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

I’m thinking about this thread today and how people are hopping mad at eh work habits of starburst they don’t know or work with 🤣

I WFH and yesterday had loads of meetings and tasks, worked pretty much non stop from around 8.30am until about 6pm (my working hours are 9-5) with not much of a break.

Today I started at 8am and I’ve finished my jobs already, including signing off on a large contract, and have no meetings so gonna take a few hours to MN, have a little nap and maybe watch some of the JonBenet documentary on Netflix. I’ll check my emails periodically and then do any work that crops up today before I go on the school run. Then taking DD to see Wicked at 4.30pm.

Last Friday watched a Christmas film in the background in bed while doing some online training

Do you ever have almost a day off doing life admin?

You're taking the piss.

It's reasonable to do small chores here and there, similar to taking a coffee or tea break. However, activities like going to the gym or taking a bath should be done during a lunch break, not on company time.

Yes, let's say fate had a little hand in my decision (unexpected financial boost from an old pension in a previous job 😀) which enabled me to see a way out of my miserable current position, encouraged by my DH, who has been brilliant in encouraging me to retire, despite it meaning our savings will not be as great as they could be, at least I will be a lot happier without the constraints of a work routine - hopefully he can retire in a couple of years too, if finances work out (will try our best to make sure they do!).
Life is short, so if you can manage on less and still achieve things that fulfil you then go for it! 😉

You have bigger fish to fry then!

Thanks, but I have been searching on and off over past few years with no luck, but now I have decided to take early retirement in 4 months' time, so I will have so much more precious time for chores and to do some well earned
self-indulgent activities then😀 - so I am literally counting the working days until then!

Why not have a look around? It sounds like even hybrid could work well for you.

These posts confirm how much I miss out on, having to work at the office all the time 😒. Missing the commute each way would be great, as would save me some time (only approx 30 - 40 mins each way depending on traffic, but still would be welcome), plus petrol, plus staff car parking fees, but mainly because I could spend more time with my dog and take her for a quick walk in middle of day (in daylight), put on washing, hang up washing, bit of polishing/cleaning, prepare dinner etc.... yes, I would love to get all those chores done during day instead of rushing around like a demented woman every evening, you guys are so lucky and I hope you appreciate it, it sounds like you do, good on you! 😉

Yep, same with the Telegraph. Trying to rage bait their key demographics.

It gets their readers frothing at the mouth, that's why they do it. Same with all the Meghan and Harry articles. It is just another way they can divide the country. They are absolute scum.

Given the quality of writing I expect most of them are written while the "journalist" is out shopping /at the hairdresser's

I think half the people commenting on this thread were just on a wind up to be fair.

and I expect any sensible employer makes their decision based on actual productivity not a daily mail troll thread

So what? The debate comes around every day it seems, the comments are always the same, the DM 'article' is shite and the comments pretty much mirror the MN discussion.

Never post anything on a public forum that you don't want to share.

Shouldn’t be anything to worry about on a personal level given it’s an anonymous forum! We all choose to post. But yes not great of them morally!

It's total gutter journalism. They even pretend the OP was just some random MN user. And the DM are obsessed with WFH, I was struggling to find the article initially so googled "daily main wfh article" and there's one every couple of weeks, all slagging off wfh skivers.

Either the DM don't let their journalists wfh and they're totally bitter or they're the biggest bunch of hypocrites going!

Bingo

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14127519/Woman-furious-debate-REALLY-does-working-home.html www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14127519/Woman-furious-debate-REALLY-does-working-home.html]]]]

Hope everyone realises now that the OP is a blatant DM journo, which I believe I did say early on :)

It’s already in the DM! I saw it online yesterday afternoon.

Yes, I read the DM as it’s mostly free to read and I am capable of filtering out the bias and poor quality of writing in able to get a brief outline of world events.

I agree you can be more productive at home. No interruptions. No office chit chat. Steady flow of work.

I work full days but on my own hours. I'm just about to start work and will work through until about 1pm - so 5 solid hours. Then won't start again until about 4 and work through until 7. I don't need to work office hours, so as long as I put in a good 8 hours a day, it's fine. I have low energy in the afternoons, so prefer to use that time to go for walks, do laundry, surf the net for good Christmas and holiday deals, and get back to work when my brain is sharp.

Nothing dishonest about WFH or delivering outcomes in way which people choose that suits them. Very honest!
And most people who earn high salaries have worked very hard and made good decision to get qualified and choose career wisely. Not everyone has the same opportunity I appreciate, but those who have worked and sacrificed and made good decisions...well done them.

@gardenflowergirl
If you have tech guys and the owners actually care about it. If the owners are happy with the work being done then they are not bothered. It's quite incredible that some of you cannot envisage more flexible job roles.

Wait, you save an hour and a half commuting but then spend that time working? Why?. You don't get paid to commute or spend time commuting, so what are you 'making up' for? Wfh isn't a special privilege we need to over overcompensate for. And you definitely shouldn't feel guilty for not commuting?! Especially when many can get more work done at home during their normal hours than in the office anyway.

I'm not having a go by the way. I just don't understand this. Commuting is absolutely awful and I'm so glad I don't have to waste my life doing that anymore (I wfh home full time in case its not obvious)

This

And I get things like washing loads swapped over, composter emptied and other small domestics. My view is that they recommend 5 mins away from your screen every hour, so at least make them a beneficial 5 mins!

I get so much more done at home than in the office. WFH is a rare treat for me though.

I also wear trackies and a t-shirt, which is a definite perk.

I work my arse off. I'd get nothing done if I had to comment and sit in an open plan office. That would be a holiday for me.

I work. I have to record all my time in 6 minutes units for my day and 75% is chargeable to clients. Lack of work would be noticed and you can't time dump either.

I used to work from home in the early noughties, when I worked for the head office of a high street bank. I was based an hour away and travelled a lot to see customers, but if I didn't have meetings I could stay home.

Yes - I might spend the morning gardening and keep my phone with me - but then work until midnight once we'd eaten and I'd washed up. Just whatever was convenient for me.......

We were all treated like adults and expected to do our work in whatever hours we needed. If in the office I could take as long as I liked for lunch - or we all disappeared for the world cup all afternoon! But equally I would take calls at ten at night - or work 70 hours a week for three weeks when it was the annual pay review. Or I would travel across the country and put in loads of hours - so I think it all came out in the wash. We were paid for doing the job not hourly.....

I am sure there are some real p-takers out there - but OP sounds as though she makes up the hours when it suits. Which is fine. You all know if you're giving good value or not.........

I just think it's a bad idea to generalise on this subject. Jobs, organisations, people, sectors...there's so much variation. Never one simple answer. And no reason why there would be.