WFH - do you ever just relax?

[ringoffiire]

I love working from home, and when I do, I will quite often do half a day's work and then put my feet up.

I do everything I need to do, and I do it to a good standard. My manager praises me and has no concerns at all about my work. I'm not behind at all.

But if I've done all my work, I simply leave Teams active so that I hear if anyone wants to contact me, and then I get on with whatever I want to do.

If I was in the office, I would still be sat there doing nothing, but just feeling frustrated that I had to look like I was busy until 5.

Right now I'm sipping a delicious beverage at 4pm and browsing mumsnet, because I've finished all my work.

Anyone else? And do you think it's OK?

Yes, I’m currently sitting on my sofa browsing mums net and have been for the last hour. Still waiting for a pissing meeting to start.

unfortunately im never in a position where all my work is done for the day; there’s always more to do. I'm quite jealous of you

I work from home every day, but never run out of things to do! Currently waiting for a system I have to use to unfreeze.

I enjoy the work, although this is primarily a day job to pay the bills.

I have other interests/ development goals which I pursue on non working days/ evenings, which is where my passion lies.

But I wouldn't do that during 'office hours' because it requires my full focus and I still feel I need to be available on Teams.

In some ways, there may be a day where I don’t have any deadlines or anything pressing to work on (my work is reactive so there are days where nothing specific needs done iyswim) so I will catch up on filing, clearing out old emails etc, stick on an audiobook and take my time. The busy periods are so intense that I really value this time.

So many people on MN are very anti WFH though and your OP will only give them ammunition.

Crikey no. My work time is FULL. But i only work 28hrs not full time.

In my current job, yes all the time! I just don’t have anywhere near enough work to do, so I save it up to do on my office days and hardly have anything left to do on my WFH days.

I’ve offered to take on more work, repeatedly, but I never get given anything. So I’ve stopped feeling guilty now.

In my last job I never had time to relax during working hours as it was just so busy, so it’s been quite a culture shock!

so you work the hours you are paid for as it should be! OP if you don’t have enough work maybe you could reduce your hours or ask for more?

I work best in short bursts. I have a busy job but manage it well and will do loads of tasks in a short period then need some time to let my mind wander.

Even if I’m really focused on something I almost scroll my phone absent mindedly while I’m thinking (maybe it’s not that healthy!!)

I get everything done but also have lots of downtime

I'm a bit like this. I have very intense periods of focus.

At the moment I love it. I have young DC and I feel like my life is so busy outside of work that I’m happy just to chill out a bit.

However I had a similar job around a decade ago (in my mid twenties) and I felt exactly as you describe - bored and undervalued. I ended up leaving after less than a year. But that point I was ambitious and keen to progress and had no DC, I feel like I’m a different person now.

I have days where I might work into the evening because it’s that busy and days where all of the work is complete by the afternoon and I can take more breaks and work on projects I haven’t had time for. Although I work part time hours so I often feel like I’m squeezing everything into my 3 days.

I’ve wandered if I have ADHD actually

Oh yes maybe - I'm actually on a waiting list for an assessment.

(Sorry to drip feed, it didn't occur to me that this might be relevant but perhaps it is).

You could be me OP.
I do everything I need to to a good standard and then stay close to see emails etc but I do what I want , laundry , cooking , in the garden , read etc

I'm very similar. I love working from home and I'm senior so can more or less set my schedule but I live in a state of constant paranoia that someone will "check" on me. I've always been a bit like this though: throughout my nearly 30 years working I've been paranoid about the prospect of being laid off, even though it's never actually happened.

I do think, though, that people who argue that just because you're WFH you need to never leave your desk can go take a flying fuck. I see all this nonsense in the papers about people "stealing time" because they go to pop some laundry in or put the kettle on. When in fact about 40% of office time is dicking about talking to colleagues, mindlessly doom-scrolling, bitching and gossipping and making tea. The argument that being in the office is more "productive" is hogwash.

The narrative that drives all this is that (usually male) managers resent the fact that (mainly female) remote workers are now able to manage their childcare and domestic needs without the need for endless pointless presenteeism, rushing around and paying through the nose for childcare. And those attitudes can get in the bin.

Yep, I do too. Bit of yoga, do my hair, pluck my eyebrows. I'm still in work thinking mode. So I'll jump back to send an email, write a note or start a piece of work. But I find doing another physical activity can spark a bit of inspiration or tidy up my thought processes about work but I can't do my a bit of knitting in the office.

Yes I agree about how much office time is wasted, and I never was good at the 'dicking about in the office' stuff. I actually hate office culture, it sometimes makes me feel like I'm back at school 😂

I suppose I just feel like because I'm doing everything required of me, and no one has any issues with my performance (on the contrary - I get compliments from my manager), it's fine?

Especially as this job isn't even my passion, it's just my bill-paying gig.

Never. I'm too busy and have too many calls (scheduled and ad-hoc) to get away with it annoyingly! My to do list never ends. I do take 10 mins here and there to pop a wash on or whatever but I could never take a sly hour to do chores or anything like that.

I love the days that are a like this. Sometimes I have work to do that keeps me busy all day, sometimes I'm done by 1pm and can just chill as long as I keep my phone on so I can hear if anyone needs me. I use the time to get laundry done, meal prep, garden, listen to podcasts, read, walk the dogs... I've even had a nap before.

My boss is well aware of this from myself and my colleagues and doesn't give a toss as long as all our work gets done. She's a firm believer in having the best work-life balance possible.