Thing you do when you WFH...

[SleepDebt]

...that you'd never do in the office.

My DH was shaving his beard In-between emails this week and it made me chuckle at the thought of him doing this in the office.

What things do you do while you WFH that would be completely inappropriate/slightly hilarious if you did them in the office?

We're a marketing firm in a niche industry. I'm one of the owners but the same rules apply to all the staff - most of us work flexi-ish (i.e. if I decided to take 1.5 hour lunch doing a bit of gardening, I'd just work a bit later, or if I decided to prep dinner at 3pm so it could go in the slow cooker I'd make the time up later on).

We work to project completion rather than hours worked, it'd become very obvious very quickly if someone wasn't pulling their weight!

And the idea that you need to be smartly dressed to work on a computer is bullshit.

I also spend most of my day letting dogs in & out of the garden.
We are raising a generation of weak-bladdered dogs !

Often keep my pjs on through lunch. I actually put in more hours when I work from home as I generally won't stop until a given task or project is completed.

Oh same - it's every five minutes. No idea how they coped when I was out for hours every day

Here's a comparison of how a task looks if I do it in the office or from home.

Task:- download and scrutinise spend on electricity across our 300 supplies. Accrue unpaid bills. Chase suppliers for missing months.

wfh
2 hours scrutinising accounts and updating spreadsheet. 15mins checking journal for errors then posting. 30 mins emails out to suppliers or logging into billing portals and downloading copy invoices. Total task time 2.45hrs.

woh
First 2 hours - Get through the first 10 accounts, get interrupted by someone asking me to order something on the credit card, get through another 20 accounts, my turn to brew up for everyone. Do the next 20, in pops Donna from Purchasing who tells us all about her holidays. Do the next 30 accounts, get asked to go do minutes for a meeting as "there's no one else". That takes us up to lunchtime. And I've done 80 of the 300 accounts. That took 2 hours at home.

After my lunch - get sent to cover reception so they can have their lunch. Back to the desk, another 30 accounts done. My brew round again. Another 30. Steve comes in with photos of his puppy everyone stops to coo over. 20 more accounts. Now it's snowing - everyone seems to stop and gaze out the window. 30 accounts. Quick, such and such hasn't had their invoice paid, Bernie can do it.

Now its home time. Shite all done.

Do you mean commuting between various locations during the work day? (Which would save time if you now wfh) Or do you mean just commuting to get to one single place of work?

If the latter then it wouldn't make any difference to your work day/what you get done because if you started at 8am (for example) and it took 45 minutes to get there, you'd leave at say, 7.10am to get to work for an 8am start. So yes, wfh is saving you the time you'd spend on commuting each day, thus giving you more time to get things done at home. But people aren't saying they are doing these things during the time before and after work in the time they are usually on the road, they are saying they are doing it during the work day, and I very much doubt these people are logging on earlier than their contracted hours or staying on to make up for it. They are essentially using the time they'd normally be gossiping in the office to now do personal stuff at home.

You can see why staff don't get replaced and employers are stripping workforces to the bone.

Go to the shops when doing banking inc a weekly shop

Prep dinner. Cook dinner

Peg washing out

Housework

School runs

Leave my hair to dry naturally all morning then style later on.
Paint my nails.
Prep Dinner.
Receive grocery delivery.
School run.
Play with the dog.
Lunchtime shag 😉

I’m a caseworker in a law firm so my productivity (or lack thereof) is backed up by hard stats. My stats were better during lockdown yet I did many of those things mentioned (laundry, pet care, music, nails etc). I think it’s the lack of office interruption that makes wfh equally/more efficient in some ways. Instead of chatting to your colleague about his daughter’s A Levels for example, you’re putting some washing out on the line. Same level of productivity achieved, but the downtime looks different. I can understand why many extraverts dislike wfh.

Ive also had a hair and eye brow apt when wfh.
Wrapped xmas presents.
Mowed the lawn

But if you didn’t, you’d be joining in like everyone else!

Fart whenever I like - I just have to remember to mute myself first. It’s an absolute joy to let rip while my Director is talking to me, all while I’m smiling serenely on mute, looking like butter wouldn’t melt…

Same here, except I find I usually work through my commute time too.

I love that if I’m nervous I can do yoga right up to the minute before important calls — not something I ever did in the office

@CandleInTheStorm

I think you are just jealous.

And your final point You can see why staff don't get replaced and employers are stripping workforces to the bone doesn't hold up. Unemployment is at its lowest level for decades. Employers are desperate to retain staff as recruitment is a nightmare. If there are gaps in the workforce it's because vacancies can't be filled.

Well as long as the work i need to get done is done each week. I can literally do as i please.
I still get paid the same.
My employer will never get rid of me. I am lucky my job allows me to be a parent and run a home, go to assemblies have a social life etc and earn full wage.
But i am incredibly lucky.

A good wank breaks up some dull Teams calls

Hot water bottle on lap/up jumper
Cat on lap (occasionally up jumper)

Thats it. We are definitely camera on for all calls and meetings and my average day if WFh is 8-5 with most of that interacting.

I agree popping the laundry on / stacking a dishwasher probably doesn’t affect productivity - a short physical break is good for concentration. But anyone in the realm of napping, sofas, ironing, bread making - piss takers.

What do you do @MuddlingThroughLifeLittleByLittle ?

😂 now that’s a short physical break!

Or, now that the distractions of the office are removed, actual time spent working is much more productive, thus it takes fewer hours to complete

exactly. I’ve been praised for stepping up and ploughing through work. I probably do about 3-4 hours a day when I WFH. The rest of the time is mine.

Productivity and technology were originally meant to free up humans to live their lives more freely. Please don’t be fooled into propagating the corporation ethos of ‘taking the piss ’ or ‘wasting time.’ You get paid to do a job, you do that job. End of.

I wfh, work hard and do all expected from me and more than pre pandemic. I do tend to do household tasks like cleaning while waiting for the kettle to boil and watch trash tv on my lunch break as no other chance, too busy in the evenings. Personally I think as long as people get their work done, does it matter if they are also hanging up washing?

Our department meeting is an announcement meeting and someone else takes notes. Easy to just listen. Team meeting is 50/50 just listening or something that requires full attention. We don't have cameras on ever. Company wide HR meeting is listening and most of it has nothing to do with my role. These are perfect to get ready in the morning or do housework. Easy to get to computer if needed. Helping out a colleague with brainstorming can easily chop veg. Few rounds of laundry in a month really doenst take that long. My days in office were full of interruptions but now a lot less when nobody pops over. I don't spend hours every day doing housework on work time. But it probably still adds upto less than the bs time in office. And also without commuting I can work longer days. My days are full and work is busy but I dktn work in a customer facing role and work is never finished so throwing some chicken in an oven is not gonna make it or break it in my productivity.

Same here. I wasn't busy in the office, I'm more productive at home but hardly busy now. I have a few days a month where I have solid work for 4/5 hours. Other than that it's responsive to emails and calls.