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?

I WFH often. Cannot believe people go to the supermarket, go for a run (during work not lunch) and "potter jn garden with glass of wine" FFS!

I will hang out washing, put a load on while boiling kettle for a coffee but no sodding off, watching telly, cleaning, gardening or drinking etc. That's just kicking the arse right out of it.

What I always notice is those Teams colleagues who are green but never answer - always a call back later with some excuse. Obviously can happen to anyone occasionally. But, there is a definite pattern of same people consistently unavailable at first attempt.

start work at 730am, finish at 530pm take 20 mins for lunch. Once a week take the hour if I have an apt, work in the evening / weekend.

Loads more work than I do in the office!! Less distractions, no commute, calmer and clearer headed! The day runs away with me tbh, I enjoy it. Rarely do much else! Put an occasional wash on but that's it really

I don’t know anyone who does but I imagine your personality doesn’t fundamentally change. If you’re a hard worker you’ll be that whether at home or in an office. If not - same applies.

I work more than my contracted hours almost every week. I take smaller, more regular breaks to put the odd wash load on or make a snack and I am allowed to be very flexible in the times I work. However, my teams are in 3 different time zones so quite often I will start early and finish late. From time to time I may have to work longer hours but if there is a slack period (not often) I can recoup some of that time. Could I get away with doing less? Yes, but I would never take the mick because that would be like stealing in my book.

Reading the comments on this thread it appears there are two types of people. Those that act like children who should really be working in the office because they can’t be trusted to WFH because when they do they doss around and abuse their employers trust and don’t care if they don’t meet deadlines/ rely on other colleagues to pick up the slack, and the rest of us who are conscientious care about doing a good job and actually bother to work when WFH.

You can clearly tell who falls into which camp where I work - it’s blatantly obvious.

I’m more productive at home. The only difference is I get to have a nicer lunch as I can make something for myself in my own kitchen. I used to hate my husband working from home because he just would not switch off, and would actually end up working more hours as he wouldn’t stop for a break and he’d work into the evening due to different time zones.

I put loads of washing into the machine and hang it up when finished or when I remember, but that’s about it. The rest of the time is spent actually working.

Do those people also have a mobile? I've noticed this a lot with managers who have several hundred staff and get called on their mobile god knows how many times a day!

Admin. Emails. Reports. I have no choice. The days I'm in, I'm in the lab all day.

I have a confession too. We have divisional days when everyone in my area of work meet up and get bullshitted/senior managers blow smoke up their own arses/they bring in motivational speakers who tell us to challenge but you get the balls ripped off you if you do challenge anything. Can you tell, it's a toxic environment?! I once pulled up our director for failing to mention our area of work while vaunting other sections!! I don't give a shit - if it needs saying then I will say it. He actually thanked me for pointing it out. Did our team manager say anything? Did she fuck. She called me "challenging and insubordinate" once because I queried something trivial. I said, "don't you challenge [director] if you don't agree with something he says?" She said, "no"....!!!

So anyway, one of these shite events was organised fairly early into Covid. I decided to join in from bed. I was late logging on - as were lots of people because there were so many of us! - and my line manager gave me a bollocking for not being on at the very start!! I was so pissed off that she felt the need to check up on me when the tech wasn't quite up to it!

I managed to fall asleep for the entire session, only waking up towards the end. I know I didn't miss anything. After the bollocking, did I give a shiny shit? No, it felt like a small victory!

You might be forgiven for thinking I am very junior. I'm not. I am professionally qualified. I have 2 degrees and several postgrads which is more than my previous line manager (one A level) and team manager (no degree or professional qualification). I am thankful to have had a new line manager for the last year who actually knows how to manage!!

I can literally say that, in coming up to 5 years of wfh, I have never turned the TV on during the day.

In that case, you're not managing your staff as you should be!

So what if she is getting her work done? I was away for the weekend and was tired this morning so I dozed in bed while swiping right on Teams! I had a meeting with my line manager in the afternoon, and I drafted three letters and started on several reports this evening. I think I covered myself!

Not just any lawn mowing dog. A lawn mowing dog that works from home 😁

@allmyliesaretrue so you honestly believe a team of 50 people all have the same ethics and if they take the puss it's always a management issue?

Don't be silly, by basic odds you are always going to find those at work who bend rules or skive no matter who manages them.

Yes it reduces the chances but people are people and sadly can be distracted by home life no matter who they are.

And here's me working in a minimum wage job that's constantly short staffed, run ragged barely time to pee and people who i bet are earning triple what I do baking pies, going shopping, taking naps and having baths during their work day.

Not all jobs roles and organisations are the same.

The froth is really ridiculous, I'm sorry if you have a full on role which needs you to be on all the time. I don't, my work is completed in the first few hours of the day, I'm then responding to emails, whatsapp and calls for the rest of the day. Sometimes there's loads, sometimes there's none. I realise I'm lucky but my low workload isn't spoiling it for the rest of you 🙄.

What’s the problem? Are you saying there is one? I can’t tell. We’re a happy household with happy employers/clients 🤷‍♀️

I rarely wfh but get loads more done when I do.
I have a lovely home office that makes me feel really productive and comfortable but I do take advantage of the washing machine being by the kettle etc. I can stick a load in in the time it takes to boil the kettle.
Instead of a commute I go for a walk or work out.

I should move away from my desk for breaks which is something that I need to work on.

Same. TV is an evening/weekend activity. I don't like to blur the lines.

Admin, TEAMS meetings and online training.
But mainly admin.

The question asked what people do when WFH.
If you have a role where you are not actually needed to work during your contracted hours and your manager is fine with that, then you're not shirking, you're working flexibly and filling the flexible hours with non-work things.

People are 'frothing' about those who are meant to be working, but aren't.

If WFH has allowed people to manage their working hours better but are still fulfilling their contract then that's a good thing, but that's not what this is about.

Some people are proud to make it look like they're working when they're not.

I do have a full time role which challenges me. It's hard. But it's what I'm employed to do and I enjoy it. I would feel very uneasy slacking off.

I quite often have the TV on in background! Or a podcast or music. If I'm doing design work then I like the background noise/sense of movement in the room. But we always have a TV on in the office too (for work reasons).

Tbh the only thing this thread shows is that jobs and companies are all very different.

Gently I suggest that if you're bitter about your minimum wage job that is working you to the bone, then you look into upskilling to open up more opportunities. I've worked for a long time to get to the point where I'm in a job where it's about your talent and knowledge, not the hours you put in, and my company recognises output over clocking in and out (we don't have any time recording software at all - the only way to know people are in is if they are producing what they need to do, which everyone does because it's immediately obvious if you aren't).

My own manager will pop out to get the kids from school and quite often has a child in background on a Teams call. No one cares. They give us freedom and in return we are flexible and produce high quality work.

I WFH full-time. I mostly work, but I do so when it's convenient for me rather than sticking to a rigid 9-to-5 format that doesn't work either for me or my job.

I have a creative role where I don't have to be available for meetings or indeed interaction with my colleagues without any warning. My job has major ebbs and flows across the year and I work across multiple time zones.

I start by catching up on emails, news and everything that's happened overnight pretty much the minute I wake up, while having a coffee and breakfast. During the working day, if I have to be online at specific times for specific things I'll know about it. The rest of the time is mine to organise as I please. Sometimes I'll work flat out but I'll usually be able to go for a run or pop to the shops or potter round the house and garden (with a glass of wine, yes) or listen to music or read magazines. If it's a really slow day I'll sometimes meet a local friend for lunch. If I'll be away from my desk for an hour or more I'll pop a note in Teams. I'm still contactable if anyone really needs me.

If I'm not out in the evening, I'll often be "occasionally" present in that I'm not necessarily at my desk but I can fire off an email or two to colleagues in different time zones or get myself shipshape for the next day before I go to bed.

I don't consider leisure time in the UK daytime to be skiving because firstly, I'll do work before 9am and after 5pm if that's the convenient time for it to happen. And secondly the time away from my desk clearing my head and getting exercise is crucial to the quality of my work. If I just worked flat out at my desk for eight straight hours my ideas and execution would both suffer (as would my job satisfaction).