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?

LOL

I have 20 years experience under my belt and can do my job quicker than my counterparts who have been doing it for less than 5 years. Why should I be penalised because I am experienced and faster at the job?

Dont be a bootlicker.

When I used to work in an office, I used to have "off" days sometimes where I just wasn't motivated to do anything. I could fill a whole day by going out for a cigarette here and there, making coffees and chatting in the kitchen, browsing the internet on my laptop etc. I might fire off a couple of emails and make a phone call, but I wouldn't do much. It is totally possible to bunk off in the office, just as much as at home!

Now I wfh, I'm the top performer in our team and I do actually help out another team, I'm always available to help colleagues and I train new starters. I still have time to relax in the day. I'm very efficient and I can get a lot done in a short space of time. But I can do that precisely because I have down time. It's not a pace I could keep up all day every day.

Some people work better by going at a steady pace through the whole day. Others work better by doing intense bursts, followed by a break. I'm in the second group. So no, I'm not available to take on more work because I then wouldn't perform as well as I do now.

I’m in the ‘don’t approve’ camp here I’m afraid. You’re paid to work the hours you work. If you’re not working those hours (broadly, obviously, a bit of flexibility is fine) then you’re effectively stealing from your company.

you might be okay with that if they are awful people or an immoral business of some sort but don’t kid yourself about what’s going on.

I assume you wouldn’t be happy if they decided to not pay you for a few days/a week/a month or whatever? If you wouldn’t be, that shows you expect them to hold up their end of the contract you’ve both signed. In which case you should hold up yours.

Absolutely @CRJ77 ,it's completely unheard of for businesses to expect employees to perform tasks not specified in their contracrs, or work past their contracted finish time unpaid.

They would recoil in horror at the very idea of stealing from their employees in that manner.

I fucking do lol. When I'm in the office most of the team goes for 50 fag breaks and a long lunch everyday whereas at home I don't really take breaks til I'm done. I don't fully exit work mode cos like you I'm still logged on but if I've done my work well and I'm performing why should I make myself sit infront of my laptop when I could be watching Escape to the Chataeu with a Gu cheese cake ( or two and yes I might have done that this week ).

The Op is online though and contactable if needed but if her work is done what is wrong with her relaxing? Ultimately she would only be sat infront of her laptop bored and doing nothing in the same amount of time.

According to a recent AMA on here, the only acceptable thing to do in your situation OP is get a second and third full time job and do them all in the same day. Anyone who misses this opportunity is too honest and not driven enough, apparently.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/5043595-im-an-overworker-and-have-3-ft-jobs-ama

Why wouldn’t you ask for more work?

Good god, what a bunch of utter piffle.

'Effectively stealing from the company' 😂😂 Jesus wept.

She's doing the job she was employed to do. She achieves all of her objectives within the time allocated for them. Her manager is happy. She's not 'stealing' anything from anyone, don't be so daft.

Some of you really are still gulping down that 1980s corporate Kool-Aid, aren't you?

This is exactly what I do. I'm expected to be flexible in my work, so sometimes I work ooo. But it also means I watch the odd move or box set during the day if I've got everything done

If I could do my job in PT hours, I would take on more to fill my time. And have done. It’s called a work ethic.

If you’ve discussed your spare capacity with your manager and they are happy for you to do nowt for two hours a day then crack on.

What the hell is a bootlicker? I’m the boss.

@ProncessDiana Do I work? Yes, I work in a senior role managing a team of over 50 people. So maybe that's why I have the perspective I do.

To be clear, if her contract states that she is judged purely on output/tasks completed and doesn't have any contracted working hours then what she's doing is of course absolutely fine.

But if her contract says 'you are paid to work 9 to 5' or whatever, then she's breaking her contract, just as her company would be if they only gave her 50% of her salary. To be clear, I'm honestly not being judgemental about this, I work very hard in a senior role now but I have had jobs I've hated where I have slacked a bit and taken the piss. I just don't think she should kid herself about what she's doing.

If she's meant to work an 8 hour day and is getting her work done in 4 hours then either other members of her team are over-burdened and she could help them out. Or, if everyone's workload is equally slack, then the company could either be more productive/making more money, or employing fewer staff.

My post wasn't meant judgementally. But if you sign a contract, you either stick to it, or if you break it, you have to acknowledge how you might feel if the other party (i.e. your employer) broke it too.

In previous roles (pre covid) I might have relaxed a bit on my WFH days. I have a more senior role now, and sadly, even when my to do list is lighter I'm still at my laptop with back to back meetings.

I might scan the paper or pop on here for ten mins if I get a half hour breather.

“You’re paid to work the hours you work” – I’m bloody not. My contract might say I am, but I don’t get paid when I have to do three hours overtime. So if I have a spare half hour, too bloody right I’m going to sit with a coffee and the crossword. It doesn’t happen often unfortunately because my company is small and my job is very busy, but it’s GREAT when it does. And I don’t mind if my direct reports do the same, providing they get their work done. My boss is the company owner so sets his own hours – sometimes he works evenings, sometimes he disappears for the afternoon – so I have no doubt he wouldn’t care either.

Would you leave the office two hours early if you’d done your work or would you be expected to take on more work?

@TisTheDarnSeason She's doing the job she's employed to do if her contract is task/project based rather than hours based. If she's employed to work a 35/40 hour week then she isn't doing the job she's employed to do.

I haven't drunk any corporate kool-aid whatever that is, I just have always cared about doing my best in my job, both for my own career progression but also because I've worked for companies where I've believed in what they do and wanted them to succeed. Maybe if I worked for an arms dealer or whatever, I'd feel differently.

But I'd be interested to know whether everyone saying 'you're fine, just crack on' on this thread would feel the same if they found out OP worked for the NHS, say, or was your child's teacher. I'm guessing not?

@peachgreen I do agree that if OP is working unpaid overtime on some days, that of course changes the situation. But she implied that she usually/often worked fewer hours than she was contracted to work.

I don't have set hours, so yeah I'd have no problem leaving the office 'early', and frequently do.

No one gives a toss because my usefulness to my workplace isn't judged on those metrics.

I'm a boss, I disagree with you. I pay someone for their experience and their ability to do a good job that I need done. It might be different if I was running a shop and paying by the hour for someone to stock shelves or do the till, but this is a professional, desk based job.

The fact is, some people can work faster and be more focussed than others and create the same output in less time. That doesn't mean they should do double the work and carry people 'pretending to work' with their bum parked at a desk.

Are your team paid for every minute they work beyond their contracted hours or are you the same sort of thief you've accused others of being?

No, I work when I WFH.
I sit in my office from 10-6 and work through everything that comes in, and pick up every phone call as the showroom comes up on my mobile as we use Callswitch.

I do browse MN in between jobs though, but I figure thats the same as taking a lunch break - which I'm supposed to have for an hour but don't take as I get a sandwich and just eat while online.

I wouldn't be able to relax if I wandered off for some "me" time or tried to watch tv, it wouldn't feel right.
I've always worked harder from home than I do in the office, because I wouldn't want to be thought of as someone who slacks. I have a colleague who is virtually unreachable when "WFH" - everybody knows it, everybody moans about it, and I don't want to be that person in a team so I tend to go the other way which means staying on the ball and not dicking about.