Do all MNs wfh or in an office?

[Jeannie88]

Just an observation, so many posts seem to be from Mums who wfh or 'have to go into an office'.

Any others out there who do the whole getting up early, depend on breakfast clubs/wraparound care? So, getting dressed, commuting to work, doing the job all day face to face with the public, travelling back, pick up DC and catch up on chores?

Just wondering if anyone else actually goes out out to work anymore. I guess some of us do and find the posts about choosing to slack and bewilderment of a hard day of online meetings a bit strange?

I've changed career after a very long time in education and oh boy, having to be present in teams meetings while having my washing on etc is sooooo much easier! Xx

I was office based and relatively happy with my work life balance.
COVID comes along and WFH was a revelation so two years later when they started pulling us back into the office I voted with my feet and retired (fifty seven). No way was I getting back into the daily drudge of commuting and sitting in a horrible (but modern) soulless corporate office.

I hated working from home. It was boring, lonely, blurred the line between work and home, and I had to pay for my own loo roll!!

These days I have the flexibility to wfh if I want to, but I rarely do, for all the reasons given above. Also, given the environment I work in, if you're not there, you're not taken seriously and it WILL affect your opportunities for progression. I like my office and my colleagues, so I am quite happy going into the office every day.

I used to work on site, breakfast club, after school club , 40 min commute each way 5 days a week but my son hated it. He went into reception in September and I stupidly thought he would adjust well due to being in nursery 4 days a week previously.
There were tears and meltdowns every single evening it was just too much.
I specifically searched for a fully remote job, it was difficult and I took a big paycut.
But I can do both school runs as my work are really flexible and my son is so much happier. I log on early / work late when needed. Also my son has adjusted fine and he is happy to play/ draw by himself with me in the room on my laptop for the last hour of my working day. If I need to take a quick call he knows to stay quiet.
I do look genuinely homeless at the school gates because I never have to be on camera though!
I do feel really lucky

I have a remote contract, HQ is in another country. I deeply appreciate the flexibility and take the level of trust offered very seriously.

I sometimes get stir crazy, but remote working means my family have a better lifestyle on the whole.

I do hybrid working, and I appreciate being here when the kids leave/come back from school 3 days of the week. My job is more or less flexible, but I am still surprised at how many parents do the school run and get involved seemingly in ALL activities, are present in all meetings. Our school does the parents/teacher meetings twice a year, which are by appointment - I always chose to have the later slots 6-8:30pm, but they also do very regular open school 3-4:30 where you can go in, talk to the teacher and see what the kids have been learning, they do 3-4 of these a year, I never make these ones but other parents seem to (both) be there at each single one, they volunteer to take the kids to school trips etc, so I wonder if my work maybe is not as flexible as I think as other people seem to have a lot more opportunities to leave work at all times of the day.

Office work has its own intensities, but really you are sat on a chair and working on a computer. You are able to go to the toilet when you want, make a coffee, go out for lunch, no responsibility of looking after others.

This can't be compared to frontline jobs, on the go all the time, desperate for a wee but have to hold it in, then admin after work hours. Xx

I do hybrid working and am in the office 2 days a week (my DH WFH) but with 2 DC at Primary school we still have to do the whole drop-offs and pick-ups. The kids are in after school club Monday-Friday and they go to breakfast club on the days that I go into the office. I've done hybrid working for the last 10 years but DH only started WFH partway through the pandemic.

It sounds like quite a few people do scho pick up and then work with young kids at home.

Id have thought they'd need childcare while kids are at home but obviously not!

I work from home 98% of the time. I do occasional face to face meetings but these are once every 1-2 months. I work part time

Dh also wfh. He works full time.
We tag team who does morning nursery run based on how early I start. I always collect.

WFH here

I'm a waitress in a golf club, work school hours 4 days a week earning minimum wage but I absolutely love it. I get to go to work and talk to people (whilst also making them coffee) Same people every day/week which I much prefer.

I would rather not work in all honesty, I have things I could be doing with my days but it's not an option so this is the next best thing.

I can't imagine working in an office sitting at a screen all day, I've worked in hospitality all my working life.

It’s not easier if all the meetings you are in you are chairing though, or you play a key part. I find it’s harder as you are looking at your screen so see emails and other messages popping up which I know you can mute but don’t always remember. You don’t get the natural pauses so people speak over each other and then you get distracted by wondering why your mother is in the meeting and realising she’s not, it’s just your haggard visage.

WFH long before Covid. Before kids I was in the thick of it working long frigging hours in the corporate world. I feel I earned my stripes! I took a step back when child no.1 arrived.. relocated out of London and went PT remotely - offered to me (I was reluctant at the time) 14 years on I've doubled my hours left my H and have a much bigger role in the same company and I'm completely remote/flexible. Doesn't mean I don't work, I do.. and it has its pressures. I also do all the childcare! I was very lucky to have held onto my job in the early years as that's now holding up me and my children. 💪

No I work in the community

I WFH three days a week and go to the office one day a week (I'm part time).

I'm retired now but worked in a laboratory, it was half practical work and half office work, it was fairly free and easy, flexitime and about a mile from home. I wouldn't have liked to do office work all day, whether it was at home or not, staring at a screen all day.

I work in a day service for adults with dementia and have done for several years. I used to also have a bank job in a secure MH hospital. I couldn't imagine not working with people.

My employer (LA) is closing our centre because of funding cuts and restructuring, so I am being redeployed and Friday is my last day. I am devastated, especially for all of our customers.

I wfh as they decided to shut our office after Covid when they realised we’d all wfh fine. I miss seeing colleagues face to face but it is very convenient. I still go out and see people as part of my job.

We live next door to school to do drop off by 8.50 latest and are at our desks within about 3 minutes of that!

DD goes to after school club until 5.30 or 6 every day.

DH wfh about 2 or 3 days p/w.

I’m in office 3 days a week and wfh 2 days. Yes, get up early, commute and need wrap around care.

It’s not a competition!

Plus this binary “wfh easy” “office hard” is a load of rubbish! I have a very demanding job which is always demanding wherever I do it! Equally I have the odd down day or afternoon. But there have been many days wfh where l have literally not left my desk between 8am and 8pm apart from to go to the loo (and that was by putting myself on mute and hoping to god that no one asked me a question), and occasional days in the office where I’ve been for lunch with colleagues for 2 hours and buggered about a bit in the afternoon so not achieved that much.

For me the only consistent benefit of wfh is the fact I don’t have to travel, it’s absolutely not an easy day. And if you can achieve hours of housework and look after a toddler whilst wfh IMO there are either some performance issues/ some spare capacity or people are very junior.

I’m in education and work in 9 schools in total, often out of the house by 7.45am, get home between 6 and 7.15 pm.

I worked from home doing online lessons during the lockdowns and, whilst I loved the lack of a commute, I absolutely hated the teaching! Interacting with children through a computer is so much harder than face to face. I moan about the long hours but I’m actually so much happier teaching in schools.

Doing the washing at 6am and the general housework at 8pm has become something of a routine now!

I read an article on LinkedIn about remote workers getting fired for pretending to work.

And if you can achieve hours of housework and look after a toddler whilst wfh IMO there are either some performance issues/ some spare capacity or people are very junior.

I agree. You can tell that someone is away from their desk because the colour on Teams changes. The most I will do while working from home is load/unload the washing machine.

I work from home 3 days a week and go into the office 3 days a week on average.

We don’t have to go in over the summer holidays, or we can work from a different office (we have a few locations)

You do a 6 day week @Oganesson118 ?