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?

I'm definitely more productive at home. I struggle with the air conditioning in the office (both the temperature and the noise of it) which really affects me.
I also have a very long commute on unreliable public transport so I'm unwilling to stay late. On days I work from home I work for the longer and get an awful lot more done. I'm even less self conscious in online meetings as I don't have someone else sitting next to me that I have to be conscious about annoying when I'm working from home.

I have no experience in working from home as I have a job that is impossible to do so. however I know I wouldn’t be productive as there are just too many distraction and temptations at home. I just don’t feel I would have the discipline to keep myself on task!
I know some, maybe the majority, will be more efficient and productive, but as usual it is probably the case of the few spoiling it for the many. Just as an example…. I have a family member who takes time out of their working day to do jobs like cleaning, look after toddlers, school run, take the dogs for a walk, batch cook for the week etc… stuff that takes a lot longer then a 30-60 minute lunch Break. I get the odd job can be done on breaks and in-between tasks but they literally manage their household during work time.

@Iamblossom Yep! We can see via reporting data that it has caused a slump in productivity across the board and actual financial loss (billable time)

Thankfully we're switching back!

The days I go into the office are days I pretty much need to write off, productivity-wise. Far too many distractions.

Plus, I now have a occasional commute that's around 40 mins door-to-door, which is blissfully short compared to my old job. I look back to pre-Covid days and can't believe how I had normalised spending hours a day commuting, 5 days a week, and spending £100s a month for the privilege. Never ever going back to that.

I’m more productive in my fee earning role at home as I’m not bothered and can just get on with what I’m doing.

Im less productive as a line manager and a person who is responsible for younger members professional career progression because that needs at least an element of face to face management. Plus younger people setting out in a few earning role NEED to see how more senior people operate around colleagues, on the phone, with clients etc which cannot be replicated at home.

I have a hybrid role (2 day WFH, 2 days office) and if push came to shove I’d have to advocate back to the office for those reasons.

Most people, who wfh , will quickly put up reasons as to why they are more productive at home.
The answer is glaringly obvious. People are naturally lazy and if they can get out of doing what is usually expected of them then they will.

What's not to love about wfh?
Stay in your leisure wear or, worst, pyjamas, fit your work around breakfast, school runs, dentists, shopping, cooking, dog walks and a quick cuppa with your mum/friend/neighbour etc...

I get it .

Yet, there have been complaints in the media and on here about poor customer service .

I'll never forget phoning our insurers regarding an issue , fairly recently.

When I eventually got through to a human, I was met with someone who kept asking me to repeat myself as she seemed distracted. I quickly discovered why when her young child told her that he/she was hungry!
She was apologetic but her child wouldn't stop.

Obviously I was polite but very annoyed as she couldn't deal with my issue and I had to phone back to speak to someone else.

I looked forward to early retirement as my husband and I could enjoy quieter times during school hours and term times.
Not a hope.
Pubs and coffee shops around us are rammed.
Traffic jams are constant... never before Covid... and garden centres are chock a block!
Endless queues at Tesco and Sainsbury's.
So many working age people just not at work.

I sound grumpy, I know.
But it wasn't like this before Covid.

I think you have to remember there is an interest in people using the office -gets them using transport - and amenities - the owners of the buildings don't want them empty either

In reality it is not all about productivity,

Most people, who wfh , will quickly put up reasons as to why they are more productive at home.
The answer is glaringly obvious. People are naturally lazy and if they can get out of doing what is usually expected of them then they will.

but you are describing people in the office, where it's often more about showing your face than anything else.

Many jobs have the figures in black and white, it's obvious if people are efficient or doing fuck all.

Although I do sometimes yearn for a Pret ham and greve baguette...

What's not to love about wfh?
Stay in your leisure wear or, worst, pyjamas, fit your work around breakfast, school runs, dentists, shopping, cooking, dog walks and a quick cuppa with your mum/friend/neighbour etc...

thats not everyone’s experience, depends on the job

highlights for me are not traveling for an hour each way to get to work

I feel I am definitely more productive WFH. On the days I am in the office it is more of a social day. At home they get their pound of flesh and then some. I work longer hours if needed, sometimes those longer hours are spent on systems that will benefit me, and by extension the company, in the long run by having a bit of time spent on them now.

My line manager told me that whilst some people clearly struggled during lockdown, I thrived and took total ownership of the new working environment. My own confidence soared and I've taken on additional roles as a result of my newfound PMA.

I enjoy some office time each week (2 or 3 days) but I definitely get more done at home and really want to go back to full time office based.

• wouldn't want to

My job is field based, so I’ve been WFH in it for the last 10 years.

My results at work speak for themselves. So I have evidence of my productivity.

Comparing it to previous jobs I had that were office based, I find I can be far more productive at home than in an office as I haven’t got colleagues wittering at me about their weekend etc or yapping away on phone calls next to me and instead can just be left alone to get my head down and get on with what I need to do.

I have always had the option to wfh. Im
now hybrid but our office is now a collaboration space. It’s very trendy (think comfy sofas, high tables with bar stools. It’s a nice change for once a week, and it’s good to spend time with coworkers but I find it easier (to do work) at home with my bog standard desk and everything close to hand. I do travel for some meetings.

I know I'm more productive wfh, by a country mile. TBH I sometimes wonder what planet people are on when they say productivity is lower when people wfh. I go in two days a week and on the two days I'm in I spend most of my evenings catching up on the work I was supposed to have done in the day but couldn't. About half of my job is writing, for which I need focus and a lack of distractions and I get three or four times more done at home than in the office.

The average office is a constant stream of distractions. Endless meetings, coffee trips, people wandering over and asking you what you watched on telly. Gossip, chit-chat, having to try to screen out the noise of other people. If you are in a white collar role and you're more productive in the office you're either quite junior or not working hard enough, it's as simple as that.

The reasons employers are often keen to get workers back into the office has bugger all to do with productivity. A serious element to it is teamwork, support and mentoring, which does suffer if people are fully remote. But that's a separate issue from productivity.

Aside from that, most of the other reasons which people cook up to bash home workers are nonsense: some of it is the silly Daily Telegraph rhetoric about slackers (which is purely people being old-fashioned) some of it is overbearing managers who don't trust their staff, a lot of it is sexist defensiveness because working parents now find it much easier to work flexibly. For most white collar jobs which there's no credible argument that wfh damages output.

Totally depends on the individual.

I work with someone and his entire friendship group (all male, all forties) work from home. There's about ten of them and they are LAZY. My colleague has to mute the group chat as they are never off WhatsApp. One works for a bank or building society and has been going crackers about having to go back into the office three days a week despite fully admitting he is just hanging on in there for redundancy when they realise he has nothing to do. He is absolutely offended that he might have to do something for his wage if he's in the office.

My sibling however, works from home. Long hours and absolute and utter dedication.

All comes down to personality.

I feel super productive at home. But will echo PP who spoke about busyness being key. I thrive on being busy in my job and I love it! The quiet times are trickiest but I am pleased to not be in an office environment when times are quiet. Love WFH and am told I am productive and actively involved in lots of projects and support colleagues.

Lazy people will be lazy in the office or at home though. The initial boost of targets being met may dwindle again now people are back in the office. If it does, then the problem is staff and management not location.

Agree entirely with this. I have wfh for about 5 years. My targets are the same, I have regular team meetings. The only difference being most of them are now online too. If a manager can't keep track of their staff and make sure they hit their targets it is they that aren't doing their jobs properly. The people who are productive in the office are effective at home. The ones who put their jackets on the backs of their chairs while they went out for a 2 hour lunch or stopped at every desk disturbing others trying to get work done are shirking at home too and being found out.

I am much less productive WFH. Way too many disractions. I keep an eye on my emails and phone but spend the day getting on top of housework and gardening. WFH days are late starts and early finishes.

I think it has evened out for us. We have a 60/40 hybrid model in favour of WFH, with one fixed anchor day in the office and the other at our discretion.
I think by virtue of not seeing each other during the week there is far more chat and distraction on the anchor day than pre-covid. Then most get the head down at home.

We have been experiencing hiring difficulties for some time now so there is no option to slack at home as the workload means deadlines would not be met and you would be quickly found out.

We also find that due to the anchor day, most other days the office is a ghost town, so there is no collaborative benefit above WFH. Personally those quiet office days are my favourite. I like the quiet but away from my home surroundings.

A lot of it is sexist defensiveness because working parents now find it much easier to work flexibly. For most white collar jobs which there's no credible argument that wfh damages output.

Yes It is invariably the female employees who have to leave on time to collect children having done their work in the allocated time while the ones with no children or a wife at home who could piss about all day, start working at 4pm and show the boss how ' dedicated' they are by staying late.

I think a part of the issue is that those who claim they are more productive at home often are more productive… but only within a narrow definition of productivity.

Yes, when I’m wfh I can free tick off more items on my to-do list, and have the space for some thinking and writing. All very good and productive.

Bu there’s so many things I get in the office that are broader than this. I can talk and get to know colleagues, which makes it a lot easier (and yes ‘productive’) when I do need to collaborate with them. I can have quick in-person chats rather than long Teams ones, or can have a random unplanned but useful conversation.

Also wfh has made me realise how much I pick up by osmosis in an office setting. Overhearing people talk about their work, or hearing some useful gossip, is all really valuable.

So - I think a lot of it comes down to whether you have a broad or narrow sense of productivity.

Bu there’s so many things I get in the office that are broader than this. I can talk and get to know colleagues, which makes it a lot easier (and yes ‘productive’) when I do need to collaborate with them.

It's a home office, not a Chinese prison, you can communicate with the outside world! I have colleagues that I have never met in person, we work in different side of the world, we've always managed to communicate very well, we have phones, internet. Complete non-issue when you are in the same time zone.

If we needed to be all in the same office to be productive, I assure you quite a few businesses would have folded a long time ago!

There seems to be a suspicious number of negative threads about WFH at the moment...

It is strange that it is so hard for some people to grasp that flexible/home working is a huge advantage for many of us especially those who have disabilities/health conditions, single parents, carers, older people and so on and that it can bring many benefits to companies as well (cutting down on office costs, better staff retention, wider pool of candidates).

Working 9 to 5 in an office is just an arbitrary concept and it is a bit silly to suggest that no other way of working can be as successful or to imply that most people are unable to manage their time and don't have the discipline to get through their workload unless a manager is breathing down their neck.

That is really is just infantilising employees.

As someone who has a health condition working from home allows to stay in the workplace and do my job well. Being based in an office would make my condition difficult to manage and I would waste most of the limited energy I have on commuting and I would rather spend it on actually doing the job.

It is as simple as that...

I have deadlines. If I don't hit those deadlines I get bollocked. When I'm in the office I get less work done because people, so when I know I have to be in the office, I have to plan at least an extra day into my processes so I can hit my already stupid deadlines.

YABU