If you work from home, do you actually work?

[fallacy]

I'm a SAHM but I have many friends that work full time. A lot of the time they wfh and from what I can tell, not a lot of work actually gets done.

I'm jealous.

Yes - I do paperwork from home/the local coffee shop. It’s way more productive than being in work because no one chats to me.

I think there is also something to be said for wfh being an opportunity to regain some balance.

So many people spend so many more hours working than they are paid for, if you’ve done 40h over 4 days and get paid 35hpw then taking a couple of hours downtime whilst wfh on day 5 is not unreasonable.

Companies have found so many ways to eat into our personal time, evenings, weekends etc - at some point personal time will eat into work time. The companies were the first ones to blur the lines, not the workers!

This ^^

I often have to attend meetings etc that are 2+ hours away. So I’m leaving at maybe 6am and then getting home after 7pm so I’m doing a 12+ hour day (your drive time is taken into account as you working, as it’s business travel)

Or I’m at meetings where I have to stay overnight, so my personal time is spent in a hotel room and often some of it working catching up on emails/calls I couldn’t deal with whilst I was in the meeting. So being stuck there means I miss out on time I would see my DP and family.

I’m lucky my boss/company is very flexible. They trust you to get the job done and as long as you’re doing that, how you manage your diary is up to you.

Do people take the piss a bit occasionally and take time doing personal stuff or lazing about? Yes of course they do, but as long as they’re not taking the piss too much and they’re getting the job done and getting the results expected, then that’s all that matters. In my job, if you’re taking the piss all the while and not getting any work done it would soon be noticed because you wouldn’t be getting the results!

@fallacy think you’ve had all the answers to your OP 😂. Yes, people work when they wfh. Now, what do you do all day?! 😂😂

God I HATE this. I WFH twice a week, and yes I do work. I'd get sacked if I wasn't doing my job. People who WFH hate this myth that they're sat on their arses watching daytime TV. Like anyone else, wherever you work, you will get found out if you're not doing your job.

My workload is high, so on the one day a week I wfh I actually get more done in a half day than a day in the office!
It really annoys me when people insinuate that wfh is not actually working!!

I WFH at least once a week and get a tonne more done than I do in the office. No one to grab you every 5 mons for silly questions plus I don't have 2 hours of commuting thus my employer gets more hours out of me. Get yourself a job and wfh if you think it's so easy!

I wfh part-time. How much I actually do depends on the time of year; we have busy times and quieter times. It's hard to compare with when I was going out to work as that was a different and full-time job, but I think I get things done more efficiently - I don't deal well with the distractions of an open plan office.

I work field based and from home. I find that work never stops as you can’t leave it behind like in a traditional office but it does allow you to be flexible with timings around children and home commitments

Of course work gets done! I have a job to do! I'm a lot more productive when I work from home

DH works from home sometimes and I think he works very hard because he has to show results while people in the office might be online shopping but as they are at their desk everyone assumes they are working ... And he also works during what would be his commutting time. I.e. He logs on while having his breakfasts and works until before dinner time.

We turned our 3rd bedroom in to an office for my husband when he gave up his studio due to high rent and rates cost. His hours can start at 4am until midnight in the office or on a shoot. I also have my computer in there but I also have a full time office job and when I get home I have a budget recipe blog to run and have written and published 2 cook books.

I wfh as a seamstress four days a week, one day a week I work in retail. I have to be super productive when I wfh, as I have to fit housework around it. Because I'm self-employed when I wfh, I have to make enough to cover any time that i take off - I don't get perks like paid holiday! I get paid by the job so if I muck about and take longer over something my earnings go down. Despite this my dm seems to think I'm gently handstitching away like a fairytale princess and will always call me during the hours I'm trying to get work done. It's beyond frustrating as she would never call anyone else whilst they are at work - but to her wfh means I'm at home, not working! I'm sure there are some who don't put the hours in, but in my experience the wfh mums are the ones who have their lives sorted and their ducks in a row - because if we didn't we wouldn't get paid!

I work from home 1 or 2 days week and am in the office the others. I do work very hard when I’m at home and am usually taking advantage of the usual commuting time to get work done. I take less breaks and tend to sit anchored to my laptop the majority of the day which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Ironically I get far less done in the office these days as now there’s more of a working from home culture developing, when I’m in the office there tends to be more chatting/socialising/meetings (as we haven’t seen each other as much) and the commuting time is spent commuting rather than working. I am however aware of companies where particularly Friday working from home is anything but working

I WFH for a large software company, slowly moving everyone to homeworking, apart from main offices. Why keep paying for mutable hub offices globally - with an expected level of office facilities.

A lot of how you WFH will depend on your role.

I have the opportunity to be fairly flexible given I cover certain hours and am usually around. I can however nip away to put on a wash. I can use a lunch break to shop. I often though also start earlier and frankly I couldn't work properly if I didn't work a longer than a usual working day - due to timezones. So I get to get balance work/life. An hour here and there away isn't a major issue, if I'm contactable by phone. And I'd be worried if the team couldn't cope.

I think @SupaSara has given a good overview of my how my job can be. I've said time and again I worked hard for this flexibility. I appreciate it. And in return I work over my hours because you don't tend to get this without that.

I could not work at home with children. No way unless there was child care.

God I HATE this. I WFH twice a week, and yes I do work. I'd get sacked if I wasn't doing my job. People who WFH hate this myth that they're sat on their arses watching daytime TV. Like anyone else, wherever you work, you will get found out if you're not doing your job.

Agree with this.

I get quite annoyed as people seem to think because I’m at home, I can just down tools and pop by and see them for a coffee for a few hours, or run an errand to pick something up for them, or give them a lift places, or ring me for a chat.

My answer is always the same. If I worked in an actual office would you still expect me to be able to do all these things? Would you expect me to be able to pop out of the office to come see you, or give you a lift? Would you be ringing me for a chat whilst you know I’m in the office? No. So don’t expect it just because my office is at home.

I (obvs) don't chat when I wfh so I get a lot more done. I also manage to do a couple of loads of washing but still think I get more done at home as there is no chatting.

If you are a SAHM are you actually mothering? Or are you doing other things like washing, cleaning, shopping, having coffee and on your phone?

Yes I know that’s a ridiculous question but wanted to turn the original question around.

I am not going to say it's easy, because it's definitely not, but I work from home (full time) and I'm in grad school (online) and I actually get a lot done. I prioritize... mom duties then work duties and then school duties. Although I am naturally a very fly by the seat of my pants, let's go do whatever on the spot person, I have had to learn to map out my days as best I can. If I didn't have somewhat of a schedule mapped out and tools like my virtual number (I don't want to use my cell for business) and google docs, as well as other tools for distance working, I would be lost. For my virtual numbers, I use United World Telecom (www.unitedworldtelecom.com) and I can't say enough about their amazing service and pricing. GoogleDocs has been a lifesaver also. I have a scan app I use on my phone called TurboScan for when I am in car line at school and working from the car. The tools available are endless and multiplying. You can do it! It just takes a lot of careful planning, testing of new strategies, and flexibility. Be easy on yourself too, because things are always coming up when you're a parent and there is no such thing as perfection. :)