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??

No one wants to work in the NHS or education as it is. Threads like this really highlight why.

When I qualified as a teacher, WFH wasn't really a big thing. Certainly flexible working wasn't anywhere near as prevalent due to computers being in their infancy. If it was I would probably have chosen a different career.

It is now a massive perk and a reason why I'm considering leaving teaching. Having the holidays doesn't compensate for my 12 hours days in term time.

Only when on lunch hour, quite a few people seem to do it. Also, hours are flexible as long as work done and meetings attended.
There is a lot of hate around about wfh, it comes from a mix of jealousy and the folk that are seen taking the piss, which will ultimately ruin it for the rest of us.

There seem to be a few bitter numbers on here. I'd like to emphasise just because people work from home does not mean they have it any easier. And also bear in mind that 8 hours a day nobody is glued to the screen and their seat. You aren't typing away continuously for 8 hours of the day. When there's work it gets done. When there's calls you're on them. And an hour lunch I'm pretty sure there's no set of rules of what you need to do for that hour. You don't HAVE to be eating or you don't HAVE to be stuck in the office you can go to the gym, go for a walk , do your household chores if you're home. You want to be dictated on your actions on your lunch hour too? This is 2024 where workplaces have changed and you can be flexible because guess what, people have a whole life outside work and we need to be able to manage it!! I'm so glad the workplace has changed and it's now understandable that there are school runs, exercise, mental health etc to be considered because people don't want to be spiraling into madness.

People who take the piss give the rest of us a bad name. No wonder employers want staff back in the office

I don't sneak off to the gym. The garden centre, maybe...

Yet another thread demonstrating the general lack of imagination and critical thinking that abounds on this site.

My job is not the same as your job, which is not the same as their job, which is not the same as her job.

If you're unhappy with the terms and conditions of the job you've chosen, go and do what's necessary to get another one. Stop whining about the fact that the majority of us who are in very flexible jobs have them because we've got the qualifications and expertise that allows that flexibility. Entry-level admin jobs / call centres etc rarely do.

And don't start on the 'teacher / NHS worker' stuff etc. I've been frontline NHS staff. It was shit. I value the flexibility and autonomy I have now way too much to ever go back to that meat grinder of a profession. But the fact that teaching or NHS is incredibly, unreasonably hard isn't the fault of people who wfh.

You're missing the point about flexibility.Tellme what do you do. Do you work for a multi country organisation and how do you manage it?

Question open to other people.

Flexibility works both ways.

If I was expected to be flexible enough to attend meetings in the evenings I'd be pretty bloody miffed if my employer didn't let me take that personal time during the day to go to the gym tbh.

I don't 'sneak off'! I go for a swim some lunchtimes and work late - very flexible job where I'm trusted to do what I need to do.

As long as you work your contracted hours it’s fine. Goes without saying you can’t do it if you’re a nurse etc.

I do but I’m on complete flexi time so can start 7am have 2 hour lunch break then finish at 5. As long as I’m doing my hours it doesn’t matter.

I don’t “sneak” anywhere. I tell my boss when I’m taking a couple of hours to exercise and add the work hours on to the beginning or end of the day. I’m a trusted adult who works for other adults.

and I’ve had way less time off sick and have slept better, so can work harder, since I’ve factored in exercise during the day. It’s a win for everyone.

Yes but my job isn't meaningful (think making money for rich people) and you should see what the CEO gets up to... so I consider it as helping the economy...

I would but would take it as a break( if regular blocked out in my diary). But my working hours are flexible.

I normally tend to go before my working day starts or after work if possible, however my employer is quite flexible about when we start work etc. As long as the work is getting done, you’re not taking the piss or impacting anyone else’s work, were seen as adults who can manage our own diary.

There have been times I’ve nipped to an exercise class at lunchtime, but then I use my lunch break for part of that and then add the extra time at the end of the day. There are days when I don’t go to the gym, but will still put in a longer working day to get the work done. So overall it balances out and my employer is big on mental health and wellbeing, the gym supports this.

i do more work at home than in the office. You see people there having multiple smoking breaks, chatting in the kitchen, going for long lunches etc, so hardly “working their socks off” as some have put it.

You're probably correct, but WFH isn't all a cushy 9-5 with people going off to the gym and working their hours.

A call centre operator does their shift and logs off, but they rarely have any flexible working time wise just the location. I suppose it might be beneficial if your house is more convenient for the school drop-off than work. But you still have to log in on time, and no leaving at 3 for the school run.

Jobs that have flexibility and pay decently often have high demands. I can go to the gym/long lunches but I work 12 hour days, sometimes weekends . As @AgnesX pointed out my work involves multiple timezones , so I can be on meetings at 11 p.m or 7 a.m. because we WFH it's not seen as an issue to be so available.

I get paid well, after years in this job, so its worth it but for a new entrant especially a teacher the increase in salary will probably be swallowed up by holiday childcare. And of course there's always the threat of redundancy, taking months to find a new job , private companies often provide the minimal pension contributions and sick pay.

I sometimes do my best work in the swimming pool. My brain doesn’t stop thinking about my projects just because I’m not at my desk and I’m not paid per key stroke and mouse click.

Same with hanging the washing out or hoovering which I also do during the working day.

It’s also often the same for sitting on the sofa on an evening and weekends so the flexibility goes both ways and I think (hope) my employer realises that!

I have flexibility to plan my day but I am expected to always be available during core working hours as there can be urgent, unexpected things that crop up.

If I am not going to be available - eg because I have to go to a medical appoitment during the day or have planned to finish early, I am expected to set my Teams to unavailable and put on an out of office message. Not doing that and being totally uncontactable for a hour or so would cause issues. So, no. Sneaking off to the gym for 2 hours during the day becuase I have no meetings would not work out well.

I am guessing you are a civil servant.

I'm guessing you read the Daily Mail or The Telegraph.

I have my key core meetings but in and around those, I will often do the gym, or a walk, or lunch out, or a beauty appointment etc. I take my work phone with me and will keep an eye on emails, messages etc for if anything urgent crops up.

As long as I get the work done, my employer does not mind- I work in the supply chain for one of the corporate big daddies, and if I didn't do my job to a high standard it would be very obvious, very quickly.

I do also do a couple of days in the office. Funnily enough, those tend to be the days when the phone/ laptop don't get checked until I'm at my desk in the morning, and get switched off and put away when I leave. Whereas on my WFH days, I may well be nipping out but will stay 'logged in' for much longer.

I think it’s great that so many more companies allow for flexible working these days so you can go to the gym during the day as long as your work gets done. It shouldn’t be seen as “sneaking off”, if it’s part of the culture of your workplace.

As adults we should be trusted to know what needs to be done for our job, and do it.

Unfortunately as a teacher I have zero flexibility. Am I jealous ? Yes. Do I begrudge anyone who does WFH and have the flexibility? No, of course not.

But part of the massive recruitment and retention crisis in teaching is down to the fact that over the last few years there has been a rise in more flexibility in workplaces / WFH, compared to an increase in the expectations on teachers time. Teachers are leaving in droves. So those of you who say “retrain and get a job WFH” - they are !!

This is literally what it's like in our in-office days. If you aren't in a meeting people just rock up to your desk for a chat or are standing about having a gossip (usually about work, tbf). Doesn't matter if you have headphones on and are very obviously focusing, or even tell them you are busy. They don't care. Then you have some teams where the boss takes their team out for a 2 hour lunch every 2-3 months and if not that they disappear for hour long coffees every single time they come in. I get zero done outside of meetings, to the point hat I leave early if I don't have meetings after 3pm as I get far more done on a crowded train.

Company is fine with it, but can't have it both ways by then whining when someone pops off to the gym for an hour when WFH or has their kid sitting in another room quietly (and not rocking up to their desk to ask stupid questions like some colleagues do...) - as long as the work is getting done of course (and the team I manage very much do get their work done).

So when people harp on about WFH being such a bad thing and everyone in offices working so much harder, just remember that people don't like going into the office for a reason. When your own kid can look at you and see you are too busy working to talk then why the fuck can't Jeff from finance?

Yes, of course some people have flexitime. I was just pointing out the difference between a break where you are very close to your computer and one where you are further away. Going to the gym in working hours (not lunch break) works for some, but not for others. That's not a problem.

I'm not a gym goer...but on my WFH days (3 a week) I usually get my work work done, plus all my laundry 😁 leaving non work days mainly laundry-free.

Also, maybe it's the fact that Millenials had it rammed down their throats for decades that if you worked yourself into an early grave it would pay off when thats not the case at all, and unlike you boomers actually aren't brainwashed into believing we must only live to work and have zero personal time and enjoyment, striving top work as much overtime as possible to the point of ill health.

So glad the power is swinging the other way and our gen are realizing it's all a bunch of Corporate BS. We aren't selling our souls to you anymore, you are commissioning our time, knowledge and experience and if people aren't happy with how you treat them at work then they will walk out. It's not "No one wants to work anymore" it's "no one wants to work for shit, inflexible boomer arseholes anymore".