Those now WFT are you slacking?

[grapesandcarrots]

My friend told me her boyfriend sleeps in until 12pm when he's meant to start at 9am. He sets his alarm for 8.55am and writes a message in the group chat 'morning everyone, I am working on XXX this morning. If anyone knows any great resources for XYZ then please let me know." Then goes back to sleep. If anyone tries to contact him before 12 he can just say sorry I was so engrossed in research for XXX.

I was really taken aback by this.

The friend then admitted to finishing early by 20m and starting a bit late by 20m. To taking lots of breaks and calling her mum during the day and cleaning her flat and endless news sites. Both her and her boyfriend are on great terms, love their jobs, and their bosses love them.

I have not slacked off because its not it my nature and found i've worked more due to little else to do.

What are everyones thoughts? Do you slack off during the day more now and to what extent?

YABU - I slack off more
YANBU - I would never slack off.

I don’t slack off as I am hoping to work from home on a more permanent basis so I want them to know they can trust me to work well from home.

Occasionally I get sidetracked and tidy the kitchen etc but on the whole I work well and don’t take the piss. I appreciate my employment and don’t want to jeopardise it.

No. Ive got into the habit of working my commute time. Technically I could take this time as a break during the day, schedule allowing, but work has been so busy I'm just working through.

I do put a wash on or hang it up while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil, but I wouldnt do any jobs that would take longer than the usual short breaks I'd take in a normal working day.

I don't think anyone at my work is slacking off. Everyone's being productive and are available when you would expect them to be.

I’m a teacher who is teaching remotely (not in the UK) so it’s just different than normal. I teach my remote classes in person via Zoom during their normal times, attend the community events (meetings, check-ins, Chapel etc) and am available during the lunch break for extra help. That’s the same as if I were teaching person.

I might do errands if my free period falls at the end of the day but then I do work in the evening to plan/mark/check emails etc. I think I’m more efficient from home but I so wish I was teaching them in person at the school.

I work better from home. I take more breaks, but my productivity has gone up. Certainly don't miss the 3 1/2 hour round commute.

I’m a joke.
Mental health issues with me and two children home schooling.
It’s absolutely fucking shit and school
have left us to it.

I'm still working as hard as I did at work. But instead of chatting to colleagues I'll be putting a wash on or something when I need a break.

I worked incredibly long hours last year, more than I usually would in the office.

This year, I’m determined to not overdo it. I get much more done at home, and really only need to be doing 6 hours a day straight to get everything done.

If it’s quiet I do less/finish early. In honesty my work are encouraging it. They’d prefer if people have some downtime they use it to recharge a bit. It’s been a tough year and for my team came in the back of 18 months of a very big & stressful project. I wouldn’t do nothing for hours while pretending to be working though

No commute means I start earlier and finish later than contracted. I know I shouldn’t- work/life balance and all, but WFH is allowing me to spend a lot more time with my family so I don’t regret it working a little bit longer than I’m being paid for.

My workload is always too much, so it doesn't make much difference if I'm in the office or at home, and slacking is pointless, you are just shooting yourself in the foot!

I have a daily schedule for home though, if I have long days without structure I lose focus. I have a home schedule (of how to do everything except work) and a work schedule (list of endless things to be done). I don't always enjoy being on a schedule, but it's the only way I can focus properly. I do most of my work early though, I work intensively in the morning, til about 1 or 2 and then I do slack the pace quite a bit (and some days even take a short nap), work patchily in the eves.

Not at all

The only person to be effected by me slacking, would be me and that would just add more stress.

I've worked from home for years - as long as I get the work done it doesn't really matter what time I start or finish. I do tend to overwork sometimes, especially when engrossed in an interesting project, but mostly I stick within the normal 9-5 M-F routine. I dither some days, and get distracted with social media or whatever, but all in all I feel I put in an ethical amount of time.

I imagine a lot of time is wasted in the office with tea-getting and chatting with colleagues.

@Heyahun theres always more tasks. but if I wanted to I could get 6 done a day or 3 done a day. It wouldn't be quibbled either way as I could justify 3 tasks in one day if I wanted to. I really care about the company and want them to do well so I work quick

I don’t take the piss because I want to have the option to work from home after the Covid situation is done. If anything I’m putting in probably an extra 5 or 6 hours a week to keep my department going.

I'm really struggling with concentration. But have quite a high workload so can't really slack off. I have been thinking about this though. As I don't spend time travelling or even just walking over to meetings in the same building. So I do think although I end up gazing into space and looking at my phone. I'm then saving lots of time. Also I'm still achieving everything in difficult circumstances with a lot on. So I actually suspect if I could track my time spent working I'm probably doing more than in the office.

No. I’m still working 10-12 hours a day and about to burn out.

Nope, I probably work harder doing wfh! But that's because even when DC are in school, I have to plan day around pick up drop off and entertaining them. Now they are at home literally every second not spent on childcare and schooling is spent doing work. Wish I could slack off!

The friends in the OP can't have Skype and Teams at their work then! 😉

It's obvious when we're logged on as you become 'available' on Skype and 'inactive' after 10 mins so there no way we could go back to bed! Plus I have to be at my desk as I get Teams phone calls throughout the day and people would wonder where I was if they all went unanswered 😮

There are always a lot of people on mumsnet insisting that their work is unchanged by wfh, although they are notably posting during work hours Yes, yes, I know that they may not work 9-5, but there are so many of them..!

Office has different distractions than home with DC running around but I get all my work done in time and the quality is the same so that's all that matters.

I can't slack as I'm on an inbound call centre line 12.5 hours . I have to put a message on teams when I go to the toilet . I have calls from colleagues / patients all shift bar one 30 minute break. ( nurse- clinical line )

This is how it's starts... the great slide to the end of humanity... ah well at least we still Nandos (whatever they are...)

No. I have tel appointments at same times. I get an hour for lunch for school pick up and then make half hour up end of the day

I wouldn't get a chance to slack off to any great extent because I have so many sodding MS teams meetings at random times of the day!

I do occasionally get distracted and spend five minutes sticking on/pegging out the washing, or preparing dinner etc, but in total probably less time than I used to waste while in the office having chats to random people!

I think I still get a lot more done WFH because my job used to involve a lot of wasted time travelling to different sites (as part of the work, not commuting), so has given me an extra 2-8 hours a week on average.