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.

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

How do you know?

I WFH. I am also able to be flexible with my working hours to accommodate school runs, after-school clubs, appointments etc. But it means I have to work bloody hard when I am working to get everything that needs to be done, done. If you looked in from the outside it might seem like I am "not doing much", but you wouldn't see the hours outside of usual working days that I put in to be able to flex stuff. It's more stressful than a 9-5 in an office where whatever isn't done that day can stay there until tomorrow. I never fully clock off.

When I had an office job if I took a wfh day it would be a bit of a skive. Now I am fully home based so if I don't do the work my boss is on my case! There are things to prepare for and respond to, and its busy. Having said that I am flexible with my time so if I want to go to a yoga class in the middle of the day, or nip out to do a shop I will. But I usually start work at 8am and work through until 6. I guess if people are flexible with their hours then it might look like they are swanning around not doing much!

My DH WFH a couple of days a week. He tends to get the work done, but instead of doing it between 9 & 5, he does it between about 8am and 10pm, dipping in and out when he needs to, and around other things he wants to achieve. Today, for example, he started early, then went for a run around 10. He is now working again, but is looking after our youngest for an hour later, while I go to a meeting at school. He will then break to have dinner with the kids, and work late to make it up. He says he’s generally more productive in the time he does focus at home, and he does as many, if not more hours, so overall, he gets more done for both family and work.

Like PP I’m self employed and freelance so if I’m unproductive the effects are on me. I get far far more done at home than in the office

Same here. Working from home requires you to be totally self motivated, you can't have a "can't be arsed" day because there's nobody to pick up the slack.

Whether working from an office or working from home, every single person I know does unpaid overtime every day because it's just expected nowadays which is a shame.

I respect SAHMs totally, what they do has nothing to do with me and vice versa.

@Equimum totally agree with you, well put

I think you are seeing a very unrepresentative group.

I work from home full time.

Today I worked from 6.30am until 9am - with a little break to sort son out for school, and get myself dressed and house sorted.
Then got my nails done (Hen Do tomorrow!) from 9am - 10.30am

Worked from 10.40 - midday. Ran from 12.10 to 1pm

I shall work till 5pm (with short 10 min breaks here and there), shower, make dinner and sort house/son. He's got Scouts from 7.45 - 9.15 so I'll work then as well.

That's about 9 hrs work today - with a fair bit of not working during core office hours. This is unusual (I rarely get my nails done).

In my little breaks I catch up with WhatsApp or FB or MN, pop a load of washing on, hang it out, chop veggies for dinner, open the post - amazing what you can do in 10 mins.

I have a brain-intensive computer-based job and have an app that locks the computer down every 55 mins to make sure I have a break.

When I work from home I generally start about 7amd and get through a day's work by 11am.
I load the washing machine etc as my breaks.
I am always amazed about how much more work I get done from home.

I work from home 1&1/2 days a week! Sometimes I’m really productive other times when we’re quieter I get distracted by washloads, dishes, tv etc. At first I really struggled to get into the flow of working from home and was very easily distracted then cramming everything into last hour. I find it easier at home to concentrate now than in work!

I wfh most fridays and yes it's actual work. I'm a lawyer and all my time, even non chargeable work has to be clocked so it worked be blindingly obvious if I wasn't doing it. I'm just grabbing 20 minutes right now to scoff some lunch and look at mumsnet. I might also unload the dishwasher, chuck some washing in the machine, chat to my teen when he comes in from school and pick my primary age child up from childminder a bit early. But I've saved 3 hours by not commuting into London so I think that's fair enough. I never take a lunch break when I'm in the office.

However my husband refers to his wfh days as "shirk at home days" and definitely does less (though not nothing).

My friend does 2 wfh days and doesn't seem to do anything except answer a few emails. She meets people for coffee and takes her kids swimming etc.!

I am wfh today. Aside from my lunch now, I am working flat out and actually still have calls at 7pm

I’m based at home and have to work or the job doesn’t get done 🤷🏼‍♀️

The thread is ridiculous. OP you sound so petty and jealous of your 'friends'.

No one knows other peoples job. There are days when I work 12 hours straight and only get paid for 7, it's the nature of having an actual career/job and not a simple clock in and out job.

I WHF roughly once a week. In stead of getting up at 6:30am like usual, I get up at 8am and am logged on by 8:45am usually. I rarely make myself cups of tea during the day and if I do have a break I'll put a wash load on or do something quick whilst the kettle is boiling.

I work way harder at home (dependent on my actual work load) as I don't have people interrupting me for chats, I don't have endless (pointless) meetings and I'm more focused as I'm relaxed.

Your friends clearly do work, just they have not told you the full work load. Stop being so judgemental and get yourself a job.

Yep. I have worked from home for about 10 years now. I work for a big company as a project manager. I run a £12 million pound project and manage a team of nearly 50 people globally.
I look like I do bugger all! I wear my trackies, I walk the dog in the middle of the day, I pop in my mum's for coffee in the middle of the afternoon, I hang out laundry, run the hoover over, pop in the shop next door to grab a coke, etc..... BUT this is around my job and in place of the things office people do like have lunch breaks or chat with colleagues. I work globally so am often on the laptop in front of the TV at 9pm or 5am that other people don't see.

If there is nothing to do (August is always quiet) I work far less and walk the dog / do kiddy things far more. If there is far more to do the dog walker comes in and I go back to work every evening after DD goes to bed.

Basically I am like a duck - calm and collected above the water and swimming like mad underneath.

I personally dont work from home, but have total respect for those who do .Many companies are able to see whether you are working or not .Most people would not want to "slack off "all the time anyway .It would be dishonest and guilt forming!.If you are so "jealous " of them why not try it out for a bit and see how you feel .If not be grateful you are a SAHM and enjoy being with your LO its a choice not many people have!

Ive wfh on occasion. Sometimes when I’ve needed to get things done but can’t concentrate at work.

Never officially wfh with ds home though. Couldn’t do it. He’s almost 2. When he was a newborn maybe I’d have managed it.

Yes. Sometimes I start early and finish early, sometimes work well into the evening, depending on what needs doing, sometimes just a normal 9 to 5. As others have said maybe your friends do irregular hours but it works for them

In common with most of my friends group, I work in a well paid professional job and sometimes from home. We wouldn’t continue to be well paid if we took the piss and didn’t work.

This.

I'd love to know what jobs your mates do where they can skive one day a week every week and not get into trouble for failing to deliver / low productivity.

Tell us. Please. What do they do where bunking off is so easy and without consequence?

Yes I work. I tend to start early and finish early. I won't take an hour lunch break but will spend time putting washing on, getting a food delivery etc.

I wfh one day a week. Like others, sometimes I do extra bits (hang out washing, gym at lunchtime, collect kids early), but I make up the time in the evening if I feel that I've not achieved enough. I work in a large open plan office with constant chatter and interruptions, so I'd say there was a lot less productivity there at times.

I can work from home if I need to, and I usually do if I have a big chunk of work to get sorted, papers to read, a backlog of work etc, and I need to concentrate. I get more done at home but I do need to be in the office most of the time.

You’re right that some people take the piss. I know lots of people who ‘wfh’ and don’t actually do any work and are quite blatant about it, it’s quite common really despite what others are saying.
Just last week I met up with a friend (I’m on mat leave) and I presumed she was on a day off. Turned out she’d told her boss she was wfh. She said she’d had a bad week and felt like she deserved a break. She works for the NHS.
She’s not alone in that attitude. I dread to think how much it costs the economy. Same as taking the odd sick day here and there I’d guess when you’re not at all poorly!

When I work from home it's very flexible and openly so. My boss has no issues with me going to a gym class, going to the hairdresser, etc.

She knows I get my work done. So yesterday I spend 2 hours sorting personal stuff out while wfh. Today I started work at 7am and have been pretty full on most of the day. And on Weds I was working till 10pm. I'm on leave next week but know I will need to spend a morning working.

It totally depends.

I know people who work from home in the sort of job where you have to log on and be monitored. Others are on projects, so can manage their time and have intensive periods and more down-time periods.

I also know people who are taking the piss and use working from home as a way to get long weekends.

This latter type have spoiled things for others at dh's office as the big boss has said enough is enough and decreed that everyone must work in the office.

My washing machine is running in the background, Facebook is logged in but I get a lot done. I refused to go to my office today as I get more done at home. If I go into the office we spend all day chatting. It is my business though.

In my experience people skive off and take the piss whether they're in the office or WFH. It's just their type NOT the environment they're in.