to ask if anyone else is half-arsing their job?

[Spacemannn]

I work full time with two pre-schoolers (due to my part-time working request being declined). I get paid well (although not mumsnet well) for a mid-senior job, with no line management, but the bulk of my salary goes on childcare.

Since having my second child, I just cba anymore. I used to be such a perfectionist and always go above and beyond, but I just don't care as much anymore. I work hybrid, and on my WFH days I'm trying to squeeze in as many chores/life admin as poss in between tasks.

Is anyone else like this? Does it matter? I switch between feeling guilty, and then feeling like as long as I'm getting the work done and doing an ok job, that's fine? I still get paid the same whether I put in 70% effort or 100% effort. There are no promotion opportunities on the horizon, and I don't think I'd want the extra responsibility at the moment anyway.

Any tips for working smarter not harder? I'm organised, responsive and quick, so I don't think it's a case of me not adding value to the company...

Which industry please as I want me some of that lol.

Yep I am.

How is doing exactly what you are paid to do "half arsing" it?

Yes we do the same in my workplace, no one should ever be at 100% capacity it’s just not realistic!

I get a lot more work actually done when i'm WFH. I work less hours but do far more work.

It shocks me how little I can get done when I have to go into the office.

Ive only read the first couple of pages but this thread is depressing. I managed a large team which was really productive pre Covid…in office 5 days and really good fun, everyone focused, poor performers were supported and coached, targets met and often exceeded. Then Covid and lots of people found working from home a plus…claiming they were “just as productive” which was demonstrably not the case because our functions productivity fell to above 60% of pre-covid levels.

But expectations were lowered and I wanted to do the right thing by my team. Then request (not mandated) to return to the office post covid and about 80% of the team have decided they want to keep working from home. Productivity is still 60% of pre covid and so pay rises are less, bonuses less, and the moaning….oh my god….the moaning is relentless. Everyone now just doing the bare minimum because that’s what they see everyone else doing so don’t feel like they should work hard if nobody else is. Dissatisfaction with role (through pulse surveys) has shot up and frankly I’m done. Nobody takes pride in their work anymore and I find that a depressing place to be…but it is pervasive across the industry. Those who come into the office typically are more motivated and as a result get better opportunities and all I hear is how unfair it is that so-and-so got a good project again. But still doesn’t motivate them to come in or make any kind of effort beyond the bare minimum. It’s a viscous circle.

Covid has made us soft, lazy and entitled. coast if you like…but don’t fool yourself into thinking you are working hard and don’t complain when you don’t get the opportunities/recognition.

If you are allocated work to do and do it, why/how should an employer expect more?

Stop propping up companies, if there is more work to do they either need to reassess the daily allocation or hire an extra person to do the work.

When Einstein worked in the patent office he was allocated his daily work and when done he worked on his theories.
Where would we need today off his boss told him that he wasn't allowed to do that and he had to either sit doing nothing or be allocated work from someone who was not as hard working/efficient as he was?

There’s such a shortage of nursery workers, is moving to a different nursery an option you have? Somewhere with better management, terms etc @Tillyteacup hope your effort is appreciated by the parents

Hmm I think I work at about 60% most of the time (in the office all the time so nothing to do with work from home) but go for coffees, chat to colleagues etc. However the industry I'm in means there are times of crisis where I give 100% and work very hard and a lot of overtime for maybe a week or two at a time. So I coast the rest of the time so I'm able to mentally cope with the crisis times.

I really do not feel guilty if I have 'slack' days or I seem to get through the work quicker than expected. Technology has led to new working practices, and our attitude towards work has not quite kept up with the changes that have occurred in some sectors and professions.

I can now make the resources that I need to work is a fraction of the time that it took just eight years ago (when I last went out to work). Setting up workstations/preparing workspaces, travelling to and from different venues are all irrelevant when your workspace is a quiet corner at home. Meetings can be combined with low key caring roles.

On the rare occasions that I am pestered by the little voice that tells me I am 'slacking' or being unproductive if I do not spend all my 'working day' doing 'work'. However, I can easily assuage that by engaging in professional development (there are plenty of interesting articles online, great books to study from Amazon, lots of relevant little courses and so on).

There are also a growing number of people who take on second, third or multiple sources of income, because online working allows this sort of synchronic engagement. Whether or not this is a good thing, I do not know, but I have a couple of related, but very part time jobs related to my role, that run alongside my full time role. These roles enrich my experience and allow me to bring different ideas and approaches to my main job.

In short, we are in the middle of a digital and AI revolution that has vastly reduced the time and effort spent on tasks in some professions and sectors, and which has enabled many people to work remotely. However, attitudes echo the sentiments of the industrial revolution, which is not surprising since our formal education system is very much based in that ideology.

I am well aware that there are some roles that require a human being to be present, and that working from home is not an option in such roles. Yet, I am convinced no-one who works from home should feel they cannot use the time that newer technologies create, productively.

Whoops, message sent without editing. I hope it makes sense.

IKR? People let capitalism get into their heads.

Good question. I guess I'm in the kind of job where there's always work to do (whether it's reactive or proactive). So it's hard to know where the line is in terms of whether you're doing enough to be doing what you're paid to do. If that makes any sense?

I now work 3 days in the office and 2 at home and I find because I'm really productive in the office, on the days when I'm at home I'm just generally quieter which gives me more time to get the chores and things done - I think most people do. Even DH who is online from 7-7 when at home normally has time to stick a wash or 2 on.

Sometimes I definitely just go through the motions a bit when I'm at home but always deliver the goods (at maybe a more leisurely pace ;)

In my 20s I enthusiastically looked for ways to improve work processes, wrote up proposals for them, agreed funding to get them implemented and then completed any related testing & documentation. I helped administer training programmes, volunteered to lead meetings/events, mentored some of our apprentices & participated in all the team building activities (charity volunteer things out of work hours but reported internally/to press as work doing things, cake baking competitions, tracking walking/running or cycling hours for the department, sponsored activities, team lunches etc).
All those things helped me build experience and/or to network so I didn’t mind investing the time. Now I half arse it because I guess it’s become my job to improve work processes or fix broken ones and can do it standing on my head so I no longer do it as an extra, I’m not prepared to do the out of hours team building stuff unless it’s something I’ll really enjoy & I can’t be arsed to administer or lead programmes for extras that I have no desire to participate in. I don’t need to actively build a network because I have a great one already and people coming up engage me instead as they need my help. I still do mentoring and I’ll help people in the team when they need it but for the rest I don’t want to do it & I’ve no particular gift for it so I’m no longer prepared to invest lots of my time in it. I get much better exposure to senior people doing my actual job than I would on the extras now. Half arsing maybe isn’t the right expression but I get the sentiment

Absolutely agree with this. I tend to work quickly, I don’t see why o should be penalised for that, sometimes if I’m really busy I need to work more than my hours Being salaried should work both ways.

I guess people who derive a lot of value from work might not get the idea that some (most) people aren’t wedded to their jobs snd generally do the bare minimum to do the job. Companies have had a good run the last couple of decades of people literally killing themselves for their jobs - things are just becoming more balanced.

I know you don’t work at my sons nursery but thank you for saying this, you’re amazing.

My partner most of the time seems to do sweet fa. He's spent many hours doing stuff in garden house watching tv etc. Pops upstairs every now and then to check an email.

I think the overwhelming majority are half arsing and we will all suffer the result of lower GDP. I am a manic hard worker by nature but I just find too many distractions at home - we've had a massive refurb for starters and I "worked" throughout that. I was still productive but it's an absolute joke really. I don't blame you because it's obvious that this will happen, I do it too, but we will have to go back in the office much more to stop it eventually.

I’m retired but I know from friends still working that they are aware of who’s coasting and who isn’t. A lot of the time it’s crap managers.

Definitely. It's a shame it took a pandemic for that to happen, but still, it's a positive change.

Yes, i'm good at my job but I was fed up of having to go to the office everyday for a lengthy, fixed number of hours. I wasn't productive, I was fed up and stressed.

I'm so much happier WFH, happier in my work, and I will never work in an office again.

This!

Our combined workload for today is about 3 & a half hours work between 2 of us.

I could get it out in the 3.5 hours on my own & then monitor emails for the rest of the day while I got on with the housework I've planned for tomorrow. If my colleague, who is in the office, was on their own today it would take all day & it's highly likely that some tasks would be pushed into next week.

I also have a separate list of tasks that aren't urgent so could wait until next week when we're quieter but in an ideal world I'd work on these while my colleague did the list for today.

As it stands I'll do the bulk of the tasks on todays list (about 2.5 hours worth) & they'll fanny about claiming to be super busy & stressed but actually spend the majority of the day chatting, taking a longer lunch break & making tea/coffee all the while calling me to ask questions about the tasks they take from the pile so I'll spend an hour of my day on tasks that aren't even on my list.

TBF there was a study does a few years ago that showed office workers are productive for about 3/8 hours a day.

So I don't suppose it's much different to the OP's description of their WFH days.

When you’ve got kids, 70% is just fine, assuming you’re getting the job done and no performance issues being raised. It’s absolutely crippling looking after young kids and doing a demanding job and quite honestly going above and beyond is unrealistic. It’s this expectation of doing extra which means that so many people have to give up work completely, I think you should be proud that you’re still able to do 70%!

I personally see it as absolutely fine to let your career plateau for a bit when you’ve got a young family. We’ll all be working till we’re about 90 anyway, plenty of time to progress afterwards if you want to do so.