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?

There's some kickback. It's never going to be the way things were pre-Covid. The world has moved on. Plus some jobs really lend themselves to WFH more than others.

That’s mad…being able to do other things during the working day

School drop off…back by 8am, start

wee/coffee grab through the day. Finish at 3

school pick up

life admin until about 530

And some people have a lot of work to do, i deal with deceased cases…my work level never goes down

I just think it's a bad idea to generalise on this subject. Jobs, organisations, people, sectors...there's so much variation. Never one simple answer. And no reason why there would be.

I used to work from home in the early noughties, when I worked for the head office of a high street bank. I was based an hour away and travelled a lot to see customers, but if I didn't have meetings I could stay home.

Yes - I might spend the morning gardening and keep my phone with me - but then work until midnight once we'd eaten and I'd washed up. Just whatever was convenient for me.......

We were all treated like adults and expected to do our work in whatever hours we needed. If in the office I could take as long as I liked for lunch - or we all disappeared for the world cup all afternoon! But equally I would take calls at ten at night - or work 70 hours a week for three weeks when it was the annual pay review. Or I would travel across the country and put in loads of hours - so I think it all came out in the wash. We were paid for doing the job not hourly.....

I am sure there are some real p-takers out there - but OP sounds as though she makes up the hours when it suits. Which is fine. You all know if you're giving good value or not.........

I work. I have to record all my time in 6 minutes units for my day and 75% is chargeable to clients. Lack of work would be noticed and you can't time dump either.

I work my arse off. I'd get nothing done if I had to comment and sit in an open plan office. That would be a holiday for me.

This

And I get things like washing loads swapped over, composter emptied and other small domestics. My view is that they recommend 5 mins away from your screen every hour, so at least make them a beneficial 5 mins!

I get so much more done at home than in the office. WFH is a rare treat for me though.

I also wear trackies and a t-shirt, which is a definite perk.

Wait, you save an hour and a half commuting but then spend that time working? Why?. You don't get paid to commute or spend time commuting, so what are you 'making up' for? Wfh isn't a special privilege we need to over overcompensate for. And you definitely shouldn't feel guilty for not commuting?! Especially when many can get more work done at home during their normal hours than in the office anyway.

I'm not having a go by the way. I just don't understand this. Commuting is absolutely awful and I'm so glad I don't have to waste my life doing that anymore (I wfh home full time in case its not obvious)

@gardenflowergirl
If you have tech guys and the owners actually care about it. If the owners are happy with the work being done then they are not bothered. It's quite incredible that some of you cannot envisage more flexible job roles.

Nothing dishonest about WFH or delivering outcomes in way which people choose that suits them. Very honest!
And most people who earn high salaries have worked very hard and made good decision to get qualified and choose career wisely. Not everyone has the same opportunity I appreciate, but those who have worked and sacrificed and made good decisions...well done them.

I agree you can be more productive at home. No interruptions. No office chit chat. Steady flow of work.

I work full days but on my own hours. I'm just about to start work and will work through until about 1pm - so 5 solid hours. Then won't start again until about 4 and work through until 7. I don't need to work office hours, so as long as I put in a good 8 hours a day, it's fine. I have low energy in the afternoons, so prefer to use that time to go for walks, do laundry, surf the net for good Christmas and holiday deals, and get back to work when my brain is sharp.

It’s already in the DM! I saw it online yesterday afternoon.

Yes, I read the DM as it’s mostly free to read and I am capable of filtering out the bias and poor quality of writing in able to get a brief outline of world events.

Bingo

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14127519/Woman-furious-debate-REALLY-does-working-home.html www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14127519/Woman-furious-debate-REALLY-does-working-home.html]]]]

Hope everyone realises now that the OP is a blatant DM journo, which I believe I did say early on :)

It's total gutter journalism. They even pretend the OP was just some random MN user. And the DM are obsessed with WFH, I was struggling to find the article initially so googled "daily main wfh article" and there's one every couple of weeks, all slagging off wfh skivers.

Either the DM don't let their journalists wfh and they're totally bitter or they're the biggest bunch of hypocrites going!

Shouldn’t be anything to worry about on a personal level given it’s an anonymous forum! We all choose to post. But yes not great of them morally!

So what? The debate comes around every day it seems, the comments are always the same, the DM 'article' is shite and the comments pretty much mirror the MN discussion.

Never post anything on a public forum that you don't want to share.

I think half the people commenting on this thread were just on a wind up to be fair.

and I expect any sensible employer makes their decision based on actual productivity not a daily mail troll thread

Given the quality of writing I expect most of them are written while the "journalist" is out shopping /at the hairdresser's

It gets their readers frothing at the mouth, that's why they do it. Same with all the Meghan and Harry articles. It is just another way they can divide the country. They are absolute scum.

Yep, same with the Telegraph. Trying to rage bait their key demographics.

These posts confirm how much I miss out on, having to work at the office all the time 😒. Missing the commute each way would be great, as would save me some time (only approx 30 - 40 mins each way depending on traffic, but still would be welcome), plus petrol, plus staff car parking fees, but mainly because I could spend more time with my dog and take her for a quick walk in middle of day (in daylight), put on washing, hang up washing, bit of polishing/cleaning, prepare dinner etc.... yes, I would love to get all those chores done during day instead of rushing around like a demented woman every evening, you guys are so lucky and I hope you appreciate it, it sounds like you do, good on you! 😉

Why not have a look around? It sounds like even hybrid could work well for you.

Thanks, but I have been searching on and off over past few years with no luck, but now I have decided to take early retirement in 4 months' time, so I will have so much more precious time for chores and to do some well earned
self-indulgent activities then😀 - so I am literally counting the working days until then!

You have bigger fish to fry then!