboard...), and I can...write stuff? My email is on there and everything! 😲

I work, if I didn't I wouldn't be employed. I tend to work my lunch break around stuff I need to do, so today I took an early lunch and went to Tesco so I could be back in time to prep for a meeting I had at 12.30 and I had another meeting at 2pm that I also needed to prep for. On Friday I'm getting my hair cut at lunchtime, I'll be out for about 90 minutes but will start earlier.

Washing and housework gets done either before work, at lunchtime or after I've finished work. The only time the tv is on when I'm working is when Wimbledon or the Rugby/Football World Cup/Olympics is on. If I've got no meetings I'll put the radio on or listen to the cricket. In the summer I take my laptop and work in the garden but I'm still working.

I'm so fed up reading how people are skiving when working from home.

Yeah, people like OP are the ones ruining it for everyone.

When I work from home I work. I don't do a load of laundry or housework. I sit at my desk and work. I certainly don't watch TV while I'm supposed to be working. For those who go out for walks in work hours, how does your team contact you for urgent things?

It's non availability in work hours that's pissing senior management off (trust me, they do notice) and ruining WFH for everyone else, even if others work their butts off when they're WFH. The slackers are the ones causing the return to office mandates as senior management feel they can't trust people to do the right thing. And let's face it, you're paid for 100% effort not 75%.

@anonymousxmasposter yes, you're right actually. I'm sure there are people who would be irate at what I just wrote in my company. But, it works very well for me and I love it. So I'll keep doing what I'm doing.

Thankfully I don't have any micro managers, and work are happy with my output.

When I wfh I usually take my full hour lunch which never happens in the office

My pattern has always been on day, off day, even as a teenager revising for GCSEs. So a day when I work very long hours and get loads done, feel pleased and insanely productive. Then the next day I find it hard to focus, waste time, feel frustrated, take a long nap. Repeat. I’ve never managed to balance the days out. I’m a very productive person over all though so it must average out.

I work! I will stick the washing in the dryer or something whilst the kettle boils but I am always available and don’t do tasks that take longer than making a coffee or tea.

I work. Genuinely. I have 30 mins before I log on once DH and DS leave the house where I tidy, put a wash on etc. I may do the same on my lunch hour if needed or put tea in the slow cooker. I sometimes go for a run or do a workout on my lunch which I couldn’t do in the office - sounds gross but if I don’t have time to shower after (nearing the end of my lunch hour) no one can smell me over Teams and I just shove a nice jumper over my workout clothes to look presentable if I turn my camera on. And then I jump in the shower when I finish.

The most I do during my work time is empty the washer and shove it in the tumbler, takes 2 mins. If it’s a quiet day or an admin day, I may put daytime TV/news on in the background but that’s more for background noise than anything, I may occasionally watch it for a few minutes if it’s interesting.