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.

Love the judgement against mums here. OPs dad and husband actually work when they’re at home, but she knows the mums don’t even when they have childcare for their DC.

I wfh once a month and I work bloody hard on those days. Most people in my team wfh once per week and tbh I find this hard to deal with as a manager, but I inherited the situation from my predecessor and can't easily change things. As a PP has said, being away from all the distractions, last minute requests and meetings is great for the person wfh but just piles work on those who have to pick up the slack in the office and I believe that my team's productivity is far lower than it would be is people were in the same location for the majority of time. I know that's an unpopular opinion on MN though.

I do see that the majority of my team get through significant amounts of work at home but I have one person who works while looking after two children under 5 years old, which I find incomprehensible and while there is some evidence of work, I don't think she is as productive as she thinks she is. Another team member, I am almost certain spends the day watching netflix while responding to occasional emails but I have no way of proving it.

I'm happy to offer flexible working and wfh on a less regular basis. As I said, I take advtage ont his once per month and it is a godsend for getting through large nad complex amounts of work. The days around that day are always pretty hellish though, with loads of meetings squeezed into those days which, in turn, adds to the stuff with which I have to catch up on the wfh day.

I do award myself a full hour lunch break on those days. I usually eat at my desk and rarely see daylight when I am in the office so I make the most of having the opportunity on the wfh days. I live in the countryside so make sure I take a good long walk with a picnic outside if the weather is nice enough. Apart from the lack of distraction, the main advantage for me is that I avoid the 70 minute commute each way. I can close down my laptop around 5pm and immediately get on with my evening.

I will say thought that i was given a once a week wfh day in a previous job which was a much easier/boring job and I did take the piss a bit then, using the day for fun stuff but checking my phone regularly. In this job though, there is just no scope for slacking even if I wanted to.

And I have a day off today hence the ability to post here.

I WFH full time and I genuinely do work.

I mean, if I didn’t my work wouldn’t get done and I’m sure I would soon be sacked 🤷‍♀️

I think you’re being quite unfair on your friends. They’re probably fitting their job around their home life.

If you’re so jealous why don’t you put your child in nursery and get a WFH job?

Yes. I am contracted 40 hours a week and WFH full time. I work for a very large international company so I would across global time zones. I definitely work, my company are very flexible, so maybe I have long lunch breaks every now and again, pop out to shops etc, but I always make up the time. Sometimes I am at my home office desk at 07:30am and sometimes I am working at 10pm.

I work from home!

7am-6pm Mon to Fri

My two toddlers are home with me. I am cooking the evening meal now. I do the morning and afternoon school run every day. Have put a load on and hung out out to dry.

I work very hard, it's full on, and I get paid well. But mostly I get to hang out with my kids playing with them all day it's a great job.

People who don’t take WFH seriously really anger me.

I’ve been telecommuting for 10 years now. I’ve gotten promoted and grown my responsibilities and reputation during that time. My pay has increased appropriately. I’m working just as hard as being in the office. And no, I don’t have much oversight. I wouldn’t in the office either. I’m a professional and I take my job and my be privilege to live in my preferred city very seriously.

I hate the attitude that work from home= lazy day.

My DH works from home and I'm forever told how lucky I am to have his help with our 2 year old and 1 year old during the day he's in his office early till late only popping out for the loo or an occasional cuppa.

My parents thought he'd join me at baby groups etc!

Of course I work. I'm getting paid to do it so it gets done.

If I dind't work there wouldn't be any deliverables and our clients would, quite reasonably, be highly pissed off.

WFH should be forced for the sake of the environment! Don't slate it. WFH tends to mean the employee is available for longer (taking away commute times) and in more inconvenient times (after office is closed). This is really important.

I work mornings five days a week.

During the spring and summer months we are usually in the office, though may work from home if the manager is on holiday, or if there is a reason to need to.

During the winter months I work from home every day. Yes, I work. I would soon be out of a job if I didn't and like others, I do often find that I can get more done when I work from home.

If your friends are not actually doing any work then they could soon be found out, and may be penalised as they are taking the piss.

@fitzbilly can I ask what you do that pays well and allows you to play with your kids? I’m looking for a change of direction and enjoy working from home. Doing something which allows some flexibility but still pays well is the holy grail!

I could never have worked from home. I wouldn't have had the self discipline and would be easily distracted but at work I did work better unsupervised.
My son works from home sometimes and works all day. He usually works more hours at home too.

Yes I get paid for my output and I'm expected to output a certain amount each week. It means I can have days off, do lunch, go to the gym. But I have to make up for it, and plan things in advance. It's after 9pm here for example, and the kids are in bed and I've just finished my work for the day as I 'gave' myself the day off yesterday. I'll do some hours over the weekend, too.

Would love a job where i could WFH a bit more. What jobs/fields do posters work in? Point me in the right direction for next role please!

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

Pharmaceutical statistics. In one company there was no client work for months - I did a 140 hour TEFL course at work.

Another company, the teams were so big and work was so vague e.g. "review a document" that I just browsed the internet for most of the time. I work really fast so I can get a days work (some programming) done in 2-3 hours, then just browse.

Never got told off, no-one noticed. Not all corporate jobs are 12 hours non-stop busy - some are really quiet and dull.

Pharmaceutical statistics is SO dull though, that's why there are so many vacancies for WFH/flexitime, way more vacancies than candidates. If you want to be rich and home by 4:30 but bored to death, get a masters in Stats and go for it.

I work from home as a call centre representative so am totally glued to my computer working and am tracked by an adherence tracker so no room for messing around on work time.

My husband also works from home and works from 7am to 9pm in an I.T role, very pressurised and takes the odd walk around the house to clear his mind and uses his break for school run.

We both take working from home serious as it means we can be around more for our children.

I tried it once, when my DD finished for the summer and I had no childcare available. I got nought done because she was pestering me all day because she was bored stiff!
I am on my own at home now before my new job starts on Tuesday. I have no real work to do except I want to start creating some blogs, so I guess I had better get off Mumsnet now and work on that.

I don't work from home but I do study from home, I don't find I do as much work from home as I did when I was actually at university, I'm not as focussed (although I am passing with high marks). My stepdad works from home most of the time, as he has his own business, he never stops working.

When I worked from home I worked VERY hard. My employer got very good value from me.

I do far more work when I WFH. I drop ds off at before school club at 7.30, home 10 mins later and computer on. I work solidly through till 5.30ish sometimes later if dh picks up ds, only moving from my computer to get coffee, toast or go to the toilet!
In the office I work a shorter day due to the commute and much more likely to stop for a chat or go out for a coffee break with colleagues!

I'm at my desk (excluding trips to the loo or kitchen) for my whole working day. I get a lot of questions fired at me that need quick answers as well as producing other larger pieces of work or joining online meetings to advise projects.

I WFH permanently. If work is busy then I work all day with short breaks away from the screen and a few odd jobs done (dishwasher/washing, etc). If it's quiet then I'll pop out to the shops, for for a coffee or do big tasks at home. I've decorated the loo and DS's bedroom during working time in the last couple of months because work's been quiet. My work is always done by the end of the day and I'm always available on Skype it I'm needed.

Yes.

I can get distracted but I get more work done than in the office. I end up spending the time I commute working so actually work longer as even if I'm distracted by MN I don't have people to gossip with.

A previous role I ended up watching YouTube some of the time as I worked faster.

A lot more productive WFH than I ever was in an office. Can dictate my own hours, don't waste time commuting and it's easy to make up for any time lost. The hardest thing is making sure there's a strong divide between home and work so it doesn't bleed over.