To ask if you sneak off to the gym during work hours?

[inneedofaglowup]

I know there's a lot of "that's cheeky and taking the piss" bit how many of you actually do it when working from home and is it really that bad if you do do it??

Fair enough, who's going to cover the meetings with Australia then if she's working 9-5?

If you have so many meetings that you need to put them in a 2 hour slot over lunchtime I'd suggest you probably have too many meetings tbh.

How have I been rude?

No one is saying get a "better" job. Just pointing out that if you want to wfh (since you seem to think it's such a cushy number) then get a job where you can?

No I don’t sneak off at all.

I went for a run yesterday over my lunch break and my line manager has never been anything but supportive. I actually put “run” in my work calendar so everyone can see.

Let's just hope those of us at the 'bottom' don't all decide to get a flexible WFH job then.

Yes, go back to university for three years and change careers so you can go to the gym for an hour in lunch break😂

I take an hour instead of half an hour at lunchtime to ride my horse. I either start half an hour early or finish half an hour late to make up the time. The times I am gone for are in my calendar so if my colleagues can't reach me during that hour they know why. I wouldn't do it and not make up the time because I don't want to lose my job.

Crikey, some of the bitter and resentful folk on this thread would explode with rage at my workplace. I have a woman on my team in a technical role that involves a lot of coding. She's a night owl and prefers to do this work between about 11pm and 2am, and I'm fine with that. I rarely schedule anything with her before midday, but if required, she would willingly attend.

We also have many staff whose family live in other European countries. They are allowed to go over and work from there for several weeks at a time, seeing their family after work.

Jobs have always been horses for courses and people should pick one that works for them.

Yeah, "race to the bottom" here means in terms of working conditions.

I agree that working perks, salaries and conditions should be more evenly distributed. The way to achieve that is by making jobs with poor conditions better, not by making jobs with good conditions worse.

There would be no sense in me going to an office to write my work alone. As such, a perk is flexibility. It doesn't make any sense to say well better hope nurses don't all stop working. True! But I also hope that everyone who does my job and the jobs of other people on this thread don't all quit to become nurses. We need all of these jobs. Fairness would be improved conditions that let everyone balance out of work life.

This might be the most entitled post I've ever read.

Most people of working age won't be able to afford to retire and you're whinging that they are walking their dogs?

Appreciate your immense generational privilege and leave us be.

I quite often go swimming over lunchtime, which takes just over an hour.
As long as my work gets done, no one even notices/cares. I’m often online evenings and weekends to get projects over the line so see it as a 2 way flexibility.

Nope wouldn't cross my mind to sneak out anywhere. I WFH full time and have done since the pandemic. During my working hours I work. I might wash up or do the odd job in lieu of the gossip session the WF the office team have, but for 40 hours a week I 'belong' to the company.

If I have to go out of office for something like say car MOT or there is a domestic crisis I make my manager aware and clock out.

My company trusts me to work and not skive off and I appreciate the trust they have in me.

I don't sneak off anywhere but I might rearrange my working day and take lunch earlier or later to get outside for a little bit. Our little team lets each other know and any time is always made up on.

Yes, since COVID most office workers can WFH and don't necessarily have flexitime.
In my job, I wouldn't be able to go to the gym at 10am say, but I could probably take my lunch a bit earlier or later without any problem.

Yes, but if I'm chatting by the kettle and something comes up, I'm back at my desk in less than a minute, whereas it would take me longer to get home or get to somewhere I can set up my laptop if I'd gone to the gym.

I go to the gym once or twice a week in working hours, and often take a long walk along by sea after school drop off.

I don't have fixed working hours, I have work that needs to be done. Sometimes that takes much less than typical FT hours, sometimes it means I can get to the gym if I also work in the evenings, sometimes it means no gym and working to midnight.

I've had jobs with set hours before, I know it isn't possible for everyone, but it's possible for me so I'm going to do it. That flexibility is also the reason we've both been able to stay FT with young DC and no family support. I value it hugely.

I wfh 2 day and in the office 1 day. I don't 'sneak off' anywhere because that is taking the piss if anyone needs to get hold of me, particularly as half the team work in an earlier time zone. I do however work for a decent person who is fine with his team pottering off to run the odd errand now and then so long as we stick something on the team WhatsApp and make up the hours. If your plumber billed you for 9 hours and only worked 8 how would you feel? Take your lunch break later if you want to ho to the gym when it's quiet.

No I don't sneak to the gym as you put it, but I do occasionally go to the gym (if there are no meetings - usually either during lunch or at the start of the day so I start a little later and make up time at the end of the day).

Yes, that's a really silly thing to find unfair. The only time I think it could be relevant is if of two people doing the same job in the same organisation, one has flexitime and the other doesn't.
Obviously, different jobs have different conditions.

And that is exactly what happens at my place of work. Workmates will say "I need to pop out for an hour" and then make time up. We don't "sneak off". We aren't 14.

It seems like most posters on this thread do that. Only one or two are piss takers.

When I WFH I still have meetings and deadlines. I can be more flexible about my
Lunch break and start and finish times, but I still do my hours, usually a bit more.

I don’t sneak off; if I go I take it in my lunch hour and / or make up the time. I only do it if I don’t have meetings.

There are people at our place who do take calls from the gym. One clueless woman was on a training course and couldn’t figure out how to turn off her video so we got to see her working out 😂

No way would I ever do that! That's just taking the mick. I put the washing on and put it out at lunch but other than that you are working from home not going to the gym! You do that on your own time.

I love my job but I don’t think it’s fair I could get a call 5 minutes before my contracted end of hours to drive an hour and deal with a risky situation that deals with potential harm to me and to others. You get to hang about on site, it’s not fair!!!!!!
Glued to a chair?! How bloody rude are you?! People who work in jobs in a chair (be it home or office) are part of society and help the world go around. We couldn’t function without those people!

Does it not depend on your type of job?

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t go to the gym but I actively avoid it! 😂 If I took a lunch break or was in a meeting and something urgent occurred and they couldn’t get hold of me, they’d follow protocol. My job isn’t that flexible and we don’t have flexi time in the same way others do, but I know some jobs are.

We are actively encouraged to take regular breaks to go walking etc. I don’t sneak. I don’t report my time to anyone. The people that work for me will let me know half day plus appointments but otherwise we just all get the work done, no drama.

also for all the posters concerned about their teams status turning to ‘away’ mine was once on ‘away’ for 3 days. It wouldn’t change whatever I did. They are not a reliable source of activity information!