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.

Pre covid I would be at my desk about 7.30 and leave about 6. Now I am pretty much doing 9-5

Our leadership team have been pretty strong on ensuring people are not working crazy hours and focusing on wellbeing e.g allowing ‘virtual coffee’s’ to replace the office chit chat, letting people take slightly longer for lunch so they can do an exercise class/go for a run or even go to the supermarket when it’s quieter

And do you know what we have had one of our strongest years performance wise. So a good balance can be just as successful as everyone working crazy hours and burning out

Saying that as much as I can’t wait to get back into the office the thought of the alarm going off at 6 every morning again fills me with dread

@MrsJBaptiste

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 😮

What happens if you have both though? You can be on a Teams call listening or talking and your Skype can default to 'Away' even though you are working.

I’m not slacking, during the first lockdown my manager gave me a lot of slack because I had two kids with addition support needs at home and a lot of my usual work was cancelled ( I do a lot of training and development work), and it took time to adjust to remote working so I had reading etc I could do in the evenings.

This time round I have a full work diary so I attend those meetings, do remote training etc. I can do the office based part of my job at any time so I balance my hours across the week when I can find time to work in peace while DH has the kids covered.

My role is very autonomous and I need to be self motivated - it’s important to me that my manager trusts me to get the work done. I value the flexibility I have so wouldn’t abuse it.

I'm a self-employed freelancer and if I slack off work doesn't get done and I don't get paid.

Focuses the mind somewhat.

Definitely no slacking here. Covid has made my job more difficult and more complex. I’m working much longer hours and have a lot of Zoom meetings, which I find exhausting. I don’t particularly mind because that’s just how it is, but I really need some proper time off and won’t get any until July at the earliest.

If anything I slack off much less than when I used to prance about the office chatting to people and making coffees.

God no I am doing more work than ever I was up at 6am yesterday closed computer at 11:00pm last night on my 2nd coffee this morning been working since 7:30am.

I realise I'm lucky to still have a job but it's been full on since last March. I also have dogs to walk somewhere in my day x

If anything I've been working longer hours. However, my team all have either childcare or caring roles to fit in with childcare and WFH and my attitude is very much one of 'do what you can'. I wouldn't chase them down in the office for chatting to someone in the kitchen or going shopping at lunchtime and taking a bit longer than usual so I'm not going to suddenly start clockwatching while they're at home.

I will say though the people working with the OP's friend's bf are bound to know exactly what he's doing (or not doing). Unless there is genuinely less work to be done he's going to be saving up some real grumpiness from his colleagues in the future.

It annoys me when I read comments like the OP’s friend slacking off.

I have currently changed my working hours (am full time) so I home school primary children in the daytime then I start work once they are in bed - so maybe 7pm onwards (depending on how quickly they go to sleep)!

I then work my hours until they are done basically and work through my ‘lunch’ so I can finish an hour earlier. This means I am finishing at some time like 1am etc.

I had had to be the one to take the hit like this because our school asks for 2 key workers and DH is an A&E Nurse so is clearly unavailable at the moment!

It’s going ok at the minute and we are managing but it pisses me off when I read about slackers. I don’t stop once I start in the evenings, not for a wee/drink/snack whilst my DH is in the throws if it.

Makes me sad

Few days I have When I have slept like shit. I sign in at 9 like I have to. Head back to bed and get up at 11. Then work. Sing out at 5, but continue to work for 2h to make up for the morning. I also sometimes have longer lunch breaks. Also, I have worked for free quite a few hours so I don't feel bad for taking it back. I've gone to the office on the weekend to handle something or opened my computer on Sunday to prepare for the week. Our flexitie ends at 6.30 but If it's beneficial i might work till 8.

would anyone slack if they could get away with it? I understand that finding it hard to concentrate or loading the dishwasher while at home but my friends boyfriend intentionally tried to slack and do less

Its one thing if there's genuinely less work that needs to be done, but if I slack off then either someone else is going to have to pick up my work, or someone isn't going to get the support that they need. I think people do find it easier to skive if they can't actually see their stressed, pissed off colleagues tearing their hair out over having to work late yet again.

What happens if you have both though? You can be on a Teams call listening or talking and your Skype can default to 'Away' even though you are working

They're meant to sync and show the same status but our IT dept haven't mastered that yet. We're moving fully onto Teams soon though which will be better. It's so annoying when you still get Skype calls ringing through when you're in a Teams meeting

Am I slacking off? No. Is my quality of work suffering because I am trying to homeschool as well as man the telephone helpline I work on and be a productive member of the team?

yes. very much so yes.

No, I don't slack off, I start work at 730am and really only take a break to run / yoga and then I finish around 4pm, walk the dogs and then I start working again. My last Zoom of the day with my boss is usually around 630pm but I'm pretty much available 24/7 and weekends, I absolutely love WFH so I feel some sort of obligation to work extra hard, even though I always worked hard in the office

I would say it seems more like slacking at home, whereas in the office me and my colleagues would be chatting a lot and making cups of tea etc!

@MrsJBaptiste

What happens if you have both though? You can be on a Teams call listening or talking and your Skype can default to 'Away' even though you are working

They're meant to sync and show the same status but our IT dept haven't mastered that yet. We're moving fully onto Teams soon though which will be better. It's so annoying when you still get Skype calls ringing through when you're in a Teams meeting

This so much! So many times I have had people saying “I thought you said a call at this time” - well yes I have it’s on Teams even though my Skype status says I am available

I wonder if we work for the same company

A lot depends on whether you have a job which is assessed on what you get done vs when you get something done.

If you have to research something and produce a report - if the report is produced by the deadline expected and meets the right standards, does it really matter what time of day you worked.

If you are supposed to be monitoring a specific thing between 9am-5pm then you are slacking off if you don't sit there for the required time.

And some jobs are a mixture of the two. Lots of people slack off in offices during their 9-5 jobs - tea breaks, sneaky online shopping, just daydreaming etc. It's just a different kind of break when you WFH.

Your boss will know if you are value for money based on your output - and that's true whether you are in the office or at home.

I wish! My desk-based NHS job we are only allowed one day WFH and managers monitor our productivity while we do that. There’s only so much that they can actually check up on so phone calls, emails, booking appointments etc don’t count towards our ‘productivity’ Generally end up working though lunch and getting more and more demoralised as the weeks go on.

Working much harder than ever tbh so no slacking off here at all. I am enjoying the lack of commute though