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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think working from home is becoming a skivers charter

233 replies

Viviennemary · 06/12/2017 18:44

Of course I know there are a lot of people who work from home very conscientiously. But it seems more and more people when they have childcare problems, house needs cleaning, traffic bad, staying in for delivery or they just need an easy day. Work from home. Anyone come across this. I know it's a bit of a risk putting this in AIBU but I just wondered.

OP posts:
BrieAndChilli · 06/12/2017 19:10

I work from home every day part time and so the 3 hours I work I am sat at my desk. My boss gets the bonus of me being able to log in at other times to check /finish something eg I stayed up til 2 am one Saturday night to ring austrialia as needed to check something before someone arrived there on the Sunday night. If I worked from an office I wouldn’t have been able to do that.
I in turn get to take 10 minutes to pick my car up from the garage around the corner, or Work with an ill kid etc

This week I’ve had flu and so if I worked in the office I would have rung in sick but because I only work 3 hours and from home I still worked (although slower than usual) in my dressing gown and made sure essential and urgent stuff was done.

It is give and take and because they are flexible with me eg I move my hours if there’s a school play etc then I am flexible with them and will often finish stuff up after I’ve done and picked the kids up from school.

DonttouchthatLarry · 06/12/2017 19:10

I've known several people who've managed to sit in an office all day and do very little work......

Nikephorus · 06/12/2017 19:12

I'd guess that the ones who take the piss at home are the same ones who would otherwise be taking the piss at work.

SandyY2K · 06/12/2017 19:12

I do the same, plus colleagues can see when I'm idle after 5 minutes...

That only means you aren't on the computer. You could be taking a phone call or reading a hard copy of a report.

I sometimes lose track of the time when working from home and work longer hours, though some people do skive..but they are the same people who skive at work.

MrsPeacockDidIt · 06/12/2017 19:13

I’m way more productive at home than the office as there are far less people to chat to and I do love a chat

MrsKoala · 06/12/2017 19:16

What's wrong with working from home if you are expecting a delivery. If you can still work and listen out for the doorbell how does that make it a skive?

My DH works from home one day a week and does longer hours because he doesn't have 1.5 hrs commuting either side. So can work till 7 and still help with bedtimes. Rather than finishing at 6.30 and getting in an hour later. He also has less people bothering him. He writes reports which he can do from anywhere and manages people and clients all round the world so his meetings are all over the computer anyway.

Opening the front door to someone, taking his dad to the dr at lunch time, or dropping the kids off at 8.30am doesn't prevent him doing his job properly.

FiFiLaPoodle · 06/12/2017 19:17

Jealous much @VivienneMary

How does it affect YOUR life if someone has an 'easy' job working from home? Hmm

Bitter are you, because you have to trawl miles and miles to work every weekday, and do an 8 hour day, while the work from home folk have much more flexibility and freedom?

Shame.

Nyx1 · 06/12/2017 19:17

OP, what makes you think of home working this way?

Agree with a pp - people who will get their work done to a high standard will do so wherever they are.

thinking about it, my work system also shows up if there's no activity from me for a while.

FiFiLaPoodle · 06/12/2017 19:18

Agree with a pp that some of the most bone-idle, entitled-to, piss-takers actually do spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week in an office.

TammySwansonTwo · 06/12/2017 19:19

DH has worked from home for the last 11 years or so. Before we had kids he never stopped working - evenings, weekends, there was no line between work and home. He's better since we had the twins, much better, but he works damn hard.

CeciliaBartolli · 06/12/2017 19:19

If you don't finish your workload your boss will soon figure out that you are still in bed. End of.

AlansLeftMoob · 06/12/2017 19:19

YABU. If people want to work from home and they're getting work done in the allotted timeframe, what does it matter if they're also accomplishing other tasks like housework etc? I'd actually say if they're managing to clean a house, manage childcare AND do work assigned to them then they're doing a lot more than they'd be doing in an office.

Weepingwillows12 · 06/12/2017 19:21

I have a busy stressful job which requires long hours occasionally . I can work at home if I don't have meetings. I get more done at home when I am really busy at work as I save the commute and don't get interrupted at the desk by the team every two minutes. However, I will admit that I sometimes work at home on quiet days and am much less productive and do house jobs etc in my breaks. I do this after having a big project with long hours so is more toil.

Timeforanamochango · 06/12/2017 19:21

When I work from home I work 10x harder because I don’t want my boss to refuse my requests for it! I don’t take a lunch break, start 30 mins early and finish 30 mins later to make up travel time so no I don’t skive!

brasty · 06/12/2017 19:23

I think it can be easier to skive in the office. Meetings that include a lot of personal chatting for example.

AccrualIntentions · 06/12/2017 19:24

Traffic bad and staying in for delivery sound like perfectly reasonably reasons for working from home because they don't impinge on the time available to do work.

I'm sure a lot of people do skive. My work monitor activity, and with no one around to annoy distract me I find I'm more productive at home if I've something specific to work on.

It's really handy being able to work from home the odd day (I do about 1 day in 10) so I'm careful not to take the piss.

LazyDailyMailJournos · 06/12/2017 19:27

I can get more done in 4 hours at home than I can in 8 hours at the office. At home there are no distractions, nobody to talk to and no noise, so you can get your head down and concentrate. The people who skive at home are the same people who skive in the office.

TheHodgeoftheHedge · 06/12/2017 19:27

I agree with the others - there are always skivers in every office but my boss allows me to work from home every now and then when i need to as he knows I'll be just as productive, if not more, than when I'm in the office.
I'm normally logged on and working from about the normal time I'd leave my commute and can focus and get more done without having to make small talk with people on and off all day. Normally I'll still be logged on past 530 and not finish up until the time I'd be home as normal.

CheeriosEverywhere · 06/12/2017 19:28

But it seems more and more people when they have childcare problems, house needs cleaning, traffic bad, staying in for delivery or they just need an easy day. Work from home

Where are you getting this intel from? How do you know what people do when they are working at home?

HappyVan · 06/12/2017 19:29

When I am work from home I am just as focused as at work, if not more, as there are no distractions. But I feel very strongly about work ethic and I believe I will be held accountable for my actions (if not in this world, then in the hereafter). I also believe it is unfair to take advantage of your employer and once you have made a promise, you've got to keep it and always give your best.

Whether others hold these values, I don't know.

QuitMoaning · 06/12/2017 19:30

Some days I do twice as much as I would had I been in the office and some days I do less. It definitely nets out to slightly more when at home.

In addition when people have tradesmen or boiler servicing they have to take a days holiday or late in/leave early etc but I just always organise for the days I am at home.
And when Work requires me to go in, I can. All about flexibility and commitments. Then it becomes easy to manage.

MaverickSnoopy · 06/12/2017 19:30

I think it's easy to perceive that people are skiving because they are not physically in front on you. But why do you think they are? Do they take longer to reply to emails, or something else?

Honestly. I work in emerging technology and only today I was reading am article about how remote working is going to grow rapidly over the next ten years. Two thirds of my working week is home based and I achieve so much. Comparatively when I worked in an office, I was drowning in work because of all of the interruptions. Even if I did skive at home, which I don't, I would still get more done. I use my time in the office to discuss goals and targets and have meetings with colleagues and then my time at home is spent being very productive.

I used to work with someone who was notoriously uncontactable when wfh. However he was also notoriously uncontactable in the office. It's just people felt the former meant he was skiving! He was just very busy!

SunnySkiesSleepsintheMorning · 06/12/2017 19:30

YABU. We are encouraged to work from Home and in other locations. I work much more productively at home. I’m the office, people always come up to me and ask me questions or just want a natter. It’s noisy, hot, stuffy and not conducive to productive work. I tend to work slightly longer at home also because I’m up and awake and obviously don’t have the commute.

Kitsharrington · 06/12/2017 19:30

I work from home and if anything I seriously overwork rather than underwork. People who skive at home would find a way to skive in an office, too.

GeekyBlinders · 06/12/2017 19:31

I wfh two days a week. I have objectives set every year, and targets to meet, and if I do meet these and my manager is happy with my work, I really can't see what concern it is of anyone if I put a wash on occasionally, or start dinner on my coffee break.