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?

Someone doesn't understand the meaning of the term "confirmation bias".

I once designed the architecture for a cloud-based teaching environment in chalk on the external wall of my house because if I didn't get out of my office chair and go outside I was going to cry, and once I was outside and thought processes resumed, I needed to write what I was thinking of before I forgot it. The teaching environment worked very well, according to the lecturing staff.

Getting the chalk out off the wall afterwards was harder than implementing the architecture.

My point is that what one person thinks is a great working environment is a hellscape for someone else.

That's actually bollocks.

I have worked effectively from home for nearly 5 years with a laptop screen. I have no idea why you would need a larger screen. I have one, but I don't use it.

If you're not well, take a sick day, don't work at part capacity.

Take too many and my employer will start disciplinary proceedings against you. We are talking "two sickness absences in six months" as being too many. This doesn't encourage people to take sick leave and very much encourages the presenteeism that you describe.

Not IN bed, but I will sometimes sit ON the bed for an hour or two. I think it's really just because I don't like sitting in the same position all day and this allows me to change my posture.

For training, you are watching, not typing.

I would probably be typing (or writing) notes. If I just watch without any interaction, I take in far less.

I have worked from bed when on-call. I learnt very quickly how to turn off the default of camera on for Teams calls. One particularly bad night, I woke up, cross-legged on my bed, in front of my laptop, head on the keyboard. I also sometimes sat on my bed (on rather than in,) when I was studying for a qualification, which was not unlike when I was a proper student.

Too much of it is not good for the back.

I preferred using my home desk (aka dining table with computer propped on it whilst the kids were at school) - but occasionally I would work in bed - it would be if I was cold, not feeling great and during the worst days of pregnancy when I was working from home before Mat leave.

What a load on nonsense. Who are you to claim to know what everybody's job involves and what is the most efficient way to do it?!

It depends on what you are doing. I'm autistic and I really struggle with short-term memory, so having to switch between applications (say, a helpdesk ticket management system and a configuration management tool, or a procedure document and a remote access console) is basically impossible for me without a screen big enough to have the two side-by-side, or else multiple screens. When programming, I need a minimum of three windows: one for the code editor, one for the compiler/unit testing toolset/test VM, and one for a web browser so I can see the cheatsheet for today's language and search for the error message I'm getting from the compiler/unit tests/run-time interpreter. Again, this doesn't work on a laptop screen.

Being able to work at home so that I can work out-of-hours is essential. One of our cloud providers runs its support services at Pacific Time. I work at Mersey Time. I can't talk to them meaningfully if I'm at work because I'm not allowed to stay in the buildings after 6pm and they don't even start until 5pm.

I'm not the right fit anywhere that doesn't require me to carry a toolset.

Before thr 2012 Olympics i supervised a Business Continuity exercise from my bed, so when COVID came along it was nothing new!

If I'm working from home, I'm either in bed or on the sofa. I'm so much more productive when I feel cosy and comfortable than when I'm sitting at a desk.

You're the person banging on about it not being OK to put my dressing gown over my clothes because apparently my competence is somehow linked to my willingness to prioritise looking "smart" over being comfortable and warm. Yet you don't think that your international clients might be a little less-than-impressed if your socks and t-shirts were visible on an airer behind you?

During COVID, one of my colleagues was WFH from a desk in his bedroom because he was in a flatshare and had nowhere else to work from. We could see his bed behind him during meetings. It felt to me like a bit of an invasion of his privacy that we could see his bed, where he slept but probably also had... erm... one-handed fun and might have had sex prior to lockdown. He wasn't in bed, so according to you doing nothing wrong, nonetheless I was glad when he started using backgrounds.

Using a background isn't evidence of wrongdoing. It might mean that someone is short of space in their home, or simply wants some privacy.

I think I've been unfair and have thought 'in bed' means not having actually got out of bed, showered and properly prepared. As others have said, I couldn't do my job with my laptop on my knees and a trackpad. But fair play if it's more comfortable for others to prop up on pillows. I do like to look kempt on calls, though. Doesn't mean full make-up or anything. But hair-brushed, clean-looking, bright eyed and in day clothes. It's fine if you prefer to work in bed, Without the bleary eyes and onesie, I guess. Personally, I hate working in a room I live in. We have a really wide hall. My desk is there. I like clocking in and out in a space that's just for work.

It is always very important to brush your hair and define your eyebrows for video calls. Little bit of lip gloss. Don't wear pyjamas. If you prefer to work in bed. Work in bed. I think it's fine.

Yes. I continued working throughout chemo, and staying in bed to work, helped.

And then during two winters since, I've worked from bed because it's warmer and more comfortable.

I get up, shower, dress, do school run, then back to bed with coffee & laptop. In to my home office for any video calls, then back to bed again.

I never eat up in my bedroom though, that's just not hygienic.

This is the most ridiculous post on this thread.
My DH has been WFH well before it became a 'thing'. Going back 25 years. On a laptop. Not always with screens. Somehow this practice didn't kill WFH for anyone. And he managed to navigate a highly successful career.
I agree having screens is so much more convenient and/or efficient for certain tasks. But not all jobs require these types of tasks.

Obviously there's no way anyone could have a computer based job where they don't use Excel or Powerpoint...

This attachment to multiple screens is a new thing on me. I knew some people had them, and get how they'd be useful in certain roles, but I have never had a job where the employer routinely provided or expected staff to be using them. You'd have to ask. I don't actually have an office, but if I did, the workstations in the one that exists have one screen.

My job currently absolutely requires two screens, minimum.

Previous workplace, there was a push to reduce the use of multiple screens, but there were some roles (like IT and the logistical ones) that needed them.

It's posts like these with others agreeing they do they same that kills WFH for the rest of us. No matter how many people work hard at home, the perceived slacking off by working in bed or on the sofa in front of the telly, doing housework in work hours, is what's driving the push for people to be back in the office

This sums it up pretty neatly.

Yep I totally get that some people's do. Not arguing with that at all. If you need them you should have them. But the idea that everyone in a computer based job is better off with multiple screens, that's bizarre.

Crikey this has escalated.

Doesn't it depend on what your job is?
If you have excellent eyesight have a large laptop, are typing reports, answering emails and just using one database you won't need an extra screen, and can use it anywhere.

I use multiple applications that I need to see side by side. I hate using the touchpad and prefer a proper mouse, so I have my small laptop and two wide-screen screen monitors plus mouse, keyboard and headset. I also have a dedicated office with a desk and chair. That is what works for me.

Now I wouldn't be without my headset!

But yes, you're quite right, it depends on what a person's job and circumstances are. However, there are a number of MNers who become psychic when discussing remote working. And just remote working, interestingly, there isn't the same tendency to wade in from a position of ignorance and tell, say, truck drivers how to do their jobs.

I've never done this and since going fully WFH 5 years ago (how has it been 5 years?) I've only had 2 sick days.

Totally understand if health dictates someone needs to do this but it just wouldn't be comfortable or practical for me.