To think remote workers exaggerate how much they actually work?

If you're not talking about your own colleagues, who are you talking about then? "It's an observation", of who? Who are you observing who wfh but are not your colleagues? Are you just repeating what you read/heard from somewhere? If so, maybe question where that information is from and what the agenda of painting people who wfh in this way is.

God no! I work far more effectively from home. In the office there are so many distractions that it's really hard to focus.

YABVVVU @ZippyGreyOtter

I have a timesheet. Absolutely no way to lie around it.

With a huge client portfolio I am usually on calls back to back all day. It is relentless because if I show as online people
ping, slack, create meetings anytime.

If I was in the office I could actually be away from my desk and people would walk past and have to come back another time. With Teams esp people just call anytime unscheduled.

I hate this narrative that WFH staff are lazy / cutting corners / etc. That sort of thinking means I often work even MORE hours than my contracted hours so that no one can accuse me of spending all day doing my laundry / watching daytime TV.

A lot of us work VERY hard and are grateful and respectful of how WFH helps us in other areas of our lives.

On the other side of the fence and employing people I agree 50/50 I have team members who I know clearly “took” the piss with remote work and others who are way more productive. The ones that took the piss are now free to waste as much time as they like, and I’m not paying them for it.

it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Also my work peaks and troughs - September could be totally packed and October means I can coast a bit. Doesn’t have anything to do with WFH or not . Instead of taking a pointless long lunch in town or chatting to colleagues I can get a wash on or go to the gym.

🤣🤣🤣

Seems a weird thing to post about if there isn’t a specific example annoying you…

I was in the office today. It’s far easier to coast in the office - chatting, tea breaks, lunch options more exciting so take longer or go out with colleagues. Constantly interrupted so actually way less productive.

Ive got four hours of camera-on meetings tomorrow. No time to skive lol. I wouldn’t anyway.

Remote worker here 🙋🏼‍♀️ (well 95% of the time).

Yes I definitely take advantage of the set up more.

Would I rather spend 2-3 minutes loading up the washing machine or spend 20-30 minutes stood awkwardly in the canteen whilst Beryl receives her flowers and does a retirement speech?

If WFH workers spent all day “coasting” we’d get sacked.

It depends on the person and the job, but if someone's doing the bare minimum, their manager or colleagues will probably catch that sooner or later. For many jobs, it's obvious that the work is either getting done or not. Deadlines must be met. If you meet those expectations and the quality is there, why does it matter if you're sitting in the office or at home?

There will always be some who put in the extra effort and others who barely do enough to squeak by. Part of managing people is tracking that tendency, wherever the worker is based.

Our system records the time automatically

Too many people take the p* wfh

Lawyer I presume. Everything has to be recorded in billable segments

Not in my job where all my time is recorded

Guess it depends on the role and the person. Personally I am far more productive at home, I have distributed team working in different timezones, so on teams call for most the day regardless if I'm in the office or not, and work the additional 2 hours I would spend commuting each day.

I'm not sure swiping into an office, sitting at hotdesk listening to all the conversation around me make anymore productive.

She’ll work in law - all time is recorded and billed in 6 minutes units.

I expect that some do exaggerate, but also most don't. Plenty of people just make themselves look busy in offices too, or get interrupted all the time. As long as they're getting their work done when it needs to be and to decent quality, who cares?

Yeah my 6 hours of meetings and 50 emails today would have only taken me a couple of hours to complete in the office 🙄

Why do you have to do that?? What field are you in?

Doesn’t the logging take a huge amount of time?

You just can't lump all "remote workers" in together. There are so many different professions, different individuals. I have no doubt that some are shirking and dossing about, but I know that some are genuinely more productive at home without the office distractions.

I'm so sick of this attitude. I've worked at home for nearly 30 years, full-on, no coasting whatsoever. Up till Covid I'd get comments regarding pyjamas, daytime TV etc. Lockdown was great as we were all in the same boat. Now I hear these old comments are back with a vengeance... sigh...

I know I do. In fact, I’m in the process of having a desk bed designed so I can do all my work horizontal on a cycle of 5 minutes work / 20 minute snooze.

No. I WFH 3-5 days a week. They get twice as much work from me on those days as when as when I go in.

No travel time to the home desk, and no distractions!

Also my job has constant deadlines so you can’t just not do stuff.

My DD and her DP both work from home some days of the week. They are logged continuously, counting number of phone calls etc. There is no opportunity for coasting - though naturally they have breaks during the day. I think this is fairly normal for people WFH?

I also think it depends on the company structure. The last time I was in the office, I spent most of the day on teams calls with colleagues in other UK offices, one in America. So for all the arguments about how virtual meetings are less productive, it’s not always relevant. I can’t have a face to face meeting with someone in New York.

My immediate team, including my manager, are also based in different offices to me. So any direct supervision or collaboration still happens over email/video calls whether we’re sitting in different offices, or in our own homes. So again, even if there is fall in productivity if you aren’t with your team, it’s not always solved by being in the office.