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?

Yes. I’ve worked from home for 10 years in a senior role. I do lots of stuff in and around work but also do lots of work around home. I started a call at 7am on Wednesday but today I will walk the dog at 2pm. I don’t need to be at my desk from 9am - 5pm, I need to get the work done!

I'm client facing, so required to be contactable on teams 9-5, I'm usually sat at my computer 99% of the working day. I do household chores quickly at lunch as I get an hour, then potentially odd jobs when I go to make a cup of tea and things.

Don't feel guilty OP.

Tedious teams meetings work very well on my phone, with a Bluetooth headset on while cleaning the bog! (I tend not to put my camera on.)

Yep, empty dishwasher, hoover, mop, put a load of washing on. All while I am having a tea break or something.

I also stop work whenever I want and go out for a walk. My boss knows. We've all adapted. As long as we get the work done.

I do plenty around the house while wfh. My job work still gets done and it means I don't spend my weekends doing housework.

As others say you would spend time in the office making drinks, chatting etc. So no different except you're being productive.

My OH is wfh and he goes running in work time, cycling, swimming, pops to the local bakery, food shop picks kids up from nursery, goes for lunch.

He gets his work done and sometimes ends up working evenings but if work is done don’t see why not.

Of course.

This week has been brilliant for getting the laundry done.

I always do household chores whilst I’m working from home. I will empty the dishwasher, put a load of laundry on, or scrub the bathrooms whilst I’m sending emails or something for work.
According to my husband I’m totally wrong and when I’m working I should be working - which is insane to me. He’d rather be on a phonecall (the kind you don’t have to listen to) and refuses to do anything else.

Yes. I chuck a load in the machine or peg stuff out.
I need to hop up twice a hour to stretch as I would do in the office. At home I'm not going to the photocopier or filing cabinets so use that movement for something else.

I have a long meeting once a week that I don't need to contribute to. I usually turn my camera off and do some batch cooking while I listen to it like a podcast...

Yep my day consists of starting work and getting the girls ready and fed for school, then working some and tidying their clothes and breakfast bowls up and putting a wash on.

I have started to schedule a quick test alarm mid morning and mid afternoon where I put the kettle back on, toilet break and hang the washing out too.

I often eat and work through my break so I can spend half an hour of my actual break doing chores, yoga, nipping to the shop across the road or prepping tea.

It helps immensely. If your work is not suffering and it’s not affecting your availability there is nothing wrong with it. When I do nip in to work the amount of people who take the piss by sitting on desks nattering or having a social meet up around the kettle is wayyy more time than I use picking bits up around the house.

I’ve found that it’s boosted my productivity overall too as I’m not just sat in front of a screen all day burning out. I used to really flag about 2/3pm and need a strong coffee or some chocolate and not be able to concentrate but I don’t get that anymore. I often don’t notice or mind if i go 20 minutes past my actual ‘go home’ time either and that surely can’t harm the workplace!

The meetings I know I'm going to be more listening rather than contributing to I'll put the headphones on and fold some laundry at the same time. Some of my work involves a bit of thinking away from the computer so I'll use that time to do something else too. Yesterday I was cutting the hedge whilst thinking about strategy for a new project coming up. Phone calls to the boss whilst on the way to the post office.

Yes during less busy periods, I’ll put on a wash or the dishwasher on or tidy up, take out the recycling etc. Then maybe do some life admin like booking appointments or renewing insurance etc.
But only for a few minutes at a time, I see it as the equivalent time in the office when you chat to colleagues or pop to the canteen etc.

I don’t really have time to do things like hoovering or cleaning the bathroom, but when I log off I might do those sorts of jobs - it’s essentially using the time I would normally spend commuting.

@ChainJane

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.)

Surely if you complete a full day's work with a few hours to spare you would just start working on whatever you were planning to do the next day? You wouldn't just stop working? Or are you a job where for some reason you can't start tomorrow's work until tomorrow?

Another voice saying of course you can do quick jobs during office hours when there is nothing pressing or late while WFH.

To balance, I have been known to answer occasional emails outside office hours. We work with people in different time zones. If something comes in after cob for me, unless I reply ooh the sender would waste the whole day until I reply the following day. If I can provide a quick answer, in my evening, I will do so they can get on.

As others have said, wfh requires trust and management based on results rather than time spent at desk. I enjoy being in the office but WFH is really productive for me.

I wfh as norm.
Some days, I don't have time even to get to the loo. Sometimes I manage to put the washing out. However, our organisation knows this happens and basically says don't take the piss and consider this to be your gossip at the photocopier! If you think about being in an office situation, you chat away to whoever comes in or by, on your way to the loo, getting a cuppa. Time and motion studies show how unproductive offices generally are. Whereas I'd say on the whole I over produce, I do request additional projects if I've time that has opened in my diary, but I also say when I'm at my max. And then in between the two it's not unreasonable to be able to say for every hour I work to have 5 minutes dashing to the loo or washing machine!

@Ilookedatthesea

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

This. I worked from home long before covid and one of the upsides for me was being able to load the washing machine and dishwasher, hang washing out, etc. It’s a super efficient way of working.

No I don't do this. I benefit from gaining an hour and a half's travel time each day so I totally stick to my hours. I don't have any slack time during those hours though.

We're supposed to take a 5 min screen break every hour so putting a wash on or similar kills two birds with one stone. Compare it to interruptions you get in the office and you're working more efficiently

I very rarely do this. We are on Teams meetings all of one day and the other two days I am snowed under trying to get stuff done. I don't judge anyone who does though as the office involves a lot of faffing around.

Yes, I definitely pack/unpack the dishwasher, stick on laundry, sort recycling etc during the working day. If I were in the office I'd stop for coffee (sometimes even go out for one), take a proper lunch break, have a natter with colleagues, all of which I'm doing less often now. Plus work is more likely to leech into my home time at the moment - I'll have clients calling whilst cooking the dinner and early calls scheduled because everyone's lost their commute - so seems fair enough to me!

Yep, as long as the work is done and I’m available if someone emails/messages/calls, then it’s fine.
Plus, the chores that I’ll do during work time are not long ones, putting a load of washing in then hanging it up and bit later, unloading the dishwasher etc.
Although once I painted the living room while we had a whole firm 3 hour livestream meeting thing. I had it on in the background.

well, yes, but I don't work 9 to 5, so flexibility goes both ways.

I do most of the chores the way I do when I commute to work, it makes my life easier, I would hate spending my day running from my desk to a chore. But putting a load of laundry on the line, bringing it back, getting an online shop and putting it away... what's wrong with that?

Surely if you complete a full day's work with a few hours to spare you would just start working on whatever you were planning to do the next day?

My own job doesn't work like that.

I do most of my personal "admin" and online shopping while at my work computer. It was the same when I was in the office. My job is very inconsistent with workload, so we all have weeks where we work flat out until 10pm and weeks when we catch up on our work admin and then take it easy the rest of the time.

It's not sneaky and is fully endorsed by senior management. When we're quiet I tell my team to take some time in lieu and just keep an eye on their inboxes in case anything comes in.