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?

@SocoBateVira exactly - there's no logic to the ranting, just outright jealousy that not everyone has to work until 6pm on a Friday evening.

People always say I work great hours but they forget that it means being out in all weathers, all year round no matter what. It means no sick or holiday pay (self-employed), it means coming home in bruises and insect bites, sore feet and muscles etc.

They want the perks but not the actual work that comes with it 😂

It's the worst day for me as I'm sort of last in the chain. People finally get their arse in gear, frantically send me the work they should have done all week then bugger off early while I'm left actioning the stuff past 'home time'.

Finish by 12 and have a glass of wine

Oh the places I have opened a laptop. On a kerb outside a pub. In the dentists waiting room. Restaurant tables obviously, that’s quite civilised. A field once as I had a day off and we went on a day trip to Sheppey

Poor admin!

My work has a summer friday rule where everyone finishes early on fridays in summer. Ive worked at three different companies and they've all had this so i think it's not that unusual.

So yeah friday is a bit of a light day because of this.

WFH Fridays, busy week as always. In b2b meetings 9am until 4pm (grabbed jaffa cakes to eat for my lunch). Logged off at 9pm, still not on top of everything so I'll probably log on during the weekend.

Oh and b4 there's a pile on, i work long hours in busy season. We get our summer fridays for a reason, we're in a cyclical business, they give us this time because we earn it other times of year.

I think a LOT of the replies on this thread have been made to be goady tbh. Admin staff having to work while the “professionals” swan off for lunch with husbands and the rest of the team having the afternoon off, glasses of wine at 12pm, going swimming in work time etc etc. Some people must have a real alcohol problem drinking at 12 noon on a Friday…

I’ve noticed there’s been a few WFH threads recently. Do those posters never give a thought to our emergency service/retail or other people who don’t work from home? It’s not very nice to gloat tbh and some posters are nasty with it. There really is no need.

You are proving why businesses want you back in the office!

I wish I didn't work for a US company. They always get in touch with some last minute fire drill ll at lunchtime their time, so 5pm, and I then have to hop on it until about 6.30. next week they've booked a meeting until 7. Guess they do pay me a lot for this crap.

Generally, by Friday afternoon I'm relaxing and keeping one eye on emails.

This week has been really full-on for me as well though, and I was working right up till 5. My work does tend to ebb and flow, so I don't mind so much as I've been much less busy over the past few weeks.

Do those posters never give a thought to our emergency service/retail or other people who don’t work from home? It’s not very nice to gloat tbh and some posters are nasty with it. There really is no need.

Other people's working hours have absolutely nothing to do with me 🤷‍♀️

I did a decade in retail and didn't expect anyone to "give a thought" to me while I worked Boxing Day or Sunday or yet another bank holiday. Why would they?

The fact that some people are able to take half days on a Friday or go swimming on a Tuesday morning has nothing to do with the emergency services or the fact that Jane in Tesco can't just take a nap on the checkouts.

Many of the ones that can swan off for lunch with their husbands might be called at 7pm to firefight situation that can only be dealt with by them. And because they will be salaried, they won't get OT for that, because it's "business needs".

Sure some people take the piss. But some don't. Being jealous isn't going to change that. Personally I work hard for the flexibility my job gives me, so the times I'm late in I might have been system testing at 3am. But you wouldn't know that.

Today I was out on an interview panel so lots of sitting around.

Usually my Friday is a bit of mentoring for my trainees in the morning, reading and planning in the afternoon. I always finish at four, start early in the morning.

Not a single thought no.

Funny how the people telling remote workers to think about emergency services who can't work from home never apply the same principle to benefits the other way round. If you're eg a remote worker in the private sector, anyone working in the emergency services is likely to have much better pension, sick pay and maternity pay than you. But none of the finger waggers ever have anything to say about that.

Of course, so many jobs have become wfh, but the response to OP was that she's fortunate to be able to have downtime on a Friday and choose to do so. That's the difference, people who don't have office jobs can't do this. You've had the experience of student jobs dealing with the public, so I'm sure you understand the other side to this?

'I wonder about people honestly' as well, those who don't get others who can't take downtime as they are physically present and active at work, not sat behind a screen at home, with all the advantages that come with it. So taking a Slack day isn't an option for many, hence the response to post.

Sorry, from MN it's never come across as this. How do employers check? I was just responding to the OP who felt that having to work hard for a couple of days felt entitled to taking the Friday off. She clearly doesn't represent or give justice to you and others who do. Xx

The same as every other afternoon. I've no idea why it would be any different.

Why are you happy for everyone except admin to do this? Doesn’t seem very fair at all.

Three times as productive as an officer-worker’s Friday afternoon, if WFH threads are to be believed.

Lol at the busy stressful job that involves a two hour admin clean up and ends at 4pm.

@Jeannie88 call centre
Our status is on a screen so lunch/break etc and you can see how long you've been in each status, if you're on a call or available
Rest time (toilet/drink) needs to be less than 10 mins per day
Calls come through automatically (incoming and outgoing) so you can't leave your desk

Yes I can MN/read if not on a call but can't leave my desk (time between calls is few and far between!)

Fridays are no different to other days really. I suppose there's the anticipation of the w/e, but that comes with a feeling of "yay, it's the w/e" and "oh crap, I really wanted to get such a such done" and "I'd better write a list for next week".
In reality, at the moment it depends on what DS2 (15) is up to.
I'm a lone parent and live rurally and my flexible work means I can collect him from town (where his school is) if he's gone to the gym and then to friends or not. Today he didn't need collecting until 7.30pm so I worked until 6pm and then lay on the sofa playing Candy Crush trying not to fall asleep did jobs around the house.
Other days I'll collect him a bit earlier and go back to my desk.

I work in an international team and Friday afternoon tends to be the day people will sign off early if we've had early or late meetings during the week.

Can't currently work due to health issues but when I did we used to kick off Friday AM with a quick recap of the week then use the rest of the day if general admin catch up, tidying of those little loose ends, double checking next week's schedule etc. So not particularly arduous stuff but all work nonetheless.

There was an understanding at work that if you got everything done before the working day was finished then that was fine and you were good to "clock off" as it were while being paid for the full day on the proviso you were contactable to jump back in if shit hit the fan.