Time management at work

[HappyChappy56]

I have just returned to work part time after a career break with the kiddos.

I work from home and have chosen to work part time to fit in housework, errands etc.

I was just wondering how much of the following activities would be deemed reasonable to do in working time. It all seemed clearer when I was working full time, but it's been a while since I have had to manage my time, certainly with so many other things to juggle.

Things I feel are a grey area but maybe IABU:

Meditation
Reading personal development books
Reading books on my industry
Offloading to a friend/journal
Planning the day/week/month (which involves thinking around my personal time / upcoming hols etc)
Calls with a mentor
Brief bouts of exercise

To me, these are not 'work' in the sense of being sat at my desk and producing output, but help me work better. Should I be reducing my hours to fit them in or doing them in work time?

Things I think are more clearly personal time activities, but maybe other people would weave them into a work day without giving themselves wrinkles over it:

Laundry
Making lunch (already prepped, just needs cooking)
Popping to the post office
Putting grocery delivery away
Asking Mumsnet for time management tips
Longer bouts of exercise

I am trying to ascertain if I am stressing too much about whether I have signed up for the right number of hours. Should I be:
a. Thinking far less about it and just getting on with things
b. Reducing my hours
c. Getting some help for time management

What are your productive 'at the desk' hours vs your 'I am letting my brain assimilate' hours?

Thanks MNers!

Of all of your lists, I would only consider the below work:

Reading books on my industry
Planning the day/week/month (which involves thinking around my personal time / upcoming hols etc) - that’s only a few mins/week
Calls with a mentor (assuming mentor is in your profession)

Other chores can fit in your lunch break in a way they couldn’t if you were in the office, but shouldn’t be done in working time.

i would make 1-2 cups of tea each half day, and those 5 mins might include some stretches, but that is all.

As long as you complete your work to a good standard, attend meetings etc then do what you like.

I know the lines for home workers do get blurred - but general rule of thumb which works for me:
Would I be comfortable doing this in the office?

You are entitled to breaks, and you wouldn't think twice about heating up lunch in the office, so I don't see an issue with that.
Many people in the office take some of their break for a walk - again no issue.

Agree with the , would you do this in the office?

So on the list I'd say planning the work week, which isn't your personal life but just work, and that's probably five minutes each morning.

And meeting mentor if that is work sponsored and endorsed, but not if just set up independently

And you can do other things during the day, but you can't count those as working time

I don’t WFH but I think it’s a bit insane that you’re considering exercising, meditating, catching up with friends and doing your house work whilst being paid to work. Lunch - surely you get a break for that!

Maybe I’m in the minority but I think you’d be taking the P a bit.

You should just expect to WORK the hours you’re paid for and any quiet days you are able to do other things take as a bonus.

I'm actually genuinely shocked that you would count meditation and exercise as work

Adding to my comment. My closest friend works from home and I know on Fridays it can be quiet for her so she does manage to get some house work and batch cooking done. But she does absolutely not factor this into her working day, or a given, it’s just a bonus.

You definitely shouldn’t be factoring all this into your working week.

It's clearly a joke post people 🤣

Apart from planning my working day and talking to a mentor I wouldn't consider any of those appropriate during working hours. I don't understand why it would change if you are full time or part time.

I agree with a PP, I do think that some to the things you have listed would be taking the mick... meditation, reading personal development books, offloading to a friend/journal (so, chatting basically?), brief bouts of exercise.

Should I be reducing my hours to fit them in YES or doing them in work time? NO

Definitely should not be doing laundry, making lunch (don't you get a lunch break?), popping to the post office, longer bouts of exercise etc during work time.

I mean I sometimes put the groceries away or shove a load of washing in the machine but those are 2 min jobs that I do whilst waiting for the kettle to boil or something.

You haven't said what hours you currently work but you have said that you only work part-time so should have time to do these things outside of working hours.

The only things I'd expect to be able to do are stuff I would in the office, so really just making a cup of tea or using the toilet. I might stretch my legs, empty the dishwasher or put a load of washing on while I wait for the kettle to boil but that's about it. The reading work related stuff would probably be ok on a quiet day. I do make sure I take my full hour for lunch, so would expect whatever making is required to come out of that.

And people wonder why staff are being called back into workplaces!

I think it depends on the day’s tasks. If you had back to back meetings with a bit of intense prep beforehand I don’t see the problem in taking a 15/30 min walk around the garden/block or doing some yoga flows to de stress but it would presumably count as your lunch break. Taking two minutes to answer a text from a friend or email is fine as long as you’re not getting distracted into a group chat.

I only get my nails done on company time, as they look nicer painted while I type. Therefore it improves my productivity.

The only things I'd count as ok to do on work time would be planning my day/week and talking to my mentor. But the planning would be work stuff ie I've got a holiday in two weeks and I need to do xyz work by then. Not, when can I fit in a haircut.

I do some chores, but during my breaks. So I might set a load of washing going whilst the kettle boils, hang it out on my lunch break. If I need to deal with personal stuff in work time (call about DC for example) I'd make up the time same as in the office.

If you like to exercise / meditate to help you work, then you need to factor that in to your non working hours

Most of those things ought to be done in your own time not work time. Though fine to fit them in to a lunch break or other short break you would take if you are in the office.

I quite often do some exercise in my "lunch break" when WFH. I have also popped to the Post Office which is 5 mins away but my overall work time isn't cut short because of it.

I would consider heating/ eating lunch as an acceptable lunch break and I sometimes read or watch a bit of telly during lunch. I also have 2-3 short breaks to make a cup of tea and give my eyes a rest from the screen. While I'm waiting for the kettle to boil I might unload the dishwasher, tidy the kitchen table or put the bin out but no more housework than that until I've finished my working day.

My husband is in charge of laundry and he tends to put a load on first thing before starting work and then hangs it in his lunch break.

I'm intrigued by meditation! At first I thought no of course you can't spend work time meditating! But then remembered I used to some of those three minute meditations (must start again) which would easily fit into a kettle boil/ short screen break and would physically be a good aid to manging stress and concentration. My answer will be different if you are skipping out to attend an hour long meditation class in work time.

😂

I’m all for having a poo in company time but I think exercise and meditation is taking it a bit far!

Is this a new modern work ethic? If it is, I love it and want to adopt it right now!

I will soon be sacked mind, but what a lovely outlook you have OP.

And yet in an office setting, health and safety folks have been known to install apps to remind staff of computer breaks for ...... short bouts of exercise!

Would you clock out at the office for

• brief stroll up and down the corridor

- a few stretches with the window open

• toilet breaks?

All necessary to preserve/restore productive capacity. I do agree laundry shouldn't form part of the list 🤣

Meditation - no
Reading personal development books - depends, where I work this would maybe be ok if it was directly related to an agreed goal for the year.
Reading books on my industry - an industry magazine would be fine where I work if you had nothing else on. But would be low priority. Depends how much you need to keep up to date on the industry you work in.
Offloading to a friend/journal - no.
Planning the day/week/month (which involves thinking around my personal time / upcoming hols etc) - possibly fine. When thinking about upcoming work you do need to consider personal stuff because annual leave affects work. Actually planning a holiday is not fine
Calls with a mentor - a mentor given to you at work? Fine.
Brief bouts of exercise - a 5 min stretch to help with back/neck strain from the computer? Fine. Or a half an hour walk? Not fine.

Most of your list is very clearly personal and not suitable for doing in work time.

• Reading books directly related to your work (that you actually need to read, and your manager would approve if they knew about it, not just widely around the subject out of interest)
• working with a workplace appointed mentor
• a certain amount of planning your week such as travel for work purposes/ booking a desk or meeting room at work - not booking childcare or similar

Some of the things you’ve put on the “could be work” list are very obviously not work such as meditating/ exercising / “offloading” (so chatting) to friends

Lunch - you have a lunch break for

The “don’t give yourself wrinkles about” are very clearly personal and shouldn’t be done in work time - I don’t know who these other people are who might think it fine!

But also - yes this why we have paid breaks such as lunch break - it’s not just for physically eating food!

It depends on your job, I have the kind of job that I just need to get done whenever, so I would do all of the above if my day allowed. But likewise it often wouldn't and I'd work far beyond typical "working hours".

Assuming you have a more typical job with a fixed number of working hours to fill, then:

Things I feel are a grey area but maybe IABU:
Meditation - no
Reading personal development books - no
Reading books on my industry - only if job allows time for CPD and the like and it's actually relevant. Reading shorter relevant articles is fine but books suggests a lot of reading.
Offloading to a friend/journal - colleagues, water cooler type stuff, sure, a little
Planning the day/week/month (which involves thinking around my personal time / upcoming hols etc) - fine
Calls with a mentor - fine assuming it's mentoring through your job
Brief bouts of exercise - fine if you'd do it in the office (walk during coffee/lunch break duration stuff)

Things I think are more clearly personal time activities, but maybe other people would weave them into a work day without giving themselves wrinkles over it:
Laundry - popping a load in the machine takes a few minutes and is fine in my book, sorting and ironing no
Making lunch (already prepped, just needs cooking) - fine
Popping to the post office - no unless it's very close and it's like popping to the coffee shop from the office
Putting grocery delivery away - technically no but couldn't get excited about this in someone who otherwise works hard, assuming you're talking about a few minutes to fire stuff in the presses, not a big clear out
Asking Mumsnet for time management tips - well who doesn't doss online occasionally at their desks! Technically no, but we all do it
Longer bouts of exercise - no, unless it's over a break