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?

This will probably make many of you rage (👀 @Glasgow1996 ) but me and DH have just finished our weekly personal training session - during the work day!! 😱🤯

Well clearly I didn’t understand you saying ‘I knew it was always there but just not as much as working from home now’ - an absolutely meaningless sentence.

I'm off to get my nails done! 😂 Finished everything I needed this morning, have a meeting at 5pm on Teams, so I'm off to get a wintery manicure and a coffee! My team know where I am, they can reach me via the great invention of mobile phone.

In the function I work in (business analyst/data), it's really common to come across people saying, "I'm SO BUSY. I don't have a spare five minutes. I have so much to do!"

But really there's a lot of redundancy in what everyone does. The busiest people, in my experience, are often the least efficient or effective - or they're being managed in the least efficient or effective ways.

This isn't new - there have been plenty of theorists and studies about productivity that say the same.

So I'm not shy of saying that I do chores whilst WFH, because I don't have the mentality of a Victorian workhouse manager.

I'm proud that I've learned how to be effective at work, to manage the innate ebbs and flows of human behaviour and productivity, and most of all that I don't have a stick up my arse about work. It's unhealthy to valorize work. Most of it is bullshit anyway.

I don’t work wfh, have to go into the office 9-5….
but a friend of mine works for the local county councils works dept, that cover all the social housing. They are wfh and honestly what he has said is a real eye opener. He says the dept is over staffed, occasionally there maybe urgent repairs, but mostly is just scheduled repairs and box ticking work. He works about 2-4 hours a day, mostly online meetings…which he states are completely unnecessary and just to use up time. Most other stuff is just palmed out to the junior admin staff, in their offices, as it’s just completing forms and report writing, or forwarding onto the next process.
these people are paid by our local rates….😡

A very prestigious and well-paid one. And where did you extrapolate the information that it was an hour???

You're funny.

You're also very wrong. I cover one of the highest caseloads in my team, and my work is excellent. It's called efficiency.

They are just jealous. I wish I too could go out occasionally during the work day but my head of service would go apeshit.

I work. If you are doing your own thing to claim back hours worked in the evenings and weekends fair enough. Piss takers who just laze about and actually brag about it too spoil it for those of us who work really hard at home and appreciate the privilege. I find it really hard to focus in the office and would struggle to manage my workload if I wasn't able to do some homeworking. It's really unfair that some people loose the option to work at home because they have lazy colleagues who take advantage of it.

Because our head of service is very rigid, old fashioned and welded to presenteeism. It also means I can react if someone does contact me.

I actually work far more than my paid hours, so no need for any knickers in any twists. I just prefer to do most of it when I am at my most productive and that's in the afternoon/evening. I do work in the mornings (the example was an exception!) but I am not a morning person, never have been, so I achieve less. I am "doing what I'm meant to be doing". Tons of bricks would be descending on my head pdq if I wasn't!

Of course there's plenty of scheduled meetings at any time of the day!

We'd never run out of work either - there's continually new cases added to our workload. My manager monitors who's got what. She's only ever suggested I pass one or two to a colleague because I have so many.

I think my team's manager would spontaneously combust at the very idea!

I've had a manager like that, even in this same industry. Bloody miserable, I remember one year she cancelled our summer BBQ and made us do an office party with a kids style buffet. Pretty sure she was just pissed off because she wasn't invited. 😂

I have the sort of job where anyone can call me at any time and can also see the status of my computer and whether I'm away (I think it times out after 15 minutes of not being touched.) So there would be zero chance of me being able to go out to the gym or get my nails done or whatever during my working day. I need to be available to answer calls and there would be questions if I wasn't.

But I do sometimes stick a wash on while the kettle boils, or prep dinner at lunchtime, or listen to a podcast while I'm working which I can't do when I'm in the office. But essentially I'm on call and can't be out and about or having a bath!

He’s bloody lucky. We lost all our admin staff more than 3 years ago. They were the tendons holding it all together. We have to do it all ourselves now, it’s a mess and it adds so many hours to my week. As for junior staff I’d bloody love that, since vacancy control started we’ve had no one new in the team, it’s just us olds now aging out with no succession plans at all and desperately trying to straddle the gaps.

Yes same.
IT also require you to sign in occasionally with a passcode (so mouse wigglers can't be used - not that I would anyway but I know on past threads people have pointed this out).

WFH is working. I'm sorry that some people have an issue with it. If you can't do it in your current role get another job or retrain .

I work my arse off for nine hours a day. I'm clearly doing this wrong 😆Working with clients across North America doesn't help.

But it's nice to be able to take time off for daytime medical appointments, and I must admit I don't start until 10am, which leaves me time to get some chores done.

I just got a message from someone in my team asking me to reschedule team meetings because she is on the school run at that time...🙄

So? I do the school run instead of taking a lunch break.

Same! I do a good stint on the laptop…maybe 90 mins.

Then a break and do a quick job like load a dishwasher

My house is definitely cleaner because of wfh and no commute.

I’m a fundraiser and write bids so I have to get quite a lot done and if I don’t bring money in my job would be in question. I have to ensure my work is good quality and done in a timely manner. I can do a few small bits like put the washing machine on or make the bed while I have a screen break but I couldn’t take advantage. I wouldn’t want to either as I work for a charity I feel morally obligated to do a good job :)

There are 45 people in my team, I can't schedule meetings around everyone else's personal commitments. 3pm is a perfectly normal time to have a meeting.

If you're too cheap to pay for childcare, you can catch up later

Pretty much the same
As long as all my work is done I can do pretty much what I please

Worked hard whether in office or on home days. Worked at different times if at home, eg could start really early or log on late at night and then balance out during the day if necessary. Noticed a lot of non-work related nattering in office, more than really needed for human contact, team morale etc. Could get over focused on work when at home. On balance, the Company did well out of my home working. Amusing how few managers are able to manage out of office workers, but then they are usually the ones who don't manage people well at all.

And perhaps this is part of the context for people who work constantly all day versus people who flex. Our primary stakeholder is our private equity beneficial owing ultimate shareholder. They pay me very well, so I’m motivated to do just enough work that they keep on doing that; but I don’t feel any sense of moral or social obligation or personal fulfilment about to go beyond that. I’m pretty sure they’re not sitting behind a desk 9-5, so I’m not going to, either.

I can see how your approach may well be different if you see yourself as literally saving lives or helping out a cause you’re passionate about.