WFH - how much are you actually working?

[Hardlyworking0]

Long time lurker first time poster 😊

just that really.. I work 9-5 and previously was working with clients and very busy with phone calls, emails, meetings etc. I would often work overtime or skip lunches to make sure I could get all the queries done.
I moved jobs around 5 months ago and my boss has told me there is no worry about being visible but just to ensure that all my tasks are completed. I host/attend a few zoom calls a week but it feels I’m doing hardly anything compared to previous roles. It hasn’t been flagged, in honesty I’m quite bored but enjoying being able to get things around the house done!
So.. if you WFH and are constantly busy or do you have a fair bit of free time?

Dh does barely any work. I’d say about an hour or two at lunchtime and then the same late afternoon. His working day involves dog walks, gardening, popping into town to go to the market, making jam, playing computer games. I can see that it’s not good for his mental health though.

That does apply to all jobs. Me and my entire team could and do, take lunch at the same time.

Theres no need to have someone working through their own lunch, because other people go for a walk.

people went out on their lunch hours all the time, when we were in the office.

If you can’t have lunch because of people on your team, you need to be speaking to the manager and implementing a way this can stop. Some people being away from their desk during their lunch break should not mean other people don’t get one.

That doesn’t apply to all jobs.

It depends. Some days I’m really busy, some days I can relax a bit. Even on busy days I usually manage to get a laundry load done, empty the dishwasher etc, unless I have back-to-back meetings. But my job is reasonably senior and it’s very task oriented - no-one is checking when I log on or off, or how long my lunch break is, as long as I’m performing well.

Flat out here too. My previous commuting time is now spent working. My work phone is always on and often I’ll just run back upstairs to sort something after I’ve logged off.

You're lucky. I'm flat out. Way worse than days in the office. It's borderline unsustainable.

I hate seeing people working through their lunch. It's just wrong. And now we've got people who do choose to work through their lunch, berating those that don't. How can that be right?

I think it's really tricky for people starting new jobs which are WFH.

As you're not present in the office, the rest of the team/ your boss aren't seeing you to give you support and also to actually give you work to do, meetings to attend etc. Sometimes in the office someone wil just see you sat there and think 'Oh! You should attend this meeting/ You should shadow X person/ I'll show you how to do X' etc. but that just doesn't happen as much when you're not physically present.

We've recently hired someone who I think might be experienceing this, as her manager it's also quite tricky to make sure she's feeling part of the team and has enough to do (the job itself doesn't have a very heavy workload anyway), so I think she might be feeling this!

If she were I would just say to her... be proactive about emailing the team to see if they need help... ask me if you need tasks to do... but other than that, don't beat yourself up about it!

@Thecatwokemeup

"Who do you think is in there, working through their lunch break so you can walk around the park on yours?"

Why are you working through your lunch?
More importantly Why are you berating those who correctly don't?

And obviously you can school eve as much on a Friday at home as in the office but still prefer to be at home! Because you may get a lie in instead of getting up early for a commute, when you finish you can go straight into the garden instead of onto a train/getting in your car, or you can nip to Tesco at lunchtime and stock up for the weekend etc. It doesn’t mean you aren’t working hard at your job.

My company has a ‘no Friday meetings’ rule so I actually get more real work done than I do the rest of the we when I’m having Teams netting’s with colleagues and clients.

That sounds very good for my MH – what does he do?

And obviously you can school eve as much on a Friday at home as in the office but still prefer to be at home! Because you may get a lie in instead of getting up early for a commute, when you finish you can go straight into the garden instead of onto a train/getting in your car, or you can nip to Tesco at lunchtime and stock up for the weekend etc. It doesn’t mean you aren’t working hard at your job.

My company has a ‘no Friday meetings’ rule so I actually get more real work done than I do the rest of the we when I’m having Teams netting’s with colleagues and clients.

Oh ffs autocorrect ‘you can still work as much’

The same as I would in the office - sometimes flat out and sometimes if things are a bit calmer I cut myself a little bit of slack and take a full hour's lunch or similar.

I'm a solicitor and so I record my time every day and my targets are linked to the number of hours I bill for. Targets haven't changed since the pandemic when we started wfh more, and so nor have my hours. Billing by time has its major pitfalls, as in some ways it rewards inefficiency. However it does mean we can't slack off if wfh.

Dh has been working from home since 2020, basically flat out all the time, often finishing work at after 7pm. Ocassionally takes an hour off to have a walk at lunchtime, will stick on a wash-load between meetings. But he's one of those "lazy civil servants" so has been ordered to return to the office even though adding four hours commuting to his day actually makes it impossible for him to work as many hours as he does now, as well as giving him precisely no work advantages -meetings are still by zoom because many of his colleagues work in Leeds, and also taking away any opportunity for him to see the kids after school and before bedtime.

People reinforcing the stereotype that people who WFH have it easy and do less work are really not helpful. Probably the people who waste lots of time when WFH are the same people who stand around drinking coffee and chatting in the office.

Again not saying that anyone should work through their lunch break. However, for my role at least, much more work comes to those in the office. If I'm going to lunch and then someone asks me to do something then I'm then not going to lunch. Unlike the majority of those on MN I'm in a lowly admin role and I have to do stuff when people ask. Also healthcare so when stuff is urgent, it's urgent.

I work part time from home and work flat out in that time.

For what it's worth, whilst there are benefits for individuals ie no commute, easier with childcare etc I do believe that wfh continues it will overall be negative. The lacks of face to face interaction will mean people gave less social skills - an inability to 'read the room' and adapt, collaboration is much more difficult, the inability for people to pick up on what's going on in the company and see career progression opps, the 'just doing tasks' and not getting any job satisfaction. I could go on. I do believe also that this will see women back much more than men. A sigh of relief as the pressure of nursery pickup is off and being at home to look after a sick child. Meanwhile men are still free to play the game and get ahead, being still free to go into the office as needed.

My contract says 9am - 5pm, Mon - Fri. In reality, often 8am - 1am (or more) and 7 days a week. This isn't abnormal for the role / sector. Very little work life balance at the moment.

This is so helpful. I'm about 6 weeks into this change. Struggling with the change, and I know it sounds ridiculous but I feel like I have an element of PTSD from my old job! Good to hear that you and your DH have come out the other side in good shape.

The same as when in the office, apart from fewer chats about non-work things (as not going to the kettle to make tea with others), and at a slightly earlier day given no travel to and from work.

That sounds very stressful @Anon1717 - I hope you are being very well paid for working 2-3 times the hours you are contracted!

No wonder you're moody 😂

Some of these responses do make me sad. There's is more to life than being "flat out" and working from 7am - 10pm. Unless you actually enjoy having no time to yourself of course

I have worked from home for nearly five years. I work very hard in a senior role for my company and some days are extremely busy. I do lots of calls and have plenty of deadlines. However, I am able to manage my own time and take breaks or be flexible when needed. I could never go back to an office and a daily commute now!

I often do very little but that is cos I have a shit boss and team. I’m part time too. They offered me the job full time originally. I dread to think how much of my work life I would spend slacking if I were full time!