Remote workers doing multiple jobs in the same time frame, getting away with it, underperforming.

[flashbac]

"Remote working has made it easier than ever for staff to moonlight. But how do they cope with clashing meetings and two bosses? And can the rewards be worth the lies?"

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/nov/16/its-the-biggest-open-secret-out-there-the-double-lives-of-white-collar-workers-with-two-jobs

Can you imagine having two computers on and being on two zoom meetings simultaneously? (Advice is to mute yourself and turn camera off.)

I think this if CF territory. I hope it doesn't become more mainstream. Remote working is a force for good. These CFs might ruin it for everyone.
And aibu to think the bullshittting aspect of this will be easier for men to get away with? Here is someone explaining how to get away with underperformance. Apparently if you keep sending your manager emails about how hard you are trying they will stay off your back:

overemployed.com/set-low-expectations-at-your-two-remote-jobs/

Flexible working doesn't help women. It will harm them

Women overwhelmingly bear the burden and responsibility for childcare in our society. That is the reality. Flexible working which enables women to work around those needs helps at key points in life.

Women have absolutely taken the greater hit in the pandemic but that was largely due to the fact that they remain responsible for childcare, homeschooling etc whilst the fathers continued to prioritise their own careers.

The model where you can only progress in the workplace by presenteeism and afterwork drinking sessions is a model created for men, by men, to suit men. Most of the bashing of flexible working I hear comes from poor male managers who have reached their level by the Peter principle with few actual management skills.

@Hardbackwriter so they slacked in the office and it was fine as just answering the odd personal email?

But now they are missing for whe or half days making cakes and no one notices.

That's definitely a management problem. It was a management problem before the pandemic and wfh and its still one. And people have been home for over a year and half. So still nor sorted?

Had the slacking in the office not been tolerated in the office, it wouldn't be such an issue when they go sent to wfh.

That's definitely a management problem. It was a management problem before the pandemic and wfh and its still one. And people have been home for over a year and half. So still nor sorted?

Exactly this. Poor quality management is endemic in many companies.

It wasn't for my fully remote flexible job, I wouldn't be able to do it. I have 2 small kids and I work for an amazing company that put employee well-being and work life balance at the very top. In return I go out of my way to do my job, sometimes on the weekends and I don't resent it.

Friend of mine has full time consultancy job and does some mad MLM on the side. Probably does all the work in the first jobs time.
Anyway if its good enough for MPs why can't everyone else.

Flexible work allowed me to keep my career and grow it, whilst being a single parent.

The line that it's damaging to women, imo, is an absolute scaremongering tactic.

Even the reports published show there's easy fixes to it.

More power to them. Wages are ridiculously low and companies have no loyalty to their staff, don't know why people are bending over backwards for them.

I've had two jobs at the same time! They both knew about each other though. As for the tax issue, I didn't earn enough in one job to pay tax so paid tax on the other one. It was only for about 7 months.

I have a part-time job now and do some freelance work but again my employer knows about the freelance work and it is in my contract that I can do it.

Some people can do this and not underperform.

I work in a role I've done for 10 years. It suits me to have "slack" so I've chosen not to go for promotions/progression, because staying at this level means the job is "easy" for (my experience/expertise means I can quickly answer questions peers have to go away and do several hours work to understand.

If I wanted to, I could easily fit in a second role in the same field (my knowledge/expertise is highly transferable to another employer). I choose not to because I'm not really that sort of person.

However, if a person is paid for the role (a clearly defined set of responsibilities) rather than a fixed number of hours, given that employers usually don't give a shit if its taking someone more than a normal amount hours, it's also none of their business if someone can get it done in less hours.

I think if we have flexible culture where, overwhelmingly, women choose to wfh while men are happy to be in the office, doing the networking and peer support, that comes naturally in an office environment, but is really difficult remotely, people will stop recruiting women.

Of course there will be examples of where it has worked well for individual women (almost exclusively those already established in careers, having benefited from the experience of their peers in an office environment previously) but it will be harmful for women as a group.

This is part 194 of regular series of "slacking flexible worker" stories which have appeared since Boris and his city centre property owning chums screeched that work only happens in offices

Published in the Guardian. That well known mouthpiece of the Conservative party.

I can well believe that this goes on. Lots of people think it's reasonable to look after a baby/toddler full time when working from home full time.

Also - of course employment contracts don't explicitly state you can't work two full time jobs at the same time. Because it's so outrageous it's common sense. Same as employment contracts don't state that you can't come into the office naked, or murder your colleagues, or take your desk out into the car park to work there... because nobody in their right minds would consider that anyway.

I think if we have flexible culture where, overwhelmingly, women choose to wfh while men are happy to be in the office, doing the networking and peer support, that comes naturally in an office environment, but is really difficult remotely, people will stop recruiting women.

No it won't unless the employer already has a history of discrimination.

What actually happens is, that everyone has flexible working. And there's no prizes given our for simply being in the office.

Companies look at performance more, they look at everything outside just showing your face. Because they male an effort to nor discriminate.

The companies that continue to work like an old boys club lose our on talent due to lots of people (not just woman or mothers) wanting flexibility and slowly fail.

No I wouldn't say I had established career. I had been back at work, only, 3 years and just moved to a completely different sector when I became a single parent.

I’m not convinced flexible working helps women either.

I think when a home becomes a workplace, it isn’t hard to see how conflicting issues come about.

What actually happens is, that everyone has flexible working. And there's no prizes given our for simply being in the office.

Companies look at performance more, they look at everything outside just showing your face. Because they male an effort to nor discriminate.

I really hope you're right but I don't see why a move to flexible working would bring any of that about in and of itself.

Also - of course employment contracts don't explicitly state you can't work two full time jobs at the same time.

Mine requires me to disclose other paid roles & certain other non paid roles too. It's not unusual.

This has been happening long before wfh became mainstream. In my industry I’ve known many people who have a 9-5 and also contract on the side for big money. Working remotely was the norm long before Covid arrived so who knows what they were working on in quiet periods.

@DeepaBeesKit

Also - of course employment contracts don't explicitly state you can't work two full time jobs at the same time.

Mine requires me to disclose other paid roles & certain other non paid roles too. It's not unusual.

Yes but the assumption is that it means working an office job 9-5 and the bar or retail work in the evenings, or freelance at the weekends.

Not working 9-5 for ABC Paper Merchants, and also working 9-5 for DEF Widgets.

I read of a case in the US where a government worker, wfh, was contracting out his job to someone in a country with cheaper labour, so he still received most of his salary because the guy actually doing the job was dirt cheap. It was a major security risk, given the nature of his job. I can't remember how he was rumbled.

@RealMermaid

It's not "CF territory", it's fraud. Companies need to be smart in how they set up contracts and policies so that when they discover staff doing this they have the ability to deal with it properly.

It’s not fraud if they perform and do the job, and pay the correct tax

I could probably get away with doing some part time work on top of my FT job now I am working from home, I couldn’t be bothered though!

I am a fairly senior manager, setting up projects, attending governance meetings, delegating work etc are my main duties, I have 4-6 meetings a day. I was really hectic a couple of months ago and had so many diary clashes I was in two meetings at once just in my normal job

Pre covid I would be wondering around the office for each of these meetings going into different meeting rooms, that’s an impressive amount of time away from my desk wandering around 2 office buildings. With only 4 meetings a day that’s still 40 minutes being unproductive, waiting for lifts, climbing stairs, if you average 5 minutes either side of the meeting

As other posters said, if it’s ok for MPs to have a second job when they are supposed to work full time as an MP, why is it not ok for the common person in the street??

I think many people already do that or did that pre covid anyway. The ones who had a FT job and then worked in the evening or at the weekend.
And yes wfh will have made hat easier. Probably easier too if you are working in a job where they don’t use all your abilities, you are getting bored/underuse and can easily fit something else in between. Many workers watch Netflix instead anyway. Or do some jobs in the house, have their dcs with them etc….

I personally don’t think this will affect wfh (various reasons for that really) but I suspect this will affect the way workers are evaluated/followed by their companies. Performance reviews might well get much more tricky, even more so if there are issues within the company….. (eg passing responsibility etc…)

As a freelancer WFH (and I've always WFH so it's not like that can be taken away from me) I'm often 'on the clock' at £20 an hour for 3/4 clients simultaneously. You'd be surprised at how much you can get away with, and how they believe something could take you 4 hours when it only took 1.

Given that Douglas Ross is both an MP and an MSP it's hard to argue against the concept. One would have imagined that either would be considered full time.

@RedskyThisNight

There are clearly a lot of people not fully actually working when they are wfh. Unless you have very clear productivity targets it can be hard to pick up in a lot of jobs. In the job I do, a task might take 30 minutes or 5 hours for example depending on the complexity of the detail, which you won't know until you get into it. It's very easy to claim that it took you 5 hours, actually take 30 minutes and do your own thing for 4.5 hours. It's obvious from some people's lack of availability to support people (the one thing that the people insisting their productivity has increased never address - how has your increase in productivity affected others?) that they are not working at the same level they used to.

If people are genuinely more productive at home, then I don't know why companies are not increasing objectives. If you're paid for 8 hours work a day and finish it in 6, then you should be asking for 2 hours more of work, not swanning off. And if there is no more work, then maybe the company will need less staff?

And yes, totally agree about others picking up the slack. These people are going to get pissed off soon, because if you're in an organisation where no one spots you're not working, the people doing lots of extra aren't noticed either.

Nobody will say they are finishing in 6....they will say they are finishing in 8....but after 8 hours they will have been able to take kids to school...pick them up....tidy round....put a wash on....prepare a meal for dinner.....they’ve done all their work and sorted out there home life....both employer and employee are happy Bunnies

@Magicalwoodlands

I’m not convinced flexible working helps women either.

I think when a home becomes a workplace, it isn’t hard to see how conflicting issues come about.

I agree there about women.

I actually think that all that wfh with flexible hours puts even more pressure on women to do BOTH the working full time AND doing all the childcare etc…. Because they ought to be able to organise themselves and work around each other.
Basically it’s giving more work to women rather than making it easier for them. Already all over MN with issues of clash between school drop off and meetings etc….