To think remote workers exaggerate how much they actually work?

So an observation of a boring, done-to-death media narrative rather than a meaningful empirical one. Indeed, not actually an observation of anything real at all.

We've all got to have something to talk about whilst we are slacking working from home. Mumsnet is the water cooler equivalent.

I had a remote job for a bit and it was great. I basically did fuck all and I got to sit upstairs while dh dealt with the carnage of the children downstairs (it was evening work).

I'm more productive at home. I have a quiet space to work, whereas in the office I'm hot desking in a large open plan room. It makes a huge difference to my concentration. Yes occasionally at home I might put a wash on, speak to a member of my family etc, but that's much less time than I spend speaking about non work things to colleagues (or being distracted by their conversations) in the office.

However, I'm only at home or in the office a small amount of time, for admin or when schools are closed. In term time my role means I'm out visiting schools most days. So it's a bit different because I've never been in either place all the time, and what I'm doing while in the office / at home isn't the main thing I'm being measured on. So my office time was always less productive than my outreach time, because that's my quieter time anyway and chance to catch up with colleagues. The catching up with colleagues bit of the office has become more important since a lot of us do most of our admin time from home now, so only see each other rarely, so that's made the office even less productive than it always was, if you see what I mean. In the school holidays I essentially go to the office if I want to be social with colleagues and feel less isolated, and work at home if I want to get my head down for an admin task or make lots of phone calls etc.

if we had to go back to only going to the office when not in school now, like we did before COVID, it would be a huge adjustment to get used to having to do a lot of admin or make calls to external people with that many distractions going on! My productivity would definitely go down, at least initially.

If you never did any work at the office before covid, I don't know how you kept your job

It's so weird how many people say they were not productive unless they were working.For what did you do before the pandemic?You will rubbish at your job and got absolutely nothing done and didn't hear any of your targets? Of course you did. You just prefer working from home, don't tell lies. Perfectly capable of being productive in an office. If you want to be otherwise, you wouldn't have kept your job.

You're also making a choice to chat to people and swan around at lunch, doing no work. Do your job and shut your mouth. It isn't difficult to do that.

My husband has to go into work every day. I work from home 50%. Yesterday he had to move rooms to get away from a woman who wanted to chat all the time. I mean how is that more productive? I can’t stand these people who use work as a social function. Can’t they get friends in their personal time? They are the people constantly crooning to get everyone back in the office generally.

You’re not thinking in terms of output only time. Perhaps if you work in a mainly admin role then the end product is not on your radar, only the tasks.

I do the same amount of work from home that would do in the office.

People coast and slack when they don't care about the job and never did, OR, did care but are so poorly managed and motivated that they no longer do.

People who care about their jobs, are enthusiastic and motivated and are allowed to do their jobs efficiently... don't slack.

It's really not a 'WFH vs Office based' issue - its a 'keen, motivated, happy employees vs unsuitable managers, poor hiring practice, miserable work force' issue.

My sister is WFH and works longer hours than she would in the office. She starts at 8am and although she has short breaks away from her laptop, she doesn’t have a lunch break and works till 6.30.

Stops to make dinner and then sometimes logs on again to catch up on emails so she can plan her next working day. She doesn’t have children, but I feel she works harder because she’s at home and doesn’t switch off from work.

When I was an academic it was usual to work at home for 2-3 days each week. There was no assumption that I would sit at the cmputer from 9-5 on those days. They were for research and study. I was asked to complete certain tasks by a set date by my prof and it was up to me to manage my own workload and time. I would not contact her unless I needed comment or guidance. Thats what profesional people do.

In some ways the job was just a paid extention of working on my masters and Ph.D. It required the same self motivation and discipline.

Ive worked through Christmas/New Year to complete work for a conference and informally taken back the time later. There were never any set hours.

Here we go again with this

Manager: is the work done?

Me: Yes

Manager: ok then

I work harder at home because I am constantly worried that people will think that I'm not working hard enough. (People like you perpetuate this feeling OP). I was on holiday last week, but this week I have logged on each day at 8.45am and logged off each day at 6pm. I have had a lunch break of 45 minutes on two days this week, but didn't have time on Tuesday. I don't have any other breaks, I put the kettle on if I have any time between meetings, but it is in my office, so it doesn't take any time. I barely even have loo breaks (ex-teacher so my body just waits for the length of a school day!).

If I'm in the office I'll arrive at 9am and then log on. I'll be interrupted for various "catch ups" throughout the day. I'll have people inviting me to come over to the kitchen for a coffee, or out for a walk at lunchtime. I'll lose time because other people agree too bloody loud and distracting, and I'll also use up time walking up and down stairs to various meeting rooms and trying to find a pod to take calls in in private. I'll also waste time clearing one of the hot desks, finding missing equipment from said hot desk, and answering questions that people will interrupt me with because "oh, I've been meaning to ask you xyz".

My DP WFH and he has a big issue with working too much. At least in an office, you can end up having to draw a line and leave. At home, he just keeps going.

No I disagree, I genuinely think people spend more time working and less time chatting to colleagues when they WFH. Not necessarily a good thing, I think a lot of the small social interactions that are nice about working in a workplace have been lost since WFH became a thing.

When I worked from home I did the same amount of work. It was very easily tracked (imagine X products designed each hour) so couldn’t slack.

Nope. The problem for me when I WFH is stopping working at a reasonable time. It’s too easy to stick something in the oven for dinner then go back to work.

YABVU

Maybe you are less productive and would take advantage.

I work my commute time and make effective use of my time.

Being in the office is a sensory overload. Lots of skiving, people talking about last night's TV and other nonsense.

You either have a work ethic or you don't. Location doesn't matter. Bums on seat 9am to 5pm does not make you productive. Some people prefer to work in the office, others from home.

I wfh and am definitely more productive. I hardly make a brew, rarely take lunch and honestly resent myself for needing a pee cos it is a massive inconvenience!

I get at least 30% more done wfh than being in the office cos in the office I

• chat to people
• seem to be forever making drinks and going to the loo
• everyone takes a lunch break.

Getting caught in an overrunning meeting at home is fine at close of play, but in the office spells disaster for getting home without hitting traffic jams.

Remote working all the way works best for me and my clients.

I do one day a week WFH, three on campus (I’m a lecturer) and one day off as I dropped down to a four day week a few years back. Honestly, I can faff a bit some weeks on my WFH day, but it all balances up.

Today is my non working day, and I spent two hours this evening giving students feedback on pieces of writing via email, plus kept an eye on messages throughout the day, replying as needed. Tomorrow I am out on a trip with students half the day, and will need to catch up on things in the evening. If I have an easier day at home on Friday I definitely don’t think I have robbed my work of their pound of flesh. I’m lucky that my manager is fully supportive of the work being done, the hours being put in, and not caring when it’s actually done provided classes are taught per the timetables and students are happy.

No, I do have quiet months when lots of things get tidied up, but I frequently do over my hours. Over our renewal period, I was left without help last year and some days, I just spent it triaging my inbox and sorting people out. Rarely stopped, all day every day.

We are all remote and boss totally understands we have lives outside work, so if we have to do other things, we can. The work gets done. You soon get found out if you don’t. He also takes time off in the day, but is more likely to be working in the evenings and at weekends.

So yes, YABU. Some people can be a bit like that, but then, there are plenty of office based workers who spend more time talking than working. Part of the reason that managers are forcing a return to office is they don’t know how to manage remote employees and deal with those who are not delivering (and just as likely, not dealing with the office slackers too).

I'm way more productive at home!

Some people are taking the piss. That's how you get people able to take a second job. I think certain sectors are much more prone to that sort of thing.

But you can't really generalise.

Normally, the ones taking the piss are because their managers are. The rot starts at the top. It rarely works the other way around.

I once worked in an office (not remote) during the last recession where the output was not immediately visible and the majority of the (in office) workers, including managers were just pretending to be busy, It was quite amazing what people got away with