If you WFH, what's your Friday afternoon like?

[OldPine]

This week has been full on. 12 hour days Monday & Tuesday. Lots to sort Weds & Thursday so am not gonna lie, I'm now lying on my bed periodically tapping the track pad on my laptop while Mumsnetting and holiday shopping. DH is mowing the lawn! Anyone else taking Friday afternoon a bit easy?

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If I would have worked 12 hours Monday and 12 Tuesday I would have asked for approval to get Friday in lieu tbh...but maybe because I am not high enough in the corporate ladder 🤣

If anything I work harder on a Friday than a Monday, as I want to get all my projects in a good place by the end of the week and loose ends tied up.

I mostly wfh and am generally very conscientious. I'm always shocked by these threads.

I still don’t understand this? Why does the output of the admin team not count rather than working hours? Are they not professionals too? Curious as to why they can’t be trusted to get their work done like the rest of your team? Seems to me like you don’t value your admin team in the same way as the rest of your staff?

Probably the lowest paid too.

If you're a firefighter and you don't do much on your Friday shift because it's a really quiet day, that's completely unacceptable and you're taking the piss out of shop workers.

Well it’s not my problem that not everyone can get a different job. I quite fancy six weeks off in the summer, two at Easter, two at Christmas you get the idea but my work doesn’t offer it so I can either suck it up and deal with it or go and be a teacher. I don’t want to be a teacher so guess I just have to suck it up, my choice so I can’t complain about it.

I don’t understand why my employment terms and conditions are anyone else’s business - can anyone enlighten me?

Is it really so difficult to realise that jobs are all different? I don’t expect my days in my current job (not saying what it is but has been wfh since loooong before Covid) to look the same as when I worked in a supermarket as a student or when I worked in a betting shop or when I worked customer facing in a bank because they are different? I wonder about people honestly…

I wonder about people who think it's fine to skive off on a Friday afternoon unless you are lowly admin staff.

These threads always bring out posters who seem to absolutely hate the idea of anyone daring to have a flexible job.

I work Monday to Thursday 8.30-2 and finish at midday on Fridays. Sure, I could work later on a Friday but I set my own hours and after a week of walking dogs in all weathers, I quite fancy a half day tbh 😂

Fridays are my catch up day. Pick up with the people who report into me in the morning, clear down my inbox until about 4, have a chin wag and weekly round up with my colleague from 4.30/5 until finish.

Had a half day today but that's how pretty much every Friday goes unless an emergency comes up.

I finish at 3.30 on a Friday which I love. They introduced it a few years ago. Didn't think it would make much difference but it really does.

Anyway, team meeting in the morning then I try to spend the day catching up on my admin.

I’m civil service so everything is left to the last minute and we spend a lot of time coming up with reasons why work hasn’t been done! So I was actually quite busy needing to send something out.

I'm the only person from our department in on a Friday so sometimes it's manic. However we definitely get less external emails on a Friday so in that way it's quieter. Still work the normal hours though.

@Jeannie88 but not all WFH jobs are like that
I am "on" for the whole time I'm working, and have to account for if I am making a cup of tea etc
My break and lunch is timed and I can't go over it. It's a busy stressful job and I'm mentally wiped by the end of the week
And yes I do know what stressful/physical work is having done it previously but mine is a brain mush kind of wiped now

I was working until 6 and feeling stressed that I hadn’t completed all the stuff I hoped to have completed this week.

I am lowly admin staff

To be fair to @MartyFunkhouser I think they may have meant, apart from doing admin work, they dont mind staff winding down on Fridays.

But I possibly am the only person that read it as such…

Does nobody else have the thing where you spend most of Friday like ‘ah, it’s chill, everything is nice, maybe I’ll stop around 4 or 5 and make a nice dinner’ and then BANG ON 4 or 5 everything royally kicks off and you’re apologising to your friends and family when you don’t make dinner and spend most of the dinner someone else made for you on the phone or on your computer, then eventually emerge about 8:30 or 9 to discover everyone you love finds you deeply annoying?

that’s why, when that doesn’t happen, I’ll happily potter around a bit on a Friday. The rest of the week is fucked and half the weekends are fucked and a lot of Friday nights are fucked, I’ll take a bit of slack wherever I find it.

It’s not at all the same as mandated hours and I don’t think that’s fun either, but a job where you don’t get to ever properly drop it…. Has its own issues

Fridays are my busiest day but I still manage to walk the dog and do some laundry on a Friday afternoon.

I like to get the house vaguely tidy for the weekend, and usually start thinking about weekend food, too.

And those who quite clearly don't understand the concept either, but don't allow that to stop them making multiple posts on the issue.

Friday is my work from home day. I usually don’t have to many meetings and it is usually taken up with phone calls - people catching up on the week and resolving issues.

Friday are usually ‘meeting light’ in my industry - it is a slightly more informal day - but it means a lot more one on calls as it is easier to catch people.

I finished at about 6:30 - but the day was lower stress than the rest of the week.

this.
Friday afternoons always used to be sit around and chat watching the clock when I was in an office. I almost definitely do more now wfh, even if not at full productivity.

Also if you're a manager who bases your work policies off stalking MN comments from anonymous posters who probably don't work in your job, or even your sector...then you're a pretty shit manager.

Can you imagine it taking it to HR - I think we should stop flexible working.
Really, why is that Bob, is productivity down?
No, according to the stats productivity is stable and staff satisfaction is higher, but I read online someone called @oldpine was taking it easy on a Friday so...

Yes! This has been me far too many times! I am in a reactive area and things always kick off at the worst times, kids birthday? DH away with work and the DC need ferrying from club to club? Visitors coming over? Always a guarantee that is when something will happen. I’ve sat in my car, or in random cafes near the DC’s clubs and on the weird tier seating at swimming while working far too many times. I remember sitting trying to get my toddler (at the time) to sleep but annoying them with the tap tap on the keyboards because I was still having to work.

If I can finish early on a Friday using flexible working when I am quiet then I bloody well will because there is no guarantee I will get to do it every week.

It amuses me that teachers often come on these threads to kick off when they have had years of people thinking they have the cushiest job of all time. Surely. You'd think theyd be more understanding of the realities?

Yes some people take the piss. Some people take the piss in the office too.

Dh works from home 2/3 days a week. Sometimes he'll take the car to the garage or pick the kids up or do some food shopping during the working day. However also he regularly has to travel to Asia and South America for a week or more at a time and doesn't get paid any more for it or time in lieu.

My job is full time wfh but it is hourly paid so I wouldn't do non work things during the work day without making up the hours (eg a doctors appointment). But then if i do extra hours like working in the evening or on a Monday which is usually my day off then I get that time back so it's balanced. Also, I work for a charity and it would be just abhorrent to take the piss.

I WFH most of the time.

I try to avoid meetings on Friday afternoons but sometimes that's the only time available, to catch up with my line manager or a colleague.

When I can I spend Friday afternoon thinking, planning and preparing for the following week, reviewing my to do list, tidying up my emails etc. I will sometimes put my out of office on to avoid interruptions. It's a steadier day but still productive.