To ask if you do any household tasks whilst WFH?

[6thisntlast]

I'd raced through loads of work this morning and have spent the last 15 mins unloading the dishwasher, sticking a wash on and putting a deep conditioner in my hair I raced back to check my emails every 5 minutes but nothing has come in.

I expect I'll be pretty busy this afternoon so I'm thinking about continuing this for the next hour or so as I have a few other bits I need to do and would like to get the dogs walked on my lunch.

AIBU? I don't usually do this, hence me feeling guilty and asking. I'm usually so flat out or even if I'm not I'm sat at my desk finding little bits to do, but today I just don't have the enthusiasm to do that.

If I keep checking my emails, WIBU to get a few more chores done before lunch?

Do people do this if they have a lull in work, or do you ask for more work, find more work, stay sat where you are?

DH sorted his car insurance yesterday, and today has booked an appointment to look T bathroom fittings.
He also ate lunch while working so he could cut the lawn during his lunch break.

He only works at home 0-2 days at week. The little admin tasks replace the messing around over brews they have in the office...

(They also need to keep working until everything is done... which is sometimes 9pm if something urgent comes in... )

This is basically what I’ve spent the last year wfh doing. But I don’t have the kind of job where I’m tied to my desk all day. I decide my own work for myself and as long as my targets are hit my boss really couldn’t care less.
At the beginning of wfh I let him know I needed to go to the dentist so would take a longer lunch and make up the time later and he told me I really didn’t need to tell him these sorts of things and he trusted me to get the job done so now I just crack on with what I need to do.

It's no more time than you'd waste in the office chatting with colleagues, making tea etc

If I was in the office, I would spend ages making cups of tea for the whole office (having to wait for space in the kitchen etc), getting distracted by nattering colleagues, answering other people's phones (when they were too busy nattering elsewhere) and just losing time on wandering around a large building etc. I used to work with people who ate breakfast, lunch and dinner in works time.

Now I WFH, I do twice as much work. I tend to do the odd 5-10 minutes jobs while I'm away from my desk. I do things like hang my washing up, put a load on, do some dishes etc while I'm making myself a cuppa. My boss is happy with how much work I'm getting done (which is more than when I was in the office) and I'm happy that those little jobs don't need done all at once when I get home in the evening anymore.

Yes I do this if not busy. Go back and check emails regularly though if doing jobs. I do work early mornings and late nights if busy though and sometimes will work on a night to make up time and put emails on delayed send for the morning so can log on later and do some jobs. Obviously if have meetings I am around.

Yes I do all the time. I mean I keep an eye on my emails and Skype in case anything comes in, and I've set up a script to simulate shaking the mouse every five minutes so my status never shows as idle.

The way I look at it is it's perfectly reasonable. Working from home is so much more efficient I can complete a full day's work with a few hours to spare. I don't have people interrupting me every few minutes and can just get on with it. Plus there's the aspect of having to look busy when I'm in the office - at home, I can just get the work done, in the office 20% of my energy is spent on ensuring I look busy and only 80% on doing my work. (I've been pulled up before because although I was working flat out, the MD didn't think I "looked busy enough" so I have to prioritise appearances now over actual efficiency.)

It depends how busy I am and how many Teams meetings but often hang washing out, unload dishwasher etc. Occasionally clean a bathroom.
I’ve saved so much time not traveling to meetings/unnecessary meetings/chatting in the office/walking around. Everything is still getting done and if necessary I work extra hours to make sure so I can’t see the problem.

Yes, I've put washing on the line this morning. Admittedly I work flexible hours and part-time, but even if I was working a set 9-5 I can't see the issue with leaving my desk for 5 minutes. If I were in the office I'd be going to get a coffee or going to the loo or into a meeting, so I don't see why you need to be chained to your desk because you are at home.

What matters is do you get your work done on time to the requisite standard.

Yep. Stick the dishwasher on and generally tidy round when I'm waiting for the kettle to boil, to be fair though I'd also do this in the office.

I will also put washing on, occasionally do a personal errand.

I also work with colleagues in PST so timezones are not friendly for that. I usually work into the evening. All in all I'm happy and so are my work.

I'm off today so this isn't work time.

Yep I went to the hairdresser while wfh but still got all my work done. My manager is not at all interested in what hours I do as long as the job gets done.

All the time. Washing on, hair wash/conditioner. It's actually a very relaxing way to work and work gets a lot more out of me than they were when I was in the office. I don't know why you would feel any sort of guilt.

When I’m in the office, I get up for cups of tea, have a chat with people etc. On my lunch break I’ll go for an hour and get a walk.

I’m not sure why you feel guilty OP.

I guess I just feel that they're paying me to work, not to do household errands and also that perhaps if I have a lull, I should be asking for more work to fill that time rather than going off and unloading the dishwasher

As long as you’re managing your workload, not letting your colleagues down, and nobody has any complaints, what’s to feel guilty about? We have notional core hours of 9-5 but in reality I’ve always worked beyond these - now I just flex it where I’m able so that if I want to go for a mid morning run or gym session / take the car for MOT / meet a friend for coffee / do some gardening, I do so, and work before 9 and after 5. I presumed this is what most people did, where they aren’t required to be in meetings or need to be immediately responsive all day to emails or phone calls.

I find it's the hour in the morning that is most useful when i'd normally be commuting. I can get a proper tidy up done/load of washing on/prep dinner/put laundry away that in normal life I'd have to do in the evening or else it would stack up and be two hours on a weekend.
I do the odd load of laundry and quite like doing some batch cooking on some of the more boring department wide information calls where I just have to listen (we are thankfully not fully zoomed up so no video most days).
I am also very keen of a Friday evening 5pm shower. Not quote finished for the day but things are quite slow. So a 15 mins shower with a hair treatment put in late afternoon then into evening comfy gear and finish off the last bits between 5.30 and 6pm

@6thisntlast

I guess I just feel that they're paying me to work, not to do household errands and also that perhaps if I have a lull, I should be asking for more work to fill that time rather than going off and unloading the dishwasher

I don’t understand the nature of your work - my job doesn’t work like that where if I have a lull, I ask for more! If I have a lull, it’s just how it is. Other times I’m so busy, there is no time for housework 😂

Yes I do chores during the day, but at defined times. My workstation locks own every 55 mins for a 5 min break.
I can get a lot done in that 5 mins.

I'm pretty disciplined about it because as we know, there's always housework that can be done, so the washing's finished, I'll let it sit in the machine until my next WSB before hanging it out.

I'm in academia and the work environment is very relaxed. There's never nothing to do.

I’ve never had a more cleaner house since WFH. I try to maintain tidyness throughout the week seeing as there’s only me and the dog in the house through the day, my fiancé works out of the home. On a Friday I try to have a really good clean so I can relax on the weekends, I just keep an eye on my inbox and make sure any tasks get done! My manager always said he was happy for us to not be sat at our laptop from 9-5 as long as the work gets done! I manage to do washing through the week too at a slow and steady pace so I don’t feel like my weekends are taken up by washing and cleaning! Works for me

My occupational therapist said that I should take a 5-10 minute break every half hour. I ummed and ahhed at my CEO, who said, Take. The. Breaks.

Research shows that we're only productive for about 3.5h a day. I find that a ten minute break an hour boosts me massively. During the last few minutes I hurry up to finish what I was doing, and during the ten minutes some brilliant idea or solution will come to me and I'm boosted at the start as well.

I also love to do a "chore race" - spend ten minutes blitzing the house rather than faffing around for ages.

Plenty as screen breaks for a couple of minutes. Putting clothes in the washing machine for example.

I’ll hang washing out and put supermarket deliveries away. As others have said, it takes no longer than waiting for the kitchen to be free at work

I don’t set my alarm any different when WFH so I work the time I’d spend getting there

I’m so glad somebody asked this! I wondered if I was the only one. When I first started WFH I was like, I ‘ll put a sneaky wash on, do some illicit housework 😮 I felt so guilty. But over the months I’ve got used to it. I even go out for half hour walks. The work gets done, the other stuff gets done so it’s a win win situation.

I get lots of 2 minute jobs done in between emails. All my work gets done and most days I’m at my computer an hour before I would be in the office. My boss actually gets more out of me working from home as I can work more flexibly, especially as I do a lot of work with European partners who are an hour ahead. I rarely finish early, so I don’t feel bad about fitting in housework at all.

All the time. My job is project based and nothing is time sensitive. As long as I'm on for meetings, it really doesn't matter that I hang up the washing or ring the insurance company etc.

We didn't sit strictly at our laptops all day when we were in the office, either. It's a very relaxed American tech company anyway.

These replies are making me feel a bit better

I think it's because I've only been with this company for 10 weeks, it's my first WFH role, I haven't even met any of my colleagues yet! They're all lovely but no one has kind of said anything about WFH etiquette IYSWIM?

I think I'd feel more relaxed if I'd been with the company for years prior to WFH as at least then people know you and know you work hard etc. Plus, everything is a bit more formal/ people are always on their best behaviour when they're new to a company I find.