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?

It's not good for you to sit at a desk for 10 hours a day. I see those little household tasks like unloading the dishwasher and putting a wash on as the "micro breaks" that Ocupational health are always telling us we need to take, in the office it would have been messing around at the printer or going for a chat with a colleague on the other side of the office to stretch my legs. I don't see a problem with it as long as you do work when it comes in x

Yes I do this, my work has pretty long deadlines so there are often hours or even full days I'm not busy so I just potter about cleaning, laundry, mending clothes, taking the dog out, having a nap... even did some decorating the other day. We don't have to track our hours or appear available online at all times so as long as i'm present in meetings when needed and meeting deadlines (which I am) it doesn't matter. If I finish a task early I give myself the afternoon off rather than start the next day's work. Enjoy the flexibility

Instead of taking a lunch break I normally take several short breaks during the day to hang out washing, load the dishwasher etc. I normally work beyond my contracted hours though (lately 50+ rather than 35) so don’t feel like they can really criticise me!

@thecatsthecats

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.

was it occupational therapy or occupational health? also could I see a link to that research please?

I’m on sick leave at the moment, but usually my job was too full on for this, other than sticking on a wash in my “lunch break” and getting the dinner made ahead, but if you’ve got a quiet day and ordinarily work very hard then go for it!

Nothing apart from maybe putting a washing machine on or hanging washing up.

I do normally office hours, 9-5 and we are expected to be at the laptop. Contray to what I read here a lot, this is not stiffling, not disastorous, nothing. I actually enjoy shutting the door and just work and not being distracted at all. My colleagues rely on me being available, I rely on them especially as lots of my work requires a second person and is time restricted.

I get up as normal as DD is at school and therefore I have 1 1/2 hours free before I start work and do a lot then. By 5pm I log off and that's it for the day. Again, no commute so I have another hour for myself or doing what is necessary.

Absolutely they get so much extra work out of me coz I have no one to talk to anyway. I'm a chatter box I just can't shut up if I'm in the office. At home I listen to the radio and crack on.

I do empty the dishwasher, put a wash on, hang wash out (not always on the same day and sometimes I'm so busy I can't get any of that done). I often use meetings to fold and split the dry washing into piles to deliver to each bedroom (we don't have to go on camera).

I sometimes do cleaning on my lunch break, get the hoover out etc. Ive also taken to a long hot Bath (not in this weather) when I have the house to myself it's bliss.

Nope. My job is to sit at my desk. I go to the loo or make a brew but that's it except for scheduled break and lunch

My husband has worked from home for over a decade. He often does things around the house during the work day. As long as he gets his work done and is available for meetings when needed, there's no problem. He's a valued employee and earns a good salary - his time isn't micromanaged.

YANBU. I don't have to do anything at weekend because I do all the laundry, cooking, errand etc mid week.

Power to the worker!

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?

^

She'll work more hours than she's paid for?? Or maybe if she does do that she'll take the next day off....

Having worked from home since the beginning of lockdown I feel I now have a balance.
I am available 8-6 Monday to Thursday and to 4 on Friday and during that time I do a minimum of 40 hours work.
My job is split into 2 areas, project work where I need to concentrate and often when working to a deadline I do long days, then the other side is training and support based where I react to emails and other requests. They usually arrive like buses all together at 5pm

When I am doing project work I take breaks to stretch and clear my mind, ideal time for a spot of housework. When I am doing the other stuff I tend to also do admin tasks like arranging insurance or the weekly online shop and my personal emails have never been so organised.

I try to always be available but there are periods when I am not, some are work related (zoom calls) or standard (toilet breaks) and others are longer like when I go for my regular medical treatment or to the shops, just as I used to when I worked in the office. Only 1 person has an issue with my absences and he just calls my phone over and over again, leaves messages and then calls a colleague. If he looked at Teams he would know how long I am scheduled to be unavailable for, but he doesn’t and as I don’t report to him I don’t care.

At the beginning I was concerned as I could get through my work with these breaks/distractions and was so organised so I did a 2 week period where I recorded hours worked and what I did. I am satisfied that I am being super productive.

@Susannahmoody

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?

^

She'll work more hours than she's paid for?? Or maybe if she does do that she'll take the next day off....

How would she end up working more hours than she is paid for, assuming she works full time? If she is paid for a 7.5 hour day and finishes what was planned for the day in 3 hours, then does tomorrow's work for 4.5 hours, she has worked only the 7.5 hours she is paid for.

The PP did however post saying that her job isn't one where you'd start tomorrow's work today though, so I guess she just works fewer hours than she is paid for. I work in a non clinical NHS job and although there is some flexibility in when we do our hours, we don't have the sort of job where we'd finish the day's work in a few hours and then have nothing to do for the rest of the day. There's always more work to do so if I finish what I was planning to do today I just carry on working on something else from my huge to do list. The PP obviously has a very different sort of job to me.

I alot of water or herbal teas, so im literally every hour ir 3 having a break as I would in the office. Its amazing in the 3 to 4 mins for the kettle to boil what can be done! Sometimes ill do some stretching or squats if there are no chores to do

it's about 50/50 work to household tasks for me. But if I were in the office this time would be spent chatting to colleagues so no different in terms of productivity.

I don't do all this. I get a coffee. If I get a gap I put washer on.

I used to go out for breakfast or lunch with my dh. If anyone rang me for something urgent I could it from my phone. I'd do all my housework while keeping an eye on my inbox. Nip to the post office. Stop by the supermarket on the way back.

But then when I was IN the office used to go for 1.5-2hr lunches, trips round the farm shop, a mooch round the charity shops in the nearest town.

🤷‍♀️ I used to do all my work and then some, so what does it matter as long as it's done.

I always consider the 10 minutes I take to empty the dishwasher/hang the washing out to be equivalent to the multiple smoking breaks that some of my colleagues took when we were working from the office, so I don’t feel guilty at all

I worked from home before.

But yes I do household chores. To the poster who thinks you just ask for more, not everyone jobs is like that.

Monday/Tuesday, we're directors meetings. We do get breaks but it's hard to judge, when so I book no other work. Wednesday-friday I needed to finalise and roll put a project. So again, my diary was only that I have done about 32 hours in those 3 days. About 52 altogether. Next week I will probably do 25-30 to get some of that time back.

I don't ask for work, I research and plan my own work. Neither does my team. My team is the in house reporting team. They have a certain amount of reports to produce. But they often rely on departments sending some information to us first. Monday is quiet. Tuesday/Wednesday is busier. The a new cycle starts on Thursday, with late Thursday early Friday being busy.

If they have finished their reports and caught up on any projects.....they have no work to ask for. Often they are ejustvwaiting from responses. My team are great at amazing their work load and we never miss a deadline. So if one of them wants to walk their dog, when it's quiet, that's fine.

So many people waste time making brews, chatting, wandering round etc in offices. I really dont see why it's an issue someone puts wash on, or hangs it out. Or hoovers up.

As long as they are pulling their weight, not leaving work to others and doing the work they need to then I don't see it as an issue.

Yes, I put a wash on, hang it out, run the vacuum round etc regularly. The amount of time it takes up is negligible compared to the amount of time wasting and chat that went on in the office.

I also think it balances out the occasional panicked call or email I get out of my working hours that I invariably deal with rather than ignore.

I'll whizz a vacuum around or sort the laundry but I dont really have much time to do much else.

Our Head of Service encouraged us to do things like this and take little breaks once covid meant we all started working from home. As long as we get our work done, and to a good standard what does it matter if we shove a wash on.

Depends on the workload.

Today for instance I barely had time to eat lunch, let alone to anything else.

However some days are quieter so I can get a few bits done.

It’s the kind of job where as long as things get done they are happy.

Usually, yes. I’d expect my team to as well.
Nine hours on a screen isn’t good. Hanging washing out stretches a few back muscles, gives a boost to Vitamin D and gives a sense of achievement.

Yes I do this. Today I spent about 1.5 hours eating lunch and then cleaning the house then a further 30 minutes cleaning later in the afternoon. I worked until 8pm and 10pm two nights this week though so I feel like it's fine and also feel it's acceptable to try and be a bit flexible to stop myself burning out completely.

Depends on my day but usually I’ll put a washing on and hang it out - nothing more than that though. I don’t feel guilty - it makes a change from the inane office chat about someone’s dog or their pain in the bum son.