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?

I do but I have a contract that is no contracted hours, so I could technically work 2 mins or 70 hours and get paid the same, but I do need to make sure I produce so it tends to be the latter unfortunately! I tend to get up at 6 and do the washing machine, dishwasher and set off my robot hoover before I take DC in to school/nursery and then work until they're home. Both DH and I eat at our desks so we don't have any other breaks during the day.

@Devondonkey

MN is full of people who spend their time putting on laundry, conditioning their hair and putting stuff in the slow cooker, while also massively boosting their productivity and being furious about being hauled back to the office. Hmm.

I think that's because you don't realise how much time spent in the office us actually non productive. Even for the staff who are very productive.

8 hours in an office rarely is 8 solid work. Even when people insist it is. People chat at their desks, make coffees, loo breaks, stop by someone elses desk. Chat to people while making a coffee.

And also if you notice alot of the people who do, do jobs around the house....also work quite flexibly. So they may condition their hair or watch TV for an hour, but they it at another time.

Yes, when I stop for a drink, whilst I'm waiting for the kettle I sort the dishwasher or something else. In the office I would have been chatting etc. I'm back in now with flexibility to work from home (new job) but had been wfh for several years already. I regularly had people thinking I was ft, when I was pt because I got so much done in comparison to people in the office!

DH has also wfh for years and similarly gets his half of the housework done in his breaks. Or starts dinner when it's his days to cook.

It productively uses the time when you should be getting up for a stretch. I need thinking time in my job too and it was a pain when I was in the office ft as I just ended up sitting, thinking, and it's easier to think whilst doing! Now I take a day wfh and do something physical, gardening or cleaning whilst working on whatever I need to do. Back in the office next day with a strategy or plan ready to be written up.

Yep, I will sort out dishwasher while the kettles boiling. If it was work I'd walk to the canteen, queue for the coffee machine, walk back. In the office we could be having a 5 minute chat, instead bung a load into the washing machine. 1 hour lunch break in the office = go for a quick run instead and not worry about factoring in time to be office ready and not all sweating afterwards. My work all still gets done.

It's so good, we don't have to add a long commute to the end of the working day either and go straight into cramming in chores, dinner, DC bedtime, trying to get in a workout and burning out.

Overall, the work life balance is lovely and I don't feel like day to day life is such a mad rush from start to finish.

If you were in the office, would you use these natural lulls in work to chat to other people? If so, I don't see any problem with replacing that with the odd household chore.

On a related note, I'm back to the office soon and really not looking forward to those times when colleagues have a lull and have time to chat and I am busy/ on a deadline. I have found WFH so much better in terms of lack of distractions and being able to pace my own work.

I think this is completely fine! Surely by the time you have factored in travel time,coffee/tea making at work and so on around the same I would think. No one at work works the entire time with no break surely .

@Whiskycav yes, but eg “people chatting at desks” is boosting social capital in the workplace and is ultimately a valuable part of building a team. It’s v hard to see how someone doing the hoovering or cleaning the bathroom to quote one PP advantages the employer. And re your other examples, people working from home are still having loo breaks and coffee breaks too.

My job is so different to how most people's sounds! I'm on calls all day so we can't get up and wander etc. I usually (outside of my lunch) make one brew and have one toilet break which I combine by putting the kettle on as I go to the bathroom but apart from that I can't leave my desk. It's the same when I'm at work though except if I'm not on a call I can chat to whoever is next to me
We get 10 seconds in between calls if it's busy

[quote Devondonkey]@Whiskycav yes, but eg “people chatting at desks” is boosting social capital in the workplace and is ultimately a valuable part of building a team. It’s v hard to see how someone doing the hoovering or cleaning the bathroom to quote one PP advantages the employer. And re your other examples, people working from home are still having loo breaks and coffee breaks too.[/quote]
Social capital?

Most of the time it's really not. Often in a lot of work places it actually negatively impacts team building.

Because Sarah is moaning about her boyfriend, again. Mark is talking is visibly slacking off and going for another cig break. Bob is going to spend an hour on the toilet as he does at 10am everyday. John and Sophie are gossiping about co workers they don't like. Ben & Frank are more interested in discussing their night out, tonight, and how messy it's going to be. Phil is moaning, again, about how slow his system is but does take the advice when people tell him to close some files.

Chatting in an office can be great. But it can also cause issues and just be a time waster.

I know people wfh are making coffees and going to the loo. But if someone is putting a wash on while the kettle boils, they are no more unproductive than someone standing there just watching it boil.

And as I said, the vast majority of people On this thread who are taking large chunks of time to do things around the house, go for breakfast etc. Already worked flexibly before. So they are simply working flexibly now. And most of them have jobs where they aren't required to be at their desk every minute of the day and their job is based on meeting deadlines. Not how long they are sat at their desk. As long as they meet their deadlines, it doesn't matter.

Lots of people (my team members included) are actually working faster at home. One team member retired and we didn't need to replace them as we are still meeting deadline, well in advance. Their work is a limited amount. So now they have more free time. There's no benefit to them or the company to have them sat at their desk.

It is possible to be more productive, do household chores and still be doing the work you are paid to do.

Which is why so many people won't be returning to the office.

@Whiskycav social capital - www.morganlovell.co.uk/inspiration/insights/whitepaper-social-capital
As I say, a lot of people insist they do their jobs better than they did, but almost no one I know in management thinks this is actually reflected by their output.

Not in the way you describe op. I work by billable hour, so if I’m not actively working on a project, it doesn’t count as work. That is true even if I’m in the office, which can be really frustrating if there are computer problems. But yes, I do pause and move the laundry along or unload the dishwasher. It just makes my life run better to sprinkle those tasks throughout my day.

[quote Devondonkey]@Whiskycav social capital - www.morganlovell.co.uk/inspiration/insights/whitepaper-social-capital
As I say, a lot of people insist they do their jobs better than they did, but almost no one I know in management thinks this is actually reflected by their output.[/quote]
Thank for the link?

No one is saying it does exist. But it's like well being in the work place. Great in principle, doesn't translate into actual office environments, very well (most of teams time).

If you know management who think their teams are less productive, but haven't actually done anything about it, in over a year and are crossing their fingers that a return to the office will fix it, that's poor management.

In our company re cognised quickly, wfh worked for some not others. Worked for some teams not others. So some teams have been back in. Some teams have been hybrid working. We worked with the employees and team managers to find a way to make it work and keep up productivity.

I am senior management. I am also in charge of reporting so know how productive the different departments are. Some did dip upon going home. But with the adjustments productivity is up and we are performing very well.