Be honest… what do you really do if working from home?

[Wffhh]

Just that really.

I often have a bath at lunchtime. Go to shops. Clean. Last Friday watched a Christmas film in the background in bed while doing some online training. Made a pie.

Sometimes I have to work very late. Sometimes on a weekend. So I think it balances out. Anyone else be honest? Do you ever have almost a day off doing life admin?

That’s crazy! Doesn’t seem the same anymore all this WFH! I knew it was always there but just not as much as working from home now.

Does every one get giving laptops and things to work from home I take it?

Getting laptops has been standard for ages. My father had one from around 1996 onwards and wasn't in a particularly senior job. I've had one throughout my career since 2005.

Many people WFH well before covid. I started wfh 10 years ago when I started working remotely for CalTech (bit of a long commute). Now I work for a company based in Hong Kong (even longer commute). Most of the team work remotely from all over the world.

I've been WFH since 2012. I just record the time I work, start and stop. It's not complicated once you get used to it. If you have a job that's salaried, rather than billed by hour, just keep the closest accounting that you can. It (probably) doesn't matter if you make an occasional mistake, but try not to.

Is this consistent among your colleagues?
I ask because when I moved organisations and had a flexisheet and was blocking out every little break - but then found I was being given at least 3 times more work than my peers.
It was hard to row back, and I did it in part by recognising 'processing time' of the intense sessions as work time.
I do stay by my laptop while I process but use a fidget toy or sketch while thinking.
In my old job I would have called a colleague to decompress and moved on faster, but there is no one to call where I am now - my guess is they are all out doing their weekly shop or whatever the OP said she usually gets up to 😂

I work pretty hard, more than my working hours. I only do jobs around the house in my lunch break. I do love working in bed with the electric blanket on though!

I didn't mean specific hours (mine only states number of hours, though groups of people working together aim to overlap core hours).

And I said that if the manager is fine with people not working then it's fine.

My contract states I work 40 hrs a week. If I was getting all my work done in 30 then I would let my manager know, not just do what the hell I liked.

I have to get through the same amount of work that I do when I'm physically at work - it wouldn't go unnoticed if I didn't complete roles at home that I do in the office. My work is quite flexible, so I could nip out for a couple of hours if I wanted, but when I'm working from home, I work for the 7 hours that I'm paid for. We get one hour paid break, so I'll do bits like put the washing on/hang it out when I've had enough of the laptop. I could work a solid 7 hours and finish early, but I get fatigue and frustration if I'm sat for too long.

I'm not sure it would work for everyone but it certainly helps me. I would have gave my job of 30 years up if I hadn't been able to WFH. Couldn't handle the commute for a start. I was WFH 2 days a week before COVID and I dropped a Friday as I was utterly exhausted with peri symptoms. I'm now four days at home and trusted to do my job and I do it. If I didn't it would soon be noticed as we are a small team and if someone doesn't pull their weight it shows. Probs the same ones who are always lazy anyway! But yes if you are struggling with menopause it really is a godsend. I feel for women who do not have understanding employers I really do.

I work really hard, walk the dogs at lunch. Feel guilty otherwise. NHS lead, tax payer’s money.

I’ve worked with a few people who when they work from home take ages to reply and have portions of the day they never respond. In each case colleagues noticed and gossiped about it - and I am pretty sure senior management did too! One woman with a school aged son was never contactable before 9.30am or after 2.45pm, also never on a Friday. Another woman worked from home and had a toddler, she replied to all emails in the evening. In each case it hindered the work of people in the office as often they needed information or input to get on with a task.

When I worked from home I was very conscious of doing my work well and not been seen to be slacking. If I occasionally had a headache I would take a 20min break and then take it out of my lunchtime or tack it onto the end of the day. My big problem was switching off - I found because my home was my office there was no divide and K did a lot of unpaid overtime. My favourite mode of working is 2/3 days in the office and 2/3 days at home as I get easily distracted by people chatting so it’s good to do tasks that require a lot of concentration at home.

I do all my washing, ironing and cleaning on work time. Often watch a film, stop for lunch and watch the news. In the summer I would garden, sunbathe. I do all of my work, but when there are gaps, I’m not going to sit at my desk doing nothing. I never leave the house though or have anyone round.

I find it hard to be disciplined, but I try. I don't tend to do house jobs, because my job requires so much focus to get things right that I would feel too pulled in too many directions, if I tried to do other things too. I would let the pies burn or forget to put the laundry in the dryer. My job tends to be bursts of intense activity and then I recover by probably browsing the internet a bit more than I would in the office, where people can see your screen. The internet is a big distraction for that reason.

I do my easier, admin tasks, that I don't need my colleagues for. I listen to an Audio book whilst doing them (that I wouldn't in the ofgice), but it's not not distracting as the tasks are easy (although still needed).

I do exactly what I feel like doing, but I'm self-employed so I can do what I like.

In practice I work a lot harder than I ever did when I was employed and worked in an office.

Some of these work roles at home indentify why this country has such low growth and productivity. You can understand why companies are embracing AI to replace the human work force.

Are you just not busy in your job? If I did that I’d fall way behind!

I’ll put laundry on, put something in the slow cooker at 11ish but other than that I’m at my desk working as much as I do on the three days I’m in the office!

I plan my work so I’m very productive at home. I start work earlier at the same time I would usually travel, I might take a break in the middle of the day but again that would be very planned and intentional. I would then add those hours on to a later evening finish.

It helps to plan a mix of things in advance and work through them, This would usually include 5 or 6 meetings.

I do badly in an open plan office as get side tracked and find it hard to concentrate due to distractions.

It does annoy me that some people aren’t intentionally working as it undermines WFH for the rest of us who are. Other people assume we aren’t doing much.

As usual a small minority is trying to ruin it for us all.

a decade ago I worked for a business where the CEO and owner banned home working because the outgoing head of HR decided to do f all whilst working out his notice period from home. Not contactable by phone or email but still getting full pay to scratch his nuts.

I work much harder at home, don’t leave my desk except to grab lunch. Am in the office 2-3 days a week and I gad about too much but I like being there. Happy with the commute, about 40 mins each way.

I WFH full time and I don't think I could ever go back in all honesty. I've got a much better work life balance than I did when I was in office. We're dead quiet at the moment, will pick up again in the new year I'm sure.

I am able to complete my work quickly and answer emails and teams messages as and when they come in but I'm able to get all housework completed, watch a tv show or film, get dinner sorted, tv workout etc. I'd never leave the house though incase anything important happened and I'm needed quickly though.

I don't feel guilty at all, once my works complete what do they expect me to do? twiddle my thumbs? 🤣

I was at the nail salon last week, and the woman next to me was saying how she was “supposed to be working from home but nobody knows I’m here”.

On my last contract I occasionally chose to WFH and didn't really like it. Loved that I and those who needed it had free choice tho. I had neurodivergent colleagues who thrived on it, and others who lived a huge long way off and would do monthly trips with B&Bs to fulfil the x days in office per month requirement. I think they rather treated that as a novelty.

When I was WFH I enjoyed being able to get up half an hour before starting. And going to the local cafe with the laptop for a change of scenery. And yes, when nipping downstairs for a coffee break I might also put some washing on, do some deadheading, wash up. As I worked in the bedroom I did sometimes find myself tidying the knickers drawer or changing the bed clothes while thinking something through. Never wanted to put the TV or radio on tho as I don't like distraction. Thing was - I delivered the work to some fantastic feedback.

I also may have given the impression a project would take longer than I knew it would so I could do scrolling, insta, LinkedIn etc and still deliver a bit early ...

There’s no excuse for either. I’ve been in the office and had to endure sittting at my desk and trying to concentrate while someone has wandered over and decided to have a bit of office ‘chatter’ with one of my colleagues and it can go on for up to half an hour. I want to ask them to keep the noise down but don’t feel that I can. It’s like they feel it’s ok and counts as working because they are chatting while in the office. I’m not surprised they feel that way because we’ve had lots of encouragement from HR about the benefits of ‘office chatter’ when pressing us to come in more.

Personally I have so much to get done I don’t want to chat and on the days I do go in I do so just to show up, sit down in a seat and do the same as what I would get done at home. In fact I would say I get significantly less done on days I’m in the office due to all the distractions when I need to focus on a particular task.

If someone can get away with dossing around at home and not working then their position obviously isn’t required or they are being selfish and bone idle and expecting some other poor soul to pick up the work that they can’t be bothered to do.

I’m in my home office working for my registered office hours other than taking lunch.

I might have a shower in my lunch break and put washing on, load the dishwasher etc but other than that I’m at my desk for my entire working day.