To think that everyone WFH thinks they are more productive but this view isn’t necessarily shared

[Cucumbertomatoes]

On here, everyone who WFH insists they are much more productive than in the office. However, I’ve noticed this view is rarely shared by others, hence companies wanting workers back. It’s an interesting one as clearly perceptions vary. AIBU to think that while you might think you’re more productive you may not be?

And like a PP it has reduced my sickness absense

It's productivity vs presenteeism. I think it's much, much easier to see who is getting through the work when someone is working remotely - there just isn't the output, delays and tardy responses start to creep in, they don't pick up messages quickly enough, don't answer calls etc. In an office it's much easier to look like you're working and do nothing at all.

Ah, I miss those days of walking purposefully clutching a notebook or a binder, then jumping in the goods lift and disappearing out of the building for a coffee or a cocktail. I miss having a doze at my desk under the guise of studying a plan or document, or a sleep in a storage cupboard. I miss writing my novel entirely at work.

It's almost like people are individuals and have different preferences 🙄

Some might work better in an office, need constant face to face support or endless chatter. But there are others who are more competent and able to work alone from home.

The sensory bombardment in most workplaces can be crippling so wfh makes employment accessible. Some areas really struggle to recruit so wfh means they can recruit from a wider area. so many reasons wfh is a valuable thing that should be embraced where it's appropriate without ignorant and stupid comments straight out of the daily fail.

Surely it depends entirely on the individual and the particular role??

I work 4 days a week, 3 of which are from home, 1 from the office. Today was my day in the office this week and I have got barely anything done!! Whereas yesterday (WFH), I got all my daily tasks done, 2 extra pieces of work and made a start on some planning for upcoming projects/tasks.

My productivity and work speaks for itself and my boss regularly comments on how well I work from home.

I personally struggle in an office environment as I am very easily distracted by others, struggle with background noise and generally get a bit of a CBA feeling when around others. When I'm at home I love my job and don't mind working over or earlier, whereas when I'm at work, I can't wait to get home and would never actively choose to stay and work longer or get there early!

In my experience, the only people I know who are very anti WFH are either managers of very large companies with no decent managerial skills, or people who have jobs who aren't able to work from home and don't understand, thinking they are sat watching telly all day.

Our productivity is fixed, really. We have to achieve a certain thing every night, there's no option not to do so, and everyone has specific roles to do, all of which are vital, so you just can't not do them or slack. So WFH makes no difference for us in terms of getting the work done.

I agree.

I talk more to my workmates when I am in the office. Also, I have one tiny laptop screen that I struggle to see with my poor eyesight and a monitor screen. At home I have two full sized monitor screens and can see them better and can get more done.

I don't understand this obsession, every time this comes up, with the idea that people in offices are busy. I remember working in offices. They were not the hive of focussed activity Mumsnet would have you believe.

Heads down, heads up and heads together - only the last one needs for face to face interaction

I do love going into the office though as it's like a day out. But I usually split my shift when I do that or I would struggle to get everything done in time with the distractions and getting lured to Starbucks etc, so I do first half in office and then use my break to get home and do the other half at home to catch up.

I’m more productive WFH. It’s a fact. It’s proven. I’ve posted about this before on here and had lots of people saying I must not want to go back to the office because I’m lazy. It’s not true for me or most of the home workers I know. The office is for socialising, which isn’t always a bad thing as you can build helpful relationships, but you’re definitely less productive as a result.

I think it totally depends on the job.

DD1s company is going back to full office as they tend to work two or three together on a project and they find they get much more done when all together.

DD2s company are getting rid of their offices and only retaining a small number of office based staff. They basically have X number of things to do by Y date. So it’s easy to monitor. For her personally with health issues the lack of travel and being able to set up her work space specifically for her has been ideal.

I'm more productive at home because there are no distractions and interruptions!! Nobody comes to talk to me at home. There isn't constant noise from people gossiping at home. I can't really listen to music as I have to make telephone calls on and off throughout my day.

Interestingly I've not had any time off sick since I started WFH. Whereas when I was office based I would. I would just get to a point where I felt burnt out/ mentally exhausted. I don't have that now. My job hasn't changed. Nothing in my life has, other than the swap from office to home working. I'm an antisocial bugger, so I put it down to not having to speak to other people. This in turn makes me more productive as I'm not off sick like I used to be. Ive never even felt close to being burnt out. I love the solitude.

I assume companies just want people back in so they aren’t paying rent on empty offices?

I work in a role where you are assigned a batch of work each day - each case has a type and a time associated with it - so productivity is easy to measure in fact the TLs get a report each morning on each staff members productivity from the day before.

WFH I am always over 100% i.E clear my batch and pick up extra - days in the office I am always around 95% so I am proven to be more productive at home

standard in our work place is 2 days home and 3 days office - some of us have been switched to 3 days home 2 days office due to the pattern in our productivity.

Anyone who drops below 85% for 3 or more of their wfh days in a month has the “privilege” of WFH removed and must be office 5 days a week.

so I guess it differs for every person.

One of my clients (not my employer) has an issue with me wfh because he can't see anything happening! It's very tedious reading messages about days off/watching Netflix etc. And it's 1 day a week maximum

I am in a job which can't be done from home so have no skin in the game but I do think there can be "empty" periods of time when working in an office. Perhaps workplaces could be more flexible about starting and finishing times so long as work is done, rather than expecting staff to be physically present between certain hours every day.

I worked from home last week as I had Covid and I managed to watch an entire series of the good doctor so I’m going to say no haha!

It entirely depends on the person. I'm not more productive at home. In fact I hated WFH as I had zero motivation and I quickly realised that the only good thing about my job was my colleagues so I quit and got an office based job instead.

I’m sure there are people who are productive at home but you only have to read the numerous threads about people WFH with a baby/toddler to save on childcare, to realise that many won’t be.

WfH productivity is good if you work on your own, and have lots of deliverables that can be measured by an output e.g. number of invoices processed in an hour, number of calls made in an hour. Those kind of roles can easily be more productive with no distractions.

WfH productivity is not so good if you have to work in a team doing various bits of the tasks to get the final job done. Sitting in the same bank of desks and collaborating organically in person is much more efficient than holding several Teams meetings and working on your own at home and reconvening every now and then, which may or may not be the right time for everyone to stop.

I run a team of 30 people (although I only have 3 direct reports), who work collaboratively, and in my view hybrid (3 days in office, 2 days WfH) is the perfect compromise and works well for both employees and employers. It's not what I currently have, although I did work in that pattern at a previous workplace.

Staff say they are more productive, maybe they are (I am). But that’s not the point - the point is that workplaces don’t want to end up with remote workforces without a facetime culture, as this has long term implications.

They are two different things.

Stats wise our staff get more work done at home. But it’s good for collaborative working to come in a couple of times a week. Also new staff struggle with just doing online training and we often have some face to face planning sessions which are so much more productive. Most staff are ok with the 2 office days, some don’t see the point or complain but there is a home working contract you can apply for if you qualify. You lose your London allowance though if not living a certain distance from London

I get loads more done wfh, my output is easily double. I struggle to concentrate with loads of noisy people around. I do go into the office once a week and I write that off as a lost day, but worth it to connect with others.

It depends completely on the individual. Personally, I’m much more productive in the office and go in three times a week. I also quite like to see my colleagues and feel like I’m one of a team.

for my job we need to work as a team. We need to find solutions for problems, creativity, combined forces, lots of brainstorming needed.

Sometimes people think they know best and they don’t need to discuss their case with anybody. WFh they might think they are more productive because they don’t take time to interact with other people. But in the end the quality of their work might be lacking and business value might be lower.