WF "Home" question

[CheesesandWines]

I am in the lucky position to WFH 5 days a week. Of course this happened in COVID, and I have since secured this permeantly. I'm good at my job and at this stage don't feel the need to "network" and be physically present at work.

One of the benefits of wfh is that I don't have to commute and can also fit in hobbies and exercise in the day. Twice a week at lunch (which is 1.5hrs) I like to go to my local gym/ Spa and really relax / switch off. To fit this in, I then work from the spa in the afternoon. There's a private booth in the cafe with no outside noise and because I'm a regular customer I have the space reserved for the afternoon automatically.

Here's the issue. On one occasion the laptop moved and my line manager could see someone at the spa walking around in their robe. Nothing more. She is now saying that wfh means your home and that I can't work from the spa two afternoons a week. I think her attitude is discriminatory and is impinging on my own health. I work much better from the spa and all the work is done with my body benefiting from a full body massage before an afternoon of work. She says that me working from the spa will affect colleagues who have not been allowed to wfh. I've looked at my wfh contact and nothing i am doing is not allowed. I have a good mind to work from the spa every afternoon now to prove my point !

I actually hate people working on their laptops in cafes, especially when they have their dog in tow!! Usually on their own hogging a table meant for four!

These are meant to be relaxing places! Take your bloody work somewhere else!!

Ah sorry! I read it wrong - See so much bashing of them in the Tory ran papers you never know anymore 😭 🤦‍♀️

If 'working from the spa' is your main indication of taking the piss your must have very low visibility of your team's output.
I don't need to monitor where my team's working from (and neither does my manager!). Our output is complete visible via our written output, and deadlines we meet.
If OP has managed to negotiate a 5 day WFH unlike her colleagues that's the manager's fault for being unfair but really it has nothing to do with her productivity.

True 😂 !!

My workplace asks for a written assurance that any plug socket a work laptop is plugged into has an appropriate circuit breaker to reduce fire risk.
They also carry out a workplace risk assessment to check the height of your chair and desk are correct for desk based working.
We are not permitted to use a laptop with a separate screen for more than an hour.
We are "work from anywhere" but wherever that was, they need to know and the above would apply

Clearly written by chat GPT.

I can see the moral dilemma, but I don't think you are being unreasonable, as long as:

You don't publicize it to office based staff and make them jealous.
WIFI must be private
You're excellent at your job and go over and above.
You do not short change your company on working hours and if anything you work greater hours when necessary.

At the end of the day how do we know where and what people are doing when they are working from home - AS LONG AS THEY ARE EFFECTIVE AND EXCELLENT AT THEIR JOBS.

I work from home, but I am too much of a coward to do what you are doing !!

Good on you for having the front and confidence to do it😄

OP, you may well be reasonable in ten years time, but here in 2023 you are not.

Put a background on!

I'm started out being pretty sure this is a joke, but OP has replied enough that I wonder if she is actually serious.

If this is genuine, I kind of admire your audacity but you seem to have a Trump level of narcissism and arrogance.

Firstly I think you need to get a dictionary and look up what "discrimination" means, because it's quite frankly insulting to use that word to compare your situation to people that suffer genuine discrimination because of their skin colour, disability or other situation. Arguing you are being "discriminated" against because you can't get your daily massage and work from a spa has got to be a piss take.

Whether you are allowed to work from public places like cafes or it needs to be a private location is down to your data security requirements.

But even if you are allowed to work from cafe's (and it's perfectly reasonable to not be, we aren't for example), seriously read the room. You are clearly taking the piss, at least make some attempt to be discreet about it, and not rub it in everyone's face that doesn't have such flexibility.

Optics at work does matter. Do you want to work with people that resent you, and so will make your life difficult, or people that respect you and are willing to go the extra mile for you when needed?

Finally different companies have different cultures, and what is acceptable in one won't be in another. It's perfectly reasonable for them to insist you don't work from a Spa, and equally it's perfectly reasonable for you to then resign and find a company that does support that. Unless your skills are in huge demand, I'd say good luck with doing that....

No café has completely enclosed private booths. The very fact that your boss could see someone from the spa behind you when you worked confirms that this one hasn't. There must be some sound disturbance and a lack of privacy.

What can't you do your spa visit first thing before you start work, or after you finish?

@Passepartoute no it has glass on one side, which is how the boss saw.... Dunno about u but all my local cafes have loads of completely enclosed sound proof booths with glass on one side.....

You're proper taking the piss.

you've pushed this to the very limits when you put your laptop somewhere where other people can be in various states of undress

TBF, there was one meeting a while ago where everyone got a flash of new director's DH walking across the landing in a towel.

Of course, it's such a profitable business model to have enclosed booths so that you can't push tables together, or keep an eye on the customers, and the waiters love having to negotiate opening the door to the enclosed booth when serving customers or clearing stuff away.

https://www.manchesterworld.uk/news/my-work-booth-deal-with-costa-coffee-gives-remote-workers-a-new-quiet-space-to-work-in-manchester-coffee-shops-3589781

https://soundproofdirect.com/make-your-coffee-shop-a-quiet-workspace/

I've never seen one of these personally - but it doesn't seem too far fetched...

I mean, I think technically you're correct and it's no different to working from a cafe or similar (presuming that's allowed- plenty of people seem to be doing it whenever I go into my local Starbucks of a week day) but if there are people on your team who haven't been allowed to WFH when you have, then you risk there being bad feeling (at best) or having your WFH privileges revoked. So I'd probably play it safe, at least for a decent while, for longer term gain if you want to keep on WFH. Alternatively if the journey time back to your house from the the gym/spa is so far that it would negate the benefits of the relaxation or mean you couldn't do it in your lunchtime, is there a cafe nearby that you could go and work from after your session?

Gotta be a wind up ffs

Even this model doesn't seem to envisage fully enclosed sound proofed booths.

😂

this is what Chat GPT came up with:

Working from home is my daily grind, but I like to spice it up with a touch of relaxation. Twice a week, I swap my home office for a spa booth, where I indulge in a rejuvenating massage. Recently, my manager caught a glimpse of the spa ambiance during a video call and decided I should stick to my home setup. Is it just me, or does that sound a bit discriminatory? What do you think?

Not exact wording but as near as.

This is 100% a chat GPT created thread.

Thanks for the laugh, that really cheered me up.

What did you put into chat gpt to get that out?