Page 5 | WFH - how much are you actually working?

Hardlyworking0 · 2022-05-25T12:09:45+00:00

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?

Joeblack066 · 28/05/2022 07:40

Yesterday I worked solidly and fast 7am-7pm. I don’t slack. I get food at lunchtime and very occasionally stretch my legs.

ThreeRingCircus · 28/05/2022 07:45

It is six of one and half a dozen of the other for me. Most of my job involves just being available to customers in case any queries arise so it's quite reactive in many ways which means sometimes I'm ridiculously busy and other times I'm twiddling my thumbs with not much to do.

When I'm at home I can go to the gym at lunchtime, pick DC up from childcare earlier as there's no commute etc which I really appreciate. But I'm also logged on for longer hours than I would be in the office. There is definite downtime some weeks when I'm WFH and I'm certain it's the same for others but nobody says anything because everyone wants to keep the perks of hybrid working.

Even if in the office however there's a lot of time being "wasted", chatting to colleagues or having really pointless meetings. I think it's valuable for the social aspect but doesn't necessarily mean I'm working harder in the office. In many ways I can just get through my tasks quicker when I'm at home because there's fewer distractions.

I tend to think that as long as your tasks are being completed and your manager is happy then I wouldn't worry too much about it. With a lot of jobs it's about output and how productive you are rather than how many hours you've been sat at your desk.

MsEverywhere · 28/05/2022 07:47

onelittlefrog · 27/05/2022 07:33

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!

Why on earth has a manager who doesn’t have enough to do been allowed to hire another member of staff?!
part of the reason you end up with staff who end up demoralized and deskilled through lack of work, is because managers who are crap or have non-jobs themselves, are allowed to keep hiring staff!

MsEverywhere · 28/05/2022 07:48

onelittlefrog · 27/05/2022 07:33

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!

Why on earth has a manager who doesn’t have enough to do been allowed to hire another member of staff?!
part of the reason you end up with staff who end up demoralized and deskilled through lack of work, is because managers who are crap or have non-jobs themselves, are allowed to keep hiring staff!

willowstar · 28/05/2022 08:06

@CheshireSplat I can really relate to your post. I had such an awful overwhelmingly busy, albeit rewarding job, for years and it was so much busier during the pandemic...I started a new job in February and can see that I was really traumatised by what I had been through the last couple of years. my new job is more senior but far less stressful and more manageable. It has taken me a couple of months to adjust to not feeling so horribly stressed. My workload is manageable now and I have the time to be organised! Not constantly feeling as though I am letting people down because I am so behind. I realise now that it was the job, not me, that was the problem before.

Snowiscold · 28/05/2022 08:08

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.

I genuinely have never come across this. How can there be a job like that? With not enough to do? How can it be so badly managed that a new starter or any employee is just sat there relying on random ad hoc comments from fellow employees or managers?

DressingPafe · 28/05/2022 08:13

I’ll put my hands up. What I’m given 7.5 hours to do, I can do in 3. I check emails, keep work phone on, help out with other tasks if needed. But I have a lot of spare time. I’m at a stage in life where I’m not interested in advancing my career. In fact I took a lower grade role (part of the reason I find it easy) as I wanted less stress. My manager is happy, I’m happy.

I do the housework, some DIY sometimes, spend time in the garden, read, do my craft hobbies. I’m not bored. I love my life!

stuntbubbles · 28/05/2022 08:27

@DressingPafe This is my dream! I’m currently in a job where I can do 7.5 hours of work in 3 so they just give me 22 hours of work – client and billability-based. I long for my freelance days where I’d bash something out in half an hour in the morning, dick around all day swimming and gardening and writing, then hand it over at 5pm and charge a day rate.

Oblomov22 · 28/05/2022 09:05

@willowstar
Do you feel resentful? That all those years you didn't realise that the workload was too much. And you've only just realised by moving to your new job?

Most of the posts on this thread I don't recognise. I don't understand why people work 7 am to 7 pm without a break. The jobs I've always done, doing accounts were busy and I had plenty of work to do but also pleasantries - people stopped and chatted over a cup of tea.

I've never worked through my lunch break. it makes me sad to hear all these people putting up with these shit conditions. Worse still, not realising it.

thecatsthecats · 28/05/2022 10:33

I get loads done. My productivity is high, because when I leave my desk, I go and do a physical task that refreshes my brain.

The only alleviations for boredom in the office were mindless chit chat or eating. So now I'm super productive because I do other productive things that happen to benefit me.

I've just passed my probation having been given feedback that I've already substantially improved the legal compliance of the company as well as performing the regular tasks very well.

I'm not going to sweat over someone else thinking I shouldn't spend five minutes every half hour watering the plants or vacuuming the lounge.

(I actually reduced hours and increased pay in my last job, and treating my staff like they had lives and homes to go to worked a treat for productivity too.)

Attractinglife · 05/06/2022 18:04

Snowiscold · 28/05/2022 08:08

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.

I genuinely have never come across this. How can there be a job like that? With not enough to do? How can it be so badly managed that a new starter or any employee is just sat there relying on random ad hoc comments from fellow employees or managers?

I've had three jobs like that in the public sector (LA). Only one eventually developed into a job with actually enough work to do. I was involved in a disciplinary of a team where they were sitting around pissing about the internet.. Turns out the entire function of their team had moved to a government agency but their HQ based manager, despite knowing this, never had them redeployed/ made redundant, probably because he thought the more staff teams he had the more status he had. So they had all been sitting around for well over a year with literally fuck all to do.

I worked in local government for about 20 years, and seriously, people sitting around with little or nothing to do was not that uncommon. You got others who had plenty to do, but then others with fuck all. Because managers were financially rewarded, and rewarded in terms of status, for having staff, but no-one was checking how well they managed or what the staff were actually doing.

It was a complete disgrace.

riotlady · 05/06/2022 22:31

Snowiscold · 28/05/2022 08:08

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.

I genuinely have never come across this. How can there be a job like that? With not enough to do? How can it be so badly managed that a new starter or any employee is just sat there relying on random ad hoc comments from fellow employees or managers?

I’ve definitely had and seen it before. Usually waiting on either training or systems that are required for you to do the job you’ve been hired to do… so you end up doing odd scraps of bits and pieces to help out other people. Usually the person who hired you, your manager and the people in charge of training/systems are in totally different departments and apparently never talk to each other.

Believeitornot · 06/06/2022 09:47

Attractinglife · 05/06/2022 18:04

I've had three jobs like that in the public sector (LA). Only one eventually developed into a job with actually enough work to do. I was involved in a disciplinary of a team where they were sitting around pissing about the internet.. Turns out the entire function of their team had moved to a government agency but their HQ based manager, despite knowing this, never had them redeployed/ made redundant, probably because he thought the more staff teams he had the more status he had. So they had all been sitting around for well over a year with literally fuck all to do.

I worked in local government for about 20 years, and seriously, people sitting around with little or nothing to do was not that uncommon. You got others who had plenty to do, but then others with fuck all. Because managers were financially rewarded, and rewarded in terms of status, for having staff, but no-one was checking how well they managed or what the staff were actually doing.

It was a complete disgrace.

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I worked in local government and it most certainly was not like this (2018-2021)!!!

orwellwasright · 06/06/2022 10:31

I produce the same. It probably takes me a bit less time because I work more efficiently - fewer distractions that ruin my concentration. I feel the quality of my work is better too.