If you are WHF..

[Werenearlytherexmas2024]

What are you actually doing today?

I have a very rare quiet day (haven't had one for years) so I have:

• Wrapped the santa presents
• filled the stockings
• planned what we will be having for elf breakfast on Xmas eve
• later on I will make and freeze the stuffing for Christmas. Might give Yorkshire puddings a go too.

If anyone wants to join me in being merry and sharing what festive tasks you are doing, please jump in.

And no - I don't feel one bit guilty about doing this during work time as I have done hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime this year.

I am self-employed and planned to finish last Friday, then yesterday. I was still working today. It's my first year out on my own and I don't want to turn away work.

I've done a stupid amount of work today as someone dumped a load on me as they at the company's xmas do this afternoon and evening. I wfh so not going. Tomorrow hopefully we get to finish at lunch and I've back to back meetings all morning.

In the Police we used to say that for some shifts, you're paid too much (as no / next to no calls come in etc), for others you're paid nowhere near enough (the horrific experiences, the back to back calls, not peeing for twelve hours, freezing on scene guard overnight on foot etc), and on others you're paid about right. It all balances out in the end.

I worked Christmas day shifts where we played Xbox and ate a buffet we'd all brought in. I also worked Christmas days where I was on duty for 20+hrs on murder investigations.

Every job has its less insane days or shifts. Every single one.

I wasn’t directing my comments at you.

my husband WFH for some years before Covid and I barely saw him. His hours were way beyond 35 hours a week. The children barely saw him. He was stuck up in the spare room for so very long.
mid come home from work at around 5 and have to take sustenance to him to get him through.

my problem here is with those who’ve admitted that they’re twiddling their thumbs and are wrapping presents and going out whilst being at work.

surely companies know this and should alter their payroll accordingly?

I'm self employed. I have two Etsy shops and a website selling my stuff. Run up to Christmas is hectic as hell so once the cut off for delivery by Christmas passes I enjoy a good rest. Completely unapologetically too. 😁

I'm a PA but all but 1 of the people I look after are off this week. The other was in calls all morning and had their diary blocked out for 2 hours to sort out presents. I work long hours and often start at 7.30 in the morning and am still working at 7pm. Up until today I was working solidly all day.

Your unpaid hours are irrelevant. Don't work hours that you aren't paid for. If you think employers don't read all these posts, then you're being extremely naive.

And people wonder why working from home arrangements are being rolled back.

Its been extremely quiet for me ever since I joined a unit on promotion. I'm meant to be starting some new work but they keep pushing it back. So as I'm on flexi, I've just been putting my standard hours down. Not my fault if there is no work to do. I've done some work but its been getting quieter and quieter. I had a day off today, but I think tomorrow its just going to be a case of logging on and browsing the internet between 10am and 3pm

@AllAroundMyCat it's swings and roundabouts though. I'm having a quiet day today, but I'm also expected to be available to work even while on holiday or abroad. I've spent many many holidays hunched over my laptop or on calls, DH's proposal was ruined many years ago when I worked 48 hours through new years eve. At my level I'm now paid more for my experience than the time I put in but I'm also expected to be available 24/7/365.

Unexpectedly working. Nearly 40% staff are already off so I was expecting it to be very quiet, but things have exploded out of no where, with a huge amount of trades to place & withdrawals to process.
I worked through my lunch & I had a stress headache by 11am & was very pleased to log off at 5pm until the 28th!

I had a couple of calls but as it was quiet I mostly cleaned out my inbox and did a load of training that is due early January (why do they always push stuff to you at EOY?!). On my lunch break I got the car cleaned and had a walk.

If I was in the office it would have been the same, more work doesn’t magically appear just because I’m in a different location. I don’t feel guilty, plenty of other weeks I work late to get things finished, take calls outside of my hours and check emails on my day off. It’s give and take.

This does actually make us WFH people who are desperately trying to hold on to it against a swell of negative public opinion look bad.

For the record I WFH for givt department until I finished for Xmas yesterday and have done zero present wrapping, baking or browsing.

You may be an exception.

So many threads on here from people almost demanding to WFH convince me that people just want an easy ride.

Always one

I think most grown ups can appreciate that different jobs have different perks, and that it's ok to enjoy them.

I've had a quiet day and got some wrapping done in between meetings. The rest of the year things are ridiculously busy, and high stress, so it's lovely to appreciate the quiet moments. Christmas is the one time of year that a vast majority of people are off at the same time. This means very little work can progress

I wfh but am now in annual leave so had a lazy relaxing day.

Not all jobs are created equal, they don't all necessarily involve a constant stream of work. A lot of the time people in more senior positions are being paid for their skills and expertise rather than amount of workload. There are days when they may not have a lot to do but when a crisis hits they'll be the one sorting it. Often in offices people are adept at making themselves look busy. At home you can get on with other stuff too.

I'm on annual leave, so your comment doesn't apply to me, but it's pissed me off so much I couldn't just scroll on by.

Plenty of people who WFH work damn hard the majority of the time. This year, I've worked through an entire week of annual leave (didn't get that back, or any slack at other times) worked on loads of my non- working days and worked late. I don't get paid overtime, like many others who do the same. So if I had been working this week, and if it had been quiet, who are you to judge if I'd been wrapping presents between meetings.

You're tarring everyone with the same brush.

There will always be people who take the piss, regardless of where they work. In the office, you can usually find them in the kitchen, chatting in a corner somewhere, taking extended lunch breaks, or 28 toilet breaks a day.

Yes of course the people you've mentioned work bloody hard. But usually, when they're away from work, they're away from work. No logging on to check emails, no calls interrupting their non-working time or annual leave. My dad is a white collar worker. He's gotten out of bed in the small hours every day for nearly 50 years, doing an important and dangerous job. But when he's home, he's home. He doesn't have to think about work, check his emails, receive phone calls, and he's never been asked to cancel annual leave like I have.

It is perfectly possible to work from home and work just as hard as the people you've mentioned.

Yes, I thought my comment would hit a note. if it didn’t apply to you then ignore but I suspect that a lot of WFH people might feel that what I said resonated.

Dropped kids off at nursery/school. Came bk to work. Sadly as I work part time I'm always busy. Sometimes I get some down time but not so often.

I had stuff that I had to finish today. Made a cup of tea and toast and got on with it. Had a teams mtg at 10.30. Got a voicemail for nursery during it. Had to pick up youngest from nursery and bring her home as she was unwell (but actually pretty much ok). Continued to try and work and look after her/find things to entertain her. Had another teams call about the work I'm doing. Fitbit finished and Stopped about 2pm.

Emptied dishwasher and done the dishes. Grabbed some food. Officially stopped at 2.45 as was taking some time bk I was owed. Did log back on to check emails /msgs about 3.30 and logged off about 20mins later. That's me until after new year 😁

I think we have to consider the very real possibility that the people in charge of running these organisations have a better idea of how to manage their staff than you do. In particular, there's no reason for them to take an interest in the views of people who apparently don't accept the concept of jobs that have busy periods and quiet periods. Fwiw, I worked a half day this afternoon, remotely, and got through absolutely shitloads of stuff.

Thankfully my boss is of the view that as long as the work gets done they don't mind if we disappear off for an hour or so to get out in the daylight or go to the gym/shops.

I could have sat at my computer looking at stupid videos on Facebook still not working. I'm always contactable. In fact I was answering emails and messages whilst in the gym.

You've got a huge chip on your shoulder, and you really need to get a life.

Working. Trying to clear my emails while it's quiet

The usual masses of emails and requests have really quietened down so I got a great head start on a communication deck for January, finished 2024 budget forecasting changes and put the final feedback in my direct reports' performance reviews. It was great to catchup on everything :)