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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think working from home is not a 'day off'

25 replies

user1485342611 · 01/09/2018 15:25

I work from home sometimes and often get told by a colleague to 'enjoy my day off'.
My sister has just begun working from home every Friday and people keep calling it her 'day off'.

AIBU to find this annoying. It can be hard enough to convince managers that working from home does not mean that staff will be arsing around, doing housework, minding kids etc. People going around calling it a day off, telling you to enjoy it and so on really don't help the image of 'working from home'.

OP posts:
Nikephorus · 01/09/2018 15:27

The people who call it a day off are either the ones who would be taking a working-from-home day as holiday or they've met tossers who do that and are pissed off with it.

hapagirl · 01/09/2018 15:28

Yanbu! My job is working from home and kids, hubby, MIL all think I can drop everything to do whatever errand needs doing! Like my MIL would never call my DH at his office job to demand a lift somewhere but she does to me. Sometimes I don’t even break for lunch.

MirandaWest · 01/09/2018 15:28

Seeing as I work from home full time then that presumably means I don’t work at all then Grin

Original poster
user1485342611 · 01/09/2018 15:35

Negotiating an agreement that you can work from home can be really difficult. People casually dismissing it as some kind of free day, or people who abuse the right to work from home, can really feck it up for others.

OP posts:
ForalltheSaints · 01/09/2018 15:38

I think that if it is other than a Friday there would be much fewer comments.

tillytoodles1 · 01/09/2018 15:39

My daughter is a travel agent, working full time from home. She goes into her office like she's going to work and stays there until her hours are finished, although she'll nip downstairs for a few minutes to feed her dogs.

Original poster
user1485342611 · 01/09/2018 15:40

Why ForalltheSaints?

OP posts:
VickieCherry · 01/09/2018 15:43

Ask them if they could do their jobs if they had a 'day off' every week.

I've been working at home once a week for 10 years now. At the start everyone laughed and assumed it was a doss day... now most of them work at home at least occasionally and agree that you get more done. I'm glad times are changing.

ForalltheSaints · 01/09/2018 15:47

user1485342611 because it is often thought of as a way to extend the weekend. Those at work who work from home for childcare reasons on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively never attract comment, anyone on a Friday even if occasionally usually do.

Theresnodisneyending · 01/09/2018 15:50

I read on here the other day "working from home doesn't count as 'work'". FFS.

IsTheRainEverComingBack · 01/09/2018 15:50

MirandaWest same. In my team the general view is if you’re working from home you’re working even harder because there’s no one to distract you with chats and coffee.

IsTheRainEverComingBack · 01/09/2018 15:51

Theresnodisneyending what? Why?! I only work from home, full time, I’m definitely working!

LittleMissedTheSunshine · 01/09/2018 15:57

I work from home and I'll work as hard as the work demands (very reactive role), so on quiet days it can be akin to a day off or half day off, yes, but on the busy days it is the opposite.

I think WFH works better with some kinds of jobs than others, with mine if a client calls with a problem I can't not sort it... other jobs you might be able to leave things on the back burner until Monday.

Pippylou · 01/09/2018 16:00

My DH has worked from home for years, disappears into his office, stays there, works.

I think he actually does more than if he was in an office as he limits distractions and just works.

Theresnodisneyending · 01/09/2018 16:00

It was on some thread about SAHParenting, a lady had posted that she worked from home whilst her kids were in school, at her own business (no, not MLM, before some facetious ahole asks). Someone on same thread also said "volunteering doesn't count as work", to someone who did that from home via phone. I guess to some people if you're not physically out of the house, you're failing at life.

Petalflowers · 01/09/2018 16:03

My dh does more at home, then in the office. For a start, he’s not travelling to and from the office, so gains a couple of hours then. He’s not interupted by other colleagues, plus will work through lunch.

Original poster
user1485342611 · 01/09/2018 16:03

People often choose to work from home on a Friday or Monday because it gives them 3 days in a row where they don't have to commute or get involved in office politics. If they were taking a free day every week surely it would soon become very obvious due to their output?

OP posts:
Gigis · 01/09/2018 16:05

Yes I find this annoying too. My husband has worked really hard and has earned a day where he is allowed to work from home. When one of his colleagues found out they loudly congratulated him and commented that we'd make more of a saving because we wouldn't need to pay for any childcare one day a week now. He very quickly and publically had to put this person straight that actually the baby would continue to go to nursery on that day because he would be working and not able to also take care of the baby at the same time before his bosses got the wrong idea.

Yoghurty · 01/09/2018 16:14

YANBU to be annoyed.
I'm based from home for work, although the majority of my time is spent on the road travelling nationally.

My mother doesn't understand why I can't chat for more than a few minutes to her on the days I work from home, and friends often remark how much I must get done around the house. Err, no!

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 01/09/2018 16:20

YANBU.
My mother used to do this too, assume that because I was "working from home" I was free to do whatever, whenever. No. I had clients, they had booked-in times, I was doing other stuff in between - I was not sitting around watching tv, drinking coffee and waiting for her to phone me. She'd get quite irate that I wouldn't pick the phone up!

Of course working from home does offer you more flexibility, but it's still not a fecking "day off" - there is still work that needs to be done and that is the day to be doing it!

RollaCola84 · 01/09/2018 16:28

Unfortunately there's too many people who do treat it as a day off who spoil it for the rest of us. I'm more productive when I occasionally work from home as there are less interruptions. However I have a colleague who work from home every Friday and you rarely see any email from them, receive a phone call, get an answer to a message etc.

I firmly but politely say it isn't a day off, I'm working and ensure that my output makes that very clear.

JacquesHammer · 01/09/2018 16:35

I read on here the other day "working from home doesn't count as 'work'". FFS

Huh. I must be getting money for nothing then Grin

OP - YANBU.

Spudlet · 01/09/2018 16:44

thereisnodisneyending That's amazing. I mean, not in a good way. But still.

DH and I both work from home, me all the time as a self-employed person and he as an employee, several days a week. I guess we don't work at all in our house!

NewName54321 · 01/09/2018 17:15

"Work is something you do, not somewhere you go".

Repeat as required.

SoyDora · 01/09/2018 17:17

Well if it does mean that, then DH has had approx 3 years off now. And been paid handsomely for it!

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