Do you ever WFH in bed?

[Spocyfriedchi]

I have an office job. All I need is my laptop. Yes a big screen helps, but my job is mostly excel and then some word and PowerPoint.

Someday (especially when I have anxiety) I like working in bed and feeling all cosy.

Does anyone else do this?

I can't WFH in my job (teacher), but even if I could I wouldn't do it in bed. I do quite a bit of work at home though. I always sit at a table to do it.

It's shown multiple screens increase productivity.

Surely that depends on the work. I was in the office yesterday and spent almost the whole day reading, reviewing and editing documents. I used one screen the whole day because I didn't need anything other than the document in front of me - I wasn't cross referencing or anything like that. At my office we have a handful of standing desks, so I spent some of the day standing, some of it sitting. I don't really see that it would have been different if I'd also spent some of it lying down.

I'm paying for 100% effort not 60%. If you're not well, take a sick day, don't work at part capacity.

Depends on the company - I get a year of sick leave on full pay so they pay for 100% and 0%. If I'm not well, from the company's point of view they're paying me anyway so any work I get done, even if it's 60%, is better than being off the whole day. (From a wellbeing point of view I know my company would protest this, and say "no no, definitely take a day off if you need it" but from a financial point of view, if you're paying someone either way it's better for you that they do a bit of work than none).

I have never defined my eyebrows for a video call. Or for an in person meeting.

Am I a bad employee??

One of our most senior (2nd from the top) management told us she frequently attends the monthly health and safety meetings horizontal on the sofa with a glass of wine

Makes me feel less guilty about working from the dining table when I need a change of scenery.

I must be a bad employee as well 😁

Define them as in "these are my eyebrows, small strips of hair that run atop my eye sockets"?

No. I'm sure you're a marvellous employee. Just not one with particularly well groomed eyebrows. To be fair, attractive eyebrows probably aren't the best look if your Teams/Zoom background (while propped up in bed) is some sort of ski resort thing. Our death in service payment, which is generous, does have a couple of clauses though. They're quite specific. Without too much detail, one does mention 'Denis Healey pretending to be in Cloisters while hogging a divan.'

What are her eyebrows like?

I have dark eyebrows that I pluck the stray hairs from anyway. I'm not sure what else I am meant to do with them to "define" them.

Get a sharpie to them?

I think that's more than adequate. If you're called into an emergency video conference, no one's going to be thinking: "Dear Lord. Ivy looks an extra in a Denis Healey biop today." That's the important thing I've garnered from this thread. And life more generally. Also, choose your background carefully. As in, pick one that doesn't make it look you're in bed when you're in bed. I've read an awful lot of Baudrillard. Negating the impact of hyperreal assumptions can render death in service payments null and void. You heard it here first.

I’m self-employed, running my own business, I trust myself. There’s no reason emails, admin and data updates can’t be done sitting up in bed,

We all use backgrounds anyway. We are supposed to use one with the company logo on but no-one in my team does. We just select one of the stock one on Teams.

That's a start. But it doesn't allow much scope for your eyebrows to develop their own identity, thoughts or opinions and is quite controlling.

Well quite.

Some of my work has to be done at my desk. Some of it can be find anywhere,

I dread to think what all this working from bed is doing to people's backs and necks.

I ended up woth terrible neck and shoulder issues in the first part of lockdown before I managed to get a decent desk and monitor set up sorted out.

Only if I am sick, it saves me using a sick day if I can work this way. I know my boss has too.

I'm an early careers employee. My work still has been quite good though. All I really need is a laptop

I’m recently retired but from the start of covid till I left , I worked in my bed. My set up was a wooden lap desk with an adjustable part for my laptop and a side part for my mouse . I used a very supportive back rest ( better than my work seat actually) . I went into work about once a month for meetings and I know that I wasn’t as productive on those days as I was at home even though I had two screens because of interruptions and the long commute to and from work.i think it’s horses for corses . Up until Covid , I worked in the office constantly . Ill health meant that my commute was at best uncomfortable. Zoom meetings meant I could use backgrounds or turn my video off if necessary . It didn’t mean I was less engaged and I managed my work without any problems.

Employment policies and demands like ‘everyone back to the office’ really shouldn’t be determined or driven by things that are only ‘perceived’.

Is that an established fact? The “deleterious effect on morale“? Or do you and your HR department just enjoy wielding power?

I imagine when I am giving legal advice that people care more about the clarity and precision of my advice than they do about the clarity and precision of my eyebrows. But maybe I have that wrong?

Yes I've done it when I've felt a bit crap but not too sick to work. I do a lot of excel/word type stuff so usually prefer my big monitor but if it's a slow day or a day that's mostly meetings then yes definitely would work in bed

You definitely have that wrong. They care more about the eyebrows and the background. There's a kind of perfect mix between perfectly groomed but tousled with gel and that zen white one with implausible potted plants that hits a sweet spot. Source: many, many years of spouting utter nonsense for cash.

And yet I have managed to have a glittering and fulfilling career without ever giving any thought to either ...

I guess I don't spout nonsense though

Since you are self-employed, it is fine for you to be as productive or unproductive as you like. You decide how to get the job done.

Not in the case of employees who are given the privilege of WFH.