to take my 'downtime' during work hours?

[wishfortime]

By 'downtime' I mean nice easy things, like online shopping, coffee breaks, and a bit of random internet surfing.

I work full time and have a 90 minute standing/rushed commute.

Mornings are a rush with early start and nursery drop off etc, My DH picks up DC from nursery between 6 and 6.30 pm, and i reach home about 7pm, spend an hour doing bath, bedtime routine with DC while my husband cooks, we eat at 8.30 then its cleaning kitchen, laundry and general housework, and getting sorted for next day while my DH catches up on work emails. Weekends are also quite jam packed as both our families live far away, so more often than not we either are travelling 300 miles (at least once/twice a month), or family/friends are staying with us.

So I don't get any 'free time' at home, hence i feel i need to take some 'down time' at work. My workload isn't always 100% capacity, but its the type of job where i need to be there and available or it impacts the team. Its paid well and often things kick off i do need to work late into the evening, and sometimes at weekends from home. (I don't get paid for this 'overtime', which is how i justify to myself that the downtime at quieter times during the day is ok).

Seriously?
You should do 2/3 Work, and 1/3 pleasure, of every hour at work?
Really. I don't think that can be right.

Pengggwn, if I hear that the OP's boss has spoken to her about her productivity then I will agree with you. Until then, in the face of zero evidence, I believe you to be wrong.

I don't know why you're so obsessed with the idea of the OP 'confessing' to her manager that she takes some breaks during the day. It's more to the point that the employer isn't approaching the OP about her performance. That is actually what really matters.

There are many employers on this thread recognising the fact that periods of downtime are important and actually increase productivity.

You should do 2/3 Work, and 1/3 pleasure, of every hour at work

Just FYI if you're referring to the link I posted, 17 minutes break after every 52 minutes of working is actually just under 1/4 of the time, not 1/3.

If I was the OP’s boss and she came to me to tell me this I’d be a little confused (I would take it as a given that she organised her time how she saw fit) and would probably say something like ‘err ok, I’m pleased with your current performance. Crack on’

The OP didn't say 'probably wrong'; she said she doesn't totally disagree with you.

Balance of evidence on this thread, including that from employers, suggests very much that she has nothing to worry about. She certainly doesn't need to tell her boss, even though that's what you're harping on.

Ecureuil, yes, exactly.

Pengggwn can you accept that many managers on here are happy for their reports to work this way? That in turn they and their managers also do so?

There is a reason the OP has not and will not tell her boss she does this - she would be reprimanded. Her productivity is lower than it should be, but she is still being paid for her full job.

And this is one reason the UK has a productivity crisis - the idea that people working longer/harder leads to improved outputs, and managers feeling ‘shortchanged’ if an employee isn’t working full-pelt during their contracted hours, but don’t consider the employee as being shortchanged if they work outside those contracted hours.

Managers in the UK are on average less qualified and less skilled than our more productive competitors. That has quite an impact.

Likewise, Pengggwn. It's not rude to use the phrase harping on. I'm deeply bored of your position now.

Jassy, totally agree. It's very simplistic to think longer at your desk means better work, and it flies in the face of a lot of evidence.

Madonna. No, I was referring to the :

"20 minute mumsnet break every hour"

40 minutes work. 20 minutes MN'ing.

Actually that's more like what I do......

closes down excel document and also facebook/MN/lady care Plus menopausal magnet tabs .....

And I don't disagree with you, but when you sign up to a role under a system where you do have identifiable working hours, it is accepted that you will be working during those hours, plus any other hours required to get the job done.

It depends on the contract. I run a a team of 40 in mostly skilled professional roles. Their contracts stipulate number of hours to be worked, and the organisation has core hours - though managers have discretion to vary those based on local business need. My team regularly have pre-6am starts and post 10-pm finishes. It would be totally unreasonable - and I suspect would not play well at a tribunal - if I were to discipline them for being on eBay at 4.32 in the afternoon.

That’s been the practice everywhere I’ve worked in a professional capacity.

a system where you do have identifiable working hours, it is accepted that you will be working during those hours, plus any other hours required to get the job done.

No, that doesn’t work. You can’t conflate jobs where it’s ‘hours needed to get the job done’ with ‘you are contracted to work x hours a week and these are those hours.’ I’m sure there are employers who try to do so, but I wouldn’t take it as ‘the norm’ or ‘expected’ in anything but poorly managed organisations. The OP’s doesn’t sound like that, based on what she’s said, as it doesn’t have a rigid culture that forces her, as a manager, to manage her team and their time in a prescribed way.

I used to run a very successful talent management/retention programme for a huge multinational organisation.
I suspect very few employers who expect their employers to work every single minute of their contracted hours plus expect them to be flexible, contactable and engaged outside of their contracted hours without any overtime or TOIL, are very successful at retaining their talent.

Yanbu. I think it’s fine, and fairly normal in jobs where there are peaks and troughs and you are expected to put in the hours as the job demands

Also in jobs that require chunks of really heavy concentration, I think it’s fine and sensible to then take a little time to unwind before starting the next task. My assistant often spends a few minutes looking at Facebook or whatever here and there during the day and I don’t mind in the slightest. He churns out excellent quality work and gets the job done by the deadlines required. Other people have a cigarette/coffee/ gossip with a friend.
Like you op, I might spend my “down time” sorting family admin.

However I think you are bonkers to do that long journey every month. You and your family need some weekends where you have quiet time too!

The point is I allowed my employees to use their discretion. They had a series of professional goals, agreed together and reviewed regularly, which they were to work towards. My sole concern was whether these goals were being met, not the number of hours worked.