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?

All the stuff I do in the office pus a slightly longer working day and I find it quite intense as all conversations are purposeful and work related - no chats with colleagues.

I work hard, but not always from home. I do have flexibility in my hours, so I went to the gym 9.30 - 11am (but that wasn't;t during my working time). Come home, get changed quickly, eat early lunch then I drove to a local coffee shack place and did some dictation and report writing in my car while drinking coffee in the carpark, then I went into a cafe and worked solidly from 2pm - 4pm, then came home and did another 1hr and 15 minutes at home. I get bored if I am sat at home the entire day, though some days I do do that.

I usually have a list if worrk tasks from previous day...so I do tgem m first...reply to emails...
I do work when I'm working at home...
I do go for.l a walk them day...eat healthy lunch...and might start dinner at bang on 5pm or before if I'm finished...
As I want to work from home I don't take the piss....
I often have appointments for family members but I take leave I wouldn't just skip off...cause if we all did that...won't be long till we are all back in the offices full time if people keep taking the mick...

I work. I might put on some washing, but just usually to get away from the computer for 5 mins. I used to do that at my office, but then I have a chat with someone over a coffee.
If anything I probably work harder as the office with my laptop is at home, so easy to do a few bits of work if I need to catch up etc

As does my line manager several times a week at this time of year, his wife is a teacher, any slight ripples in the plans are down to him to fix. It’s not a big deal, parents trying to juggle work and family need all the help they can get. God knows they’re not getting it from anywhere else. He does his work well.

I loved working from home during Covid. Felt there was more balance and I wasn’t spread so thinly. My house was in order as I did housework during my breaks and I had more time for the important stuff and I loved my daily hour of exercise to finish the day off with. I actually worked and was really busy and found I was more productive. Didn’t have all the background mental chatter going on thinking of jobs I had to do once home as I was on top of it all. I played Disney films during my working hours to listen to and enjoyed life more. DH still works from home and loves it. Unfortunately he doesn’t clean or pick up after himself as well as he should so sometimes I come home and I’m straight into my other non paid job. I’m more stressed again and not enough hours in the day. Made me realise what was important WFH. Now everything is back to being shit and having no time and always rushing about.

Intention to gloat or to be funny? Not easy to decipher but either way, your post doesn't give wfh a good name or office workers even. I know many who wfh/in an office and most of them are conscientious and apply themselves, others ttp and do the bare minimum because they can.

It is a luxury though to be in a mtg and do other things alongside, especially scroll, watch TV, unload a wash etc. When in a workplace where you have to be alert at all times it's different so if your intention is to continue to illustrate and compound the differences between them then I'm sure you have added to this (mis) conception.

She doesn't do her job well, probably because she looks after her 3 children under 7 after school everyday - going through performance management.

But even if she did do her job well, it's not my problem to arrange big meetings because she wants to cheap out on childcare. It's her responsibility to catch herself up on the discussion.

Where does it end? I have a team of 45. Next I will get requests to arrange meetings around pilates, dog walks, naps..

If they pay me to work 8 hours a day,then I am stealing if I don’t.
if I have to get certain jobs done ,and done well, then it’s up to me when I do it.

I hate the whole working from home for or against thing. Depends who you are and how it fits with your lifestyle, type of job and ambition. I personally think it’s awful for young people trying to learn and make connections , everyone moans they can’t do the job properly yet no one can arsed to go in the office and show them. Yet of course for people with a busy family life it’s so much easier.
Work is just work now with no real relationships or culture it’s very transactional, communication is generally pretty poor you don’t find things out in the same way.
I would say I don’t ‘skive’ anymore than I would have in the office it’s just I feel guilty if I do nip out whereas if I had a chat with someone in the office I wouldn’t of. I can completely understand why work companies have specific days contractually when they ask employees to come in as otherwise people just don’t it’s too tempting to just sit at home! So like most things it’s balance with it all to try and meet needs of businesses and types of employees….

It sounds like whether you are in the officer or at home that your job isnt very busy and you dont have many taks / objectives / outcomes to achieve. If you did have these things then wherever you were working from it would be obvious you werent doing them. Where I work it is a heavy workload. I get more done from home as it is quieter with less distractions. I get my work done. I often work into the evenings whehter I am working from home or the office. In fact often when working from the office I end up working evenings as I didnt get as much done.
I will (on what would be my breaks anyway) tidy up / load dishwasher/ put washing machine on). Just as at work I would wash the cups etc. You dont sound productive at home at all. Most people however I think are productive at home - otherwise it would be really obvious really quickly (when you are managed properly with an appraisal and objectives).

If I didn't work solidly through I wouldn't get everything done that I needed. It would be quickly noticed.

I suppose the only difference is that on my office days I might have a chat while waiting for the kettle to boil, mid morning, whereas at home I might shift the wet laundry out the washer into the dryer.

I wear comfy pants and slippers when I WFH though, and save 1.5 hours on commute time so it's still a win!

It's not being too cheap, our school stopped providing it during the pandemic.

Plus I had two different employers competing for me so I picked the one that said I could do school runs over the other one.

Yep, I work. Often work longer hours too as I don’t have to leave on time to get my lift home. Also, we log into the system and the amount of time we spend in each task is noted. My health condition means I am ‘allowed’ to move around every hour so I may stick the washing on but I get paranoid TBH

Work - rarely take a decent break or my lunch, start 2 hours early and leave at least 1 hour late - I wish I could skive but it’s not an option in my industry

Clearly a joke but could you imagine an emergency crew coming to your aid being an utter spoilsport? Oh teacher ignoring your classes all day, shuss no one will know. Police officer, sorry no I've got to go home and feed the dogs so can't chase the murderer/rapist. In the real world ...

I can concentrate better at home and am way more productive.. so much so that I can afford to get life admin done too. My output at work is greater, I get more of my shit done, and I’m not knackered by the commute. We have busy periods at work which require working to midnight at certain times of the year, and as someone who needs to sign of the work of others, I’ve actually logged in after 3 am milk feeds to review and sign off the work of junior team members who might have submitted the work at midnight, so the whole team can hit the ground running in the morning. I don’t mind this because I know I can sleep in for the time I’d be commuting, or I can have a slower start in that commute time.

Working from home has been brilliant when you’re working with brilliant people. During Covid, even new joiners took to it like a fish to water, but there’s always going to be a problem few, to be fair however c those problem people would have been/ are still a problem without work from home.

Maybe office work isn't really that difficult then? If wfh or in office and you can skive that much? Noone seems to be actually giving a good case, just seems who can skive the most?

I agree.. definitely more intense. I’m always mentally drained by the end of the day, but I know the team’s got lots done and been productive.

Lol. Two of my teachers were having an affair and spent half the lesson popping into each others classrooms to flirt (and this was at a well respected private school)

Indeed but also those who have had to go back to the office aren't painting in a good light either. I get more done wfh (the laundry, Netflix catch up, mute meetings) and the apparently so much chatting so don't work?

I have the tv on in the background but I don't take the mick. I'll make food etc. but that's about it. Knowing my luck the one time I do try and do housework or leave the laptop, I'd get loads of phone calls!

I feel I have a balance of personal errands and work. Some people won’t agree but I never take a full lunch break at home instead I take 10 minutes here and there. To put some washing on, have my shopping delivered etc. People would say I’m taking the piss but in the office I talk loads so get a lot less done and always take a full hour lunch. People forget also you are supposed to take regular screen breaks if solely working at a computer which would account for the 10 minutes every 90 minutes or so that I take without even considering my lunch break. I work better at a desk so do tend to sit at a desk however if I’m not feeling well I tend to work from the sofa with the tv on. Again though if I was in the office I would be calling in sick so they still get more work out of me as I only do that on days I’m ill. There are definitely people who do nothing when WFH and I will probably get slated for the above but I know my work gets done. We have to provided performance figures monthly so my boss would easily see and pull me up if they didn’t think I was doing enough.

Well I went to the office today rather than wfh. You’ll be delighted to know I went shoe shopping this morning and then went to see Wicked this afternoon 😁. But I’m working a bit (at home) this evening on and off.

I am scheduled to work from 9 to 5 with an hour for lunch. I am logged on to my laptop by 8.45 and work until 1 o'clock when I take my lunch. I then log back on at 2 and work until 5. I will take a bathroom break if I need to (just as I would in the office) but other than that I work. I don't shop, I don't hang washing, I don't take a walk. I work, which is what my firm pays me to do!