To think people who work from home don’t understand this?! And they’re paid more usually

When I worked from home I was on a phoneline and a help desk, I couldn’t go out and do those things, I still used annual leave for appointments. I think you have over generalised. If someone has the type of job where they can do that and then make up the time by working in the evenings etc, I don’t think that’s unfair, good for them!

I think it’s ridiculous to say that WFH doesn’t provide more flexibility

I do take medical appointments during the day (but take annual leave for hair appointments as mine takes 4 hours!). I also do housework or <gasp> take a little nap now and again. Even when I’m extremely busy, I still take a lunch hour as I refuse to work for free.

In return I pay my employers overheads for employing me (minus IT costs), I work very efficiently as I don’t have people distracting me talking shite at me all day.

I work long hours overall but have a lot of flexibility because I am trusted to manage my time and workload.

I have zero guilt and never feel I have to justify the odd galavanting during the day. I worked very hard to get to this point and see it as a ‘perk’ of a senior job, and no different from the higher pay and benefits that one would expect with increased seniority.

It will never happen but people do discuss all the extra hours travelling, which will often add up to thousands over the year. Those who wfh are able to accomplish their tasks in the same time frame but also extra hours/no commite which are paid back in lieu so end up getting more holiday time. Working extra hours isnt usually possible when you've got out of normal work hour appointments etc. Xx

Presumably when she's working to catch up in the evenings you are busy enjoying life though? It's just a different working pattern

That said, I work from home and I'm afraid there's very little galavanting and a lot of very hard work. And like your friend does often I end up working at night into the evenings. (But I've always worked into the evenings even when we worked in the office )

I know people who find a hairdressers or similar near their office so that they can go for a hair appointment at lunchtime. Would that be an option for you?

Life's not fair.

I have friends who followed their passion and / or chose careers with easy hours so they have much more enjoyable jobs and/or enjoyed their 20s a lot.

I chose to go for a gruelling career, studied until 26, worked 100 hours a week for a good 7-8 years until I got established. I now WFH 3 days a week, fuck about half the day sometimes, and make a 6 figure salary. Although I am always on call, I can never turn my phone off (if a client wants something at 10pm or when I'm on holiday, I have to do it) and I don't really like the job either. I was still emailing clients when I went into labour!!

Some friends have the worst of all, no WFH and shitty jobs they don't enjoy and no high salary.

Some of it is luck, some privilege, some of it is choices we made in our 20s.

But we all have to pay the mortgage so that's that.

Really what for? I work f/t from home. I get 5 minutes DSEs which a lot of the time I have to work though and a half hour lunch break.

I have targets to make the same as everyone else. So why should people sitting in an office get more of anything?

Fair doesn’t mean the same for all though. I work from home. I admit I have a mobile hairdressers stick a colour in while I’m working at my desk and this is a benefit.

But my pension contributions are absolutely shite, my friends get 8%, 12% and more. But I don’t complain that my pension isn’t fair. It’s a different job with different terms.

OP, it's interesting that you say you feel really isolated from the friendship group these days. Are all the friends in the group working from home and 'galivanting' around? If you allow yourself to dwell in jealousy and resentment, this will be the source of becoming isolated from the group. Think of the things you can be grateful for (having a job and friends for a start), and think about what you can change about things that aren't working for you. Stop moaning and isolating yourself. You are the one who loses by doing that.

I earn £12.81ph and I WFH FT. I work set hours, and have to be glued to my desk unless I'm on break. My computer goes idle after 5 minutes if it's not in use. I don't have time to go to appointments and what not during my break. I barely have enough time to walk the dog around the block on my half hour lunch!

Yes I have observed the more you earn the more flex you are! Generally anyway.

You make a good point about the commute part.

I think it’s not clear from the OP what op friend doesn’t understand exactly? @UgriapHave they questioned something or asked you to meet them for something in the day?

We’re paying our own electricity/gas bills for the consumption of this while we work. We are paying for our ergonomic furniture some of the time too.

It’s a balance and you have to weigh up a lot of aspects whether it’s right or possible for you. I have to be at my desk for core hours, your friend is lucky but then I’m glad to finish around 5pm and have the evening to myself.

Well that's your friend's experience. Not all working from home jobs have this flexibility. I have done both, only work from home now due to distance as that is the contracts my company took on. I am in exactly the same boat as you. Cant find time to get to appointments.

My company is paying me to work. They would know if I disappeared as the teams & outlook has a little tick that turns orange if I leave for over 5 mins and says exactly how long I been gone. This will be the same for most working from home employees

I think you are describing the extreme.
I WFH 3 days a week. I DO take one hiur for lunch, but I do this on office days too asit is UNPAID!
Today, I had the detist but used 1.5 hours accrued toil plus my lunch hour for this.
There is a requirement of trust /honesty of course. I do not flout this.

Life isn't fair.

What do you mean people don’t get you don’t have this level of flexibility?

lots of people work different jobs with different levels of responsibility and flexibility. It’s not about fairness.

im hybrid and rarely get a lunch break most days regardless of where i am.

the bonus I get is sometimes shoving some washing in the machine. I certainly can’t go to the hairdressers. I book social and non urgent things outside of work hours and anything medical I can go in work time as that’s company policy. Doesn’t you company allow this??

I think you just sound really jealous of you friend. Sounds like they’ve done well for themselves and can now choose to manage their own time.

moat senior roles will come with a payoff though - she may appear to have flexibility but she prob has a lot on her shoulders.

but Regardless - it’s about the job, the role, the seniority, the manager…lots of things!!

and no way should some people get more AL just because you can’t get your hair done in work time.

fed up of these threads where people assume wfh means do f all.

go get a new job OP

People I know who work from home have set hours during the day that they have to work. I don’t think it’s always the norm that you can work flexible hours when you feel like it. Having to fit in haircuts etc at weekends is completely normal so of course you don’t deserve extra annual leave.

Its definitely a lot easier to fit in appointments when you WFH simply based on saved commuting time. I work my full contracted wfh hours but I can fit in an early morning or early evening hair/fit class/dentist far more easily than if I was out of the house 7.30pm til 6.30pm. Your friends are being ridiculous if they cant see they have more flexibility than you.

I hybrid work these days but can choose when I go to the office (expectation is one day a week).

Having come for many many years of jobs where it was completely impossible to work from home its been life changing in terms of work life balance. so I feel you.

my time is taken up as I do need to go out and complete visits most days so I’m not home all the time but I can do bits on my lunch break or pop somewhere if I’m just doing admin and then work on a bit to make it up.

its great and having done both very recently and people who like to be martyrs and say that working from home limits you just as much are lying. I actually find my role now a lot more boring than my previous role (same profession very different setting) but its totally worth it for the work life balance.

It's just unfortunate that some peoples jobs require hands-on presence during set hours and other jobs allow more flexibility in terms of working hours.

I dont think youre unreasonable if you feel a bit miffed that people don't understand that you aren't able to get appointments done during the working day, but to say you should have more annual leave isn't reasonable as ultimately people who WFH are still having to work a certain number of hours.

With doctor/dentist appts, are you really not allowed any flexibility to attend these in work hours without booking leave? E.g
Can you finish an hour later or skip lunch break to make the time up?

This is a weird post. I work from home and as others have said I can't just gallavant around to appointments or a haircut. Thats what weekends and annual leave is for and no, I shouldn't gwt more leave than other people. If you dont like wfh then get an office job.

Because she's senior! That's what happens when you attain seniority. You have some perks.

I WFH and I don't get any kind of lunch break. I work much more flat out at home than I do in the office.

It’s not a wfh thing, wfh has a huge range of jobs some wfh jobs are ones where you have to account for every minute no flexibility and office jobs where you can’t pop out. There are plenty of people in both office and wfh jobs though that are very inflexible in their thinking when discussing other jobs/people’s lives and if it’s not their way they are bewildered.

I mean i work in my office 3 days and still go gym at lunch or go for a hair cut at lucnh time - its not about working at home really - i get an hour to myslef and can do what i want in that hour- and becauce my work isnt time sensitive I can also take 2 hours if i wanted for example to do something - and just stay on an extra hour or start early - I have flexibilty and the company is relaxed.