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 do my work and don’t skive off! It’s in the office that I struggle to get things done as it’s too distracting.

I have worked full time from home for over 10 years. I am a Senior lead and a line manager. I also have client calls, internal calls and deliverables to get finished. Some days / weeks are long and hectic, some are quiet. On my long days I can easily work 8am - 6pm with very few breaks, lunch eaten at my desk whilst in a call. Some days I do a 7am call or a 7pm call. When I travel for work I am not paid extra nor do I get time back for time spent travelling. This means that on quiet days I pop the washing on, walk the dog or make the bed in normal working hours. Sometimes I do this whilst plugged into an informational call or a training. It's called flexibility and it works great for my company / my boss and also for me. Other colleagues in Senior roles also do the same and work many late or early calls but go to the gym one afternoon a week or do a school pick up or what not. I am measured on delivering my job well and not on the hours I spent sat at my desk. I encourage my team to be equally flexible and most deliver really well, some need a push but I suspect they'd also be the coffee machine gnats who never seem to be at their desk even if they worked in an office.

This

When my son lived at home and had a WFH job this is what he did a lot of the time:

Woke up 5 mins before the morning teams call at 8.45, signed in and put it on mute while he got his coffee and breakfast.
He justified this as his contract started at 9 am

Did a load of work answering customer emails, saved all the replies in a file to dole at periodically throughout the rest of the day.

He said that he consistently worked on more cases than his colleagues and it's not his fault he was quicker so why should he do more work than everyone else.

Then he'd come chat to me for an hour, play with the dogs, call his friends, then take his lunch break.

The afternoon he worked on his hobby and periodically replied to emails from his morning session and occasionally answer calls.

He knocked off early to go to the gym and signed out of work at 5.30 from the gym.

Work smarter, not harder.

I've got my heatproof hat on but before you flame me, he worked for a global company owned by a billionaire that was dodgy and unethical af, didn't care about their customers and some of the stories he told me were actually heartbreaking.

Jesus I'd be sacked. I get more work done at hone than office due to lack of distractions/chat. I will do things like hang washing out while the kettle is boiling but that's it really. I don't go out, or watch films!

Sit at my desk all day and work
If it's quiet I can MN or read but nothing that involves moving from my desk

@toomuchfaff ive had a rough morning but being called a BOT has topped off my afternoon, thanks 😂

i think if you can do this (ie not very much) multiple days a week, you will start to look v unproductive and be at risk if they decide to restructure - but up to you!

Currently as little work as possible, but at the moment I'm working my notice period after quitting. Over the summer I often worked from 7am to 10pm or later and worked 10 weekends over the summer averaging over 10 hours per day for weekends. I would often not be able to take breaks due to workload and survived on cereal and takeaways. The writing was in direct response to the workload!

God I’m working! Teams meetings, data lifts, presentations, calls with clients. Answering queries, etc etc.

At lunchtime I like to hoover the living room because it hurts to sit down at the desk all day

My role is customer service so no, I am constantly working when WFH. If I went missing from the phone lines it would be noticed.

I have pretty much back to back meetings, catch ups, training/mentoring sessions on teams, interspersed with occasional gaps in which I try to get my actual work done.

If it's a slower day I might go and turn around the dishwasher (or even have a lunch break!) but that's the exception rather than the rule.

I don't do housework jobs or watch tv in work time, no. I work damn hard and it's back-to-back most days. I go for a run in my lunch break - that's it.

I am similar to you. When I am busy I crack on with work and have worked into the night/over the weekend, but during the downtimes in between I do other things but always have laptop on/phone with me in case anything crops up.

My job is project/deadline-based so it's not a case of having general tasks to do every day. When I have work on, I have work on - when I'm between jobs there is little else except a few training modules etc.

I'm pretty much glued to my laptop!!

Work.
But we run our own business so if we don’t do the work we don’t earn the money. Can’t grift off a company whilst doing the ironing and making pies here.

I don't know what everyone else was doing because he was always in the top 2 performance wise. I think his manager took the view that as long as the work got done then it was fair enough, especially as she was barely available herself! Obviously depends on the job and position though.

I'll do a wash or maybe fanny about on my phone for ten minutes while I wait for processes to run, but other than that it's work. I get on much better with it than in the office. Quiet and easy to concentrate. I am partially help desk so people would notice me missing. Looking forward to skiving during my Christmas on call 😂

I work late some days and take a long lunch on other days. It evens out - my job is reasonably senior and task based so as long as I’m getting things done, no one minds.

When I worked (now retired). I was the mistress of flexible working. I was a lecturer so had to attend the days I had lectures/ meetings etc, but worked from home - marking, preparing lectures/reports etc sometimes I did very little, sometimes I was up at 4am marking dissertations, sometimes I worked to 9pm preparing.

What I did eventually realised was that I felt guilty at night if I wasn't working, the home/work balance was completely blurred. It took a good few years of retirement to sort that one out

This again. I work and I have breaks. I have more flexibility than I did in the office, partly because the role allows for it, partly because I am more senior and partly because I have more wiggle room in day due to no commute.

I think it might be because there are so many threads about this issue.

I wouldn't get away with that in my job, though I do appreciate the opportunity to put a wash on when wfh.

I'm at my desk working all day. I'll try to stick a load in the washing machine or empty the dishwasher while my coffee brews, and right now I've stopped for a moment to have snack as I realised I missed lunch. But that's it.

You utter spoilsport.