To think if you're working from home, you're working?

[TheTitOfTheIceberg]

I'm primarily office based but work from home one or very occasionally two days per week. This is a reasonable adjustment to help me manage a disability.

On another forum recently there was a thread about home working. Around 60% of the people who posted said that they spent part of their day doing housework, childcare, going to an appointment, taking a pet to the vet or similar - the majority giving the impression they viewed this as a perk of home working.

I was very much in the minority of people who said that we treat it as a day at work just in different surroundings - we log on, we crack on, we have a lunch break, we log on again, we crack on, we log off when the working day is over. We're not doing the hoovering or in and out hanging out washing or nipping out to the park with the kids for an hour.

I have some flexibility around start / finish times so long as I'm contactable during core hours (10-3) and sometimes I'll arrange to WFH on a day I have a disability-related hospital appointment because the hospital is closer to home than it is the office so I'll be away from work for less time, but that's always with my manager's knowledge and agreement. (And I'm on leave this week before anyone thinks I'm being a hypocrite and MNing in work time )

AIBU to think it's people who treat WFH like it's a day to get caught up with chores or look after kids on an inset day with work as an inconvenience to fit in here and there who contribute to many managers' reluctance to agree WFH requests for fear their staff will be doing exactly this sort of thing rather than working?

I WFH full time, it was imposed on me, not my choice. I prefer going to work in an office.

I take advantage of the flexibility though. So I work while I'm waiting for DS's school bus to pick up in the morning, then I go for a run, have a shower and get dressed before going back to work.

I take breaks to hang the washing out too. And I might wash up the breakfast dishes while I'm making a cup of tea. Once a week I might knock up a quick chilli mid-afternoon and work a bit later into the evening.

I believe, on balance, that I probably do about the same hours each week as I did in the office. And I'm saving the company a fortune by letting them use my home as an office for free.

When I'm working at home I often start work (in bed) at 7am and get what I need to do that day out of the way and finish earlier than I would if I had gone into the office and started at 9am. I have a very enlightened manager though who believes that if the required work gets done, then you can manage your own hours.

FWIW I don't think StubbleTurnips was calling you a liar! Just saying she hadn't seen that bit in your original post!

You can not be efficient at work with kids in the house

Who says It never stopped me and I had 3 at home at one point.

I WFH full time. I start early - between 6 and 7 and take breaks during the day for various thing - walking the dog, checking on DM, odd bits of housework, school runs, after school clubs etc. Sometimes I’ll meet friends for lunch or a coffee or go to pool / yoga.

My working time is tracked and I make up any short hours in the evening or on weekend mornings.

As long as you get the work done, work the hours over the week and let everyone else know when you are away from your desk it’s fine.

If things are slow then there will is no issue if your hours are short however there are times when we are exceptionally busy and half to put in extra hours so it all evens out in the end.

I wfh permanently, though I spend some time in non UK company offices. I don't abuse it, but do have some flexibility - but this is both ways. So I wouldn't book a haircut, but I might take a longer lunch to go swimming as I'll be on calls later that evening so can't go then. If I need to go to the dr/dentist etc, I'll tell my boss and I have to fit it into my schedule

not sure about U, but you are being judgemental. These '60%' aren't saying they don't work on WFH days, just that they maximise what they can do during it.

I do more on a WFH day than in the office most of the time.

Not only am I working when I would usually be commuting but I tend to work into the evening too.

Much like the '60%' you mention i also manage to do housework, childcare errands.

• while the kettle boils I put a washing load on at home/in the office I chat to a colleague. *when taking a loo break I can wipe down the bathroom after/at work I don't. *during my lunch break at home I can pop to the shops/dentist/optician as I live near town/at work I have to take longer than my hours lunch to manage this.
• If my daughter is sick or it's the school holidays I can mind her when at home/a day at the office means dropping her at childcare- pick up is 5.30pm if I use childcare. DD is 9 so can get herself lunch and entertain herself.

Your 'i'm a model employee but most people are slackers' routine does nothing to help the cause of flexible working. Mangers that are anti WFH will use your poorly constructed rubbish to take it away from people.
Your disabilities and medical needs do not make you more worthy of WFH than a parent with childcare needs. Take the martyr hat off. Jeez

I am WFH tomorrow and have virtually no work to do (which the company is aware of but for various complicated and outing reasons, they can’t give me any more at the moment) so I shall be mainly reading a book in the sunshine!

Are you aware WHO these people work for and what it is they do?

I might well post that I WFH, and muck about doing all sorts during my day.

I might not, if its not relevant, mention that I am self employed and my work can be done as and when, in and around whatever else I am doing.

I have friends who WFH and it is full time, log in at a certain time, log out for breaks, no longer than 3 mins away from keyboard etc etc...

I have friends who WFH and can arrange their day as they please, as long as they are contactable during certain hours, and get the job done.

Without knowing who they work for, and what they do, you really cannot judge them!

I think I would be more productive at certain (but not all) things at home.

But I do value and notice my WHF colleagues who are online in usual hours (we can see), on the end of a mobile and who message to say ‘going on lunch’, or ‘off for my appointment, back at xpm’.

But I don’t begrudge them chucking on a load of washing, or showering when someone in the office might be going off to buy some toast or have a cigarette.

I could never work from home with my kids in the house. I just wouldn’t get anything done! But if they were ill and on the sofa watching CBeebies I might try, and use flexi for what the hours didn’t achieve, if the alternative was taking annual leave.

FWIW I don't think StubbleTurnips was calling you a liar! Just saying she hadn't seen that bit in your original post!

Ahhh, gotcha! In that case apologies StubbleTurnips, I completely misread your post.

Again, I'm not really talking about flexibility in and of itself - I was just shocked at the amount of non-work stuff some of these people were claiming they got done in a day, and some of them were by their own admission notionally 9-5. There was a definite sense in some posts - by no means all - of 'getting away with something'. One girl had even shared photos of the horse rides she'd go off and do on sunny days, and said if she got back and found her boss had tried to get hold of her while she was off riding she'd just claim her Skype connection must have gone down for a while!

I work from home and keep completely non-office hours. I usually work from 7am-9am then take off two hours to go and exercise with a friend. Then work from 10-12, have an early lunch and do some house stuff. I work again from about1.30-2ish until 4pm when DC are home from school then stop until about 8 or 9pm when I do another hour. That's seven solid hours of work, which is more than most people do on an average office day with their tea breaks and chats and faffing.

i work.for myself now, and could work from home, but almost never do, precisely because I end up doing other things.
I think, I'll just load the dishwasher or hang the washing out. I never feel in work mode.
I now go out from 9 to 5 ( well, 4.30) and it help differentiate between work and home life. I like to work without interruptions and barely even stop for a sandwich at my desk.
But maybe I lack the self discipline to do that at home.
Kudos to those who have

I find I'm more productive whilst WFH. I know that there are certain deliverables I have to do to ensure I'm not taking the pee. This in turn focusses me more however I love the flexibility of being able to wake up an hour later (that in turn makes me more productive).

I rarely take a full lunch hour so if I spend time putting some washing on whilst making a cuppa tea, then I will. I've even had a 30 min power nap some afternoons then worked a little later (as I don't have the commute home).

Those with young dependent kids would struggle to WFH however if the kids are pretty self-sufficient expect for making a few meals perhaps then I don't see an issue.

I'm lucky to work for a company who has an agile working approach and this makes work/life balance so much better.

I’m far more productive WFH than in the office with distracting colleagues.
I’m also never late.

My boss says "If I couldn't trust you to manage your job working from home, I shouldn't have employed you"

My boss 100% trusts me. I am not paid for the hours I do but the work I produce. If I steam through my days tasks in 4 hours I can do as I please the rest of the day, as long as I'm contactable. expecting hours rather than output just pushes people to be less efficient to fill time. absolute nonsense and no good for anyone.
So If I want to steam through my work in the office or at home in 5 hours and then attend my daughters sports day afternoon then I can. Fully supported by my team, as we trust each other and get shit done!

My husband works from home, he is very busy sometimes not even having the time for lunch. He might occasionally put a dishwasher load on while making his lunch but people do this sort of thing at work anyway. My husband also works with colleagues in a different time zone so sometimes he is working into the early hours of the morning. I know people who work from home and do the school run, but having flexible working hours is much more productive for them because most of those people actually end up working into the evening and therefore, usually work more hours! I also think with easy access to our emails on our phones, we don't really ever switch off from work. Employers have people working longer hours than ever I'd say.

It’s ok! I was agreeing with you re:kids - ours are young primary age so you can’t work and supervise them. I should imagine this changes as they get older and more responsible.
Another enforced homeworker too, although I do appreciate it now I’ve settled into a routine.

I know some people that decide to go and shower at 11am if they are WFH. You wouldn't do that in the middle of the day if you were in the office, so you shouldn't do it if you're WFH.

Bobbins! Here's a WFH day for me.
Start around 8.40am
Work for a while. My work station shuts down for 5 mins every 55 mins so I get up, make tea, maybe wash up, maybe put a load of washing on, write a list, get some veg out.

Then I usually do some sport. A swim - door to door in an hour. I get back to my desk in tracksuit and wet hair. No one knows or cares. I go when the lanes are open.

Other days I run and when I go will depends hugely (weather, workload, how I'm feeling). It really doesn't matter on most days. I can then come and sit at my desk and do a bit more work and then shower. Often I'll wait until after DS2 is home to shower.

Again in my 5 min breaks I'll potter about and do house stuff. 2 days a week I collect DS2 from school or a club and the other 3 days he's at a childminder till 6pm. The days he's home I'll take a longer break late afternoon so sort him out (he's 10, so it's just setting him up really) and then crack on.

Sometimes I have conference calls really early and sometimes really late.

There are 3 of us in my immediate team and we generally all work the core office hours (or let the others know if we're not)

The flexibility WFH gives me as a single mother working full time is something I am very, very grateful for. I save 1 1/2hrs in commute time.

I feel like I need to prove I have the right to wfh if that makes sense. Yes, this really resonates with me. I think for me particularly because I've come up against the disability stigma a few times, the assumption that disabled employees are less productive, I feel like I don't want to give anyone any ammunition to point to my WFH time and say "see, we were right about that".

Apologies if that comes over as 'martyrdom' whothedaddy - I think I am probably more sensitive to it than I realised because it is bound up with the disabled thing and perhaps that is making me too judgemental - if I did 10-20% of the non-work stuff some of these posters were claiming they do, it would definitely have an impact on my productivity and concentration because I have to really get 'in the zone'...but I need to recognise not everyone has those same constraints.

YABU because not all jobs are the same. I work from home most of the time in a very reactive role. If a call comes in or something needs sorting, I'll sort it. If its a bit quiet, I'll do whatever I want. Sometimes I'll have a lazy day and make up for it in the evening. So long as the work gets done and my clients and manager are happy, who cares?

Providing the work gets done, my place dont care if I do it while juggling on a tightrope or sat in a quiet office.
I'll do about one day every other week from home, or mornings etc. Sometimes DS is there, sometimes not. I'll work before DH leaves in the morning so maybe from 6-8am, then answer the odd email until DSs nap at midday, work for those 2 hours, then probably log back on after he goes to bed.
I'm available for phonecalls all day so if someone needs me they can reach me, plus the work DMs come to my phone.
Sometimes at work I won't necessarily do a full day, if I get finished early I can leave, if I'm late there is no expectation to catch up the time missed.
My place don't really care about 'core hours' as we don't really deal with clients. If we get set a task and have a week to do it, I could choose to do it on evenings only if I really wanted...providing it gets done, no one cares!

I WFH. And yes I do the washing and hang it out etc, but as long I do my work and my hours my employer doesn’t care if I start at midday and work until midnight. It’s one of the joys of flexible working, as is the trust the employer has in you WFH bPersonally I think you do have to be disciplined to WFH and make sure your hours are done, but it works for many in many different formats and as long as employer/ employer are happy that’s fine.

AS regards your comments about children, different jobs have different hours, in my line of work you can do childcare during the day and work in the evenings when hubby is home.

Everyone has different circumstances, reasons and way to WFH. Just because you start,work all day and finish at set times may not work for others, but they still get their hours done

I work from home around once every 6 weeks. This means I work. I have to be contactable by e:ail and phone between 9-5 unless I say that I start at 8am then I log out at 4pm. I have to announce my lunch break and if I wfh because of an unavoidable appointment I log out and in as well.

Yes, I may put on a load of washing and make myself a drink but I hardly be able to do more than that.

R childcare - my employer insist on seeing childcare arrangements if you apply as wfh on a weekly basis which some colleagues do. They allow wfh as an emergency if your child is ill but while it is accepted that you do less than you would in the office you still need to show that you worked. So in most cases i did it when DD was over 8 and able to sort herself out if she was down with a cold or bug.

DH works from home permanently and while he has a lot more flexibility and is able to arrange things during the day he is often at his desk from 7.30-6 on most days so either catches up or prepares stuff knowing the next day is short.

takes me an hour to get to work and i dont have to wake up early to put my make up on - so when im up at 7am i have a good 2 hours (sometimes less) to do housework - which i do.

I do a solid day - 9-5pm with a half hour lunch break where i might un-do dishwasher or hang out clothes) I have taken conference calls while hanging the clothes out - no issue.