WFH - availability at all times , yes or no.

[hattie43]

One of our team members works from home two days out of five and his normal hours are 9am - 5pm.

Would you expect him to be at his desk and available at all times or do you think WFH allows some flexibility. He has decided to take his young son swimming and the lesson is at 10am for an hour but travel to and fro means he is away from his desk about an hour and forty mins . He is not in a customer service role and doesn't have to be available to the public . He doesn't miss deadlines for anything. He makes the time up after 5pm so isn't reducing his work hours just amending the times .

A couple of people in the office are grumbling but I think it's perfectly reasonable and that the whole idea of WFH is to afford a work life balance .
How do other WFHomers deal with their working day . Do you literally not move from your desk or do you regig your hours a bit even to do a laundry load .

I meant to say how do you know he makes up his time?

I’ve no issue in theory but to be honest what happens in my experience is the time made up is not as much as people think.

So a typical working day is 9-530, swimming lesson is 90 minutes, they do 45 minutes to ‘make up.’

I know it won’t be a very popular view as a lot of people love WFH, but I do honestly think a lot of people aren’t as productive as they think they are.

Wow varied response .

I guess he is just having an early lunch hour and the extra 40mins is made up after 5pm . It's only one day a week . I don't know if it's formally been agreed but managers have seen he isn't there at that time . As for the comments in the office it's coming from the two with the most sick leave winding each other up .

@FredaFox what calamity do you envision if he does his five o’clock work at seven-thirty? It’s work, not yoghurt! Work from home merely specifies the place, no?

I think as something that’s agree and people know he won’t be available it’s probably okay but can see why some might feel a bit put out.

My current job is me, full time in the office working mostly with one other colleague who is 50/50 office and home. The office days she is mostly at court which is her job so no issue there. On the home days it can be hours between me emailing her a question and her getting back to me. It grates but she is senior to me and raising it as an issue would cause waves so I don’t say anything. Doesn’t mean it’s not unprofessional though. She doesn’t have meetings or other work commitments on her home days.

I work from home most of the time and expect to be available at all times other than when I'm in the loo.

I'm really surprised that people think wfh means automatic flexi hours. They are two entirely different things.

No I wouldn't. However I think he's being unreasonable because clearly working hours are between 9 to 5 and he's supposed to be working at 10 but he decided to go swimming with his son. I think it's wrong. He doesn't need to be literally sitting at the desk at 10 but he should be at work at home not in the swimming pool. . .

I think some people would make their time up but feel a lot would not.

@PeekabooAtTheZoo who said anything about calamity! I can only speak for my industry and job role that you work to your contracted hours and it would be deemed taking the piss to sod off to the swimming baths during the working day
We don't know what job this person does so maybe it is ok? Maybe they aren't customer facing, maybe they don't work to deadline, maybe it's a minimum wage job.
We are all responding based on our own circumstances

I would allow it as a one off if one of my team asked me in advance. If it was a frequent thing I would expect a flexible worrying request to be put in but tbh would probably agree it unless the time out meant he would miss a significant team call or something. If he is doing it without asking his line manager I would be angry and wonder what else he was trying to get away with as without a FWA in place colleagues should be available during core hours

I'd probably expect him to have agreed it with his line manager that he could have a regular commitment during office hours. But totally depends on the role, organisational policies and culture.

Sounds like that are judging him by their own standards.

None of us can answer whether he is unreasonable or not without knowing whether your employer has a flexible working policy.

We have core hours but are allowed to work flexibly. Nobody gives two hoots if I go for a 90minute run at 2pm as I did today, as long as I block my diary as "out of office" for those 90 minutes and make the time up elsewhere in the week.

I don't think it's really OK as it's totally avoidable, unlike e g. a medical appointment. Swimming lessons are available both weekend days in many places. I would also have concerns he was actually doing quite a bit of childcare while "WFH". How come he just does 90 mins with the DC, who has him before and after?

Depends on the role. Even if he’s not customer facing, is he expected to take calls from team members during the day. If so, he should be available during the working day. Ie, 9-5pm.

However, if he works alone, doesn’t need to interact with anyone etc, eg, painter, then more flexibility could be allowed.

Would you allow the office workers to leave the office for two hours every week? If no, then I think the home worker shouldn’t be allowed this privilege either.

However, my first thought was that it was a bit cheeky, especially if it hasn’t been approved by his manager. Makes me wonder what other liberties he’s taking, Also, who’s looking after the child during the day, when he’s wfh? Why can’t his dp take him?

That seems ridiculous. He should schedule the lesson for one of his off days or officially change his hours

I presume the parent doing the main childcare can't drive which is why he is doing this during the working day? My manager is pretty good about me starting earlier and finishing earlier but regularly doing this in the middle of the working day might raise some eyebrows. However if he's booked the time out as unavailable, he could realistically be on any kind of meeting and if it's been privately agreed with management then the others should mind their own business.

It’s between him and his manager. If his manager said it’s fine then it’s fine. Doesn’t really matter whether the office gossips approve or not.

Depends on the company and individual contract

I think this is really specific to the workplace. My boss would have no problem with me doing this, so long as I do work my hours. Though, they get just as much (probably more) flexibility from me than I ask of them. There have been times I've stayed online until 10pm if we've had a deadline that we're working towards. I generally log on from 7.30/8, clock out for 20 minutes when DS is ready for nursery to drop him off at nursery around 8.30 or so, and stay online until 5.45pm when I go to pick DS up, which is way above the 9.00-5.00pm I'm expected to work. Therefore, they don't bat an eyelid if I say I need to take a long/early/late lunch, so long as the work is done.

I wouldn't be bothered by what your colleague is doing.

Would be allowed under our policy unless a meeting went in at that time that couldn’t be moved (eg a town hall)

Totally depends on the role and the expectations of the business.
I mostly WFH and am expected to do my do my contracted hours (I'm part time) which are blocked out in my calendar. I have to attend lots of meetings so need be available during a "standard" working day. However, my team and company are really flexible so if I need to knock off early, or take a longer lunch break, that's fine - I just need to let the team know I'm not around and update my calendar. I'm expected to make the hours up but no one's checking that I do.

I don't think it's an issue. He does the work and puts the hours in . However I have always worked flexibly.

I don't think it's on if he's got contracted hours and hasn't agreed a change.

I work a job where I have a set number of hours per week but I can do them anytime I like, except that I have to be present at meetings at agreed times. So it's fine for me to go swimming in the middle of the day and work in the evening. But if I had a job which was 9 -5 then I'd expect to have to work those hours.

Depends on the type of employer. This would be totally fine at my work though.