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?

Yes, let's say fate had a little hand in my decision (unexpected financial boost from an old pension in a previous job 😀) which enabled me to see a way out of my miserable current position, encouraged by my DH, who has been brilliant in encouraging me to retire, despite it meaning our savings will not be as great as they could be, at least I will be a lot happier without the constraints of a work routine - hopefully he can retire in a couple of years too, if finances work out (will try our best to make sure they do!).
Life is short, so if you can manage on less and still achieve things that fulfil you then go for it! 😉

Last Friday watched a Christmas film in the background in bed while doing some online training

Do you ever have almost a day off doing life admin?

You're taking the piss.

It's reasonable to do small chores here and there, similar to taking a coffee or tea break. However, activities like going to the gym or taking a bath should be done during a lunch break, not on company time.

I’m thinking about this thread today and how people are hopping mad at eh work habits of starburst they don’t know or work with 🤣

I WFH and yesterday had loads of meetings and tasks, worked pretty much non stop from around 8.30am until about 6pm (my working hours are 9-5) with not much of a break.

Today I started at 8am and I’ve finished my jobs already, including signing off on a large contract, and have no meetings so gonna take a few hours to MN, have a little nap and maybe watch some of the JonBenet documentary on Netflix. I’ll check my emails periodically and then do any work that crops up today before I go on the school run. Then taking DD to see Wicked at 4.30pm.

Those who say they have back to back meeting every day - when do you do work?!

Also for those who say they can get a call any minute - I’ll often meet a friend for lunch and even though I will block it out on my calendar, I will get a call through and always ignore it and message to say I’m out. How do you deal with calls coming through on breaks?

Do you not have a lunch hour?

Perhaps meetings are their job.

In my field there is a professional body that caters for such people.

The Institute of Meetings Engineers

Candidates for admission to the Institute as Corporate Members must have been employed as a Senior Meetings Engineer for at least five years in that capacity. They must be attending at least six meetings a week in a full-time capacity and be serving as chairman or secretary of at least four. They must satisfy the Council of the Institute that not more than ten percent of the meetings at which they officiated have made any meaningful decisions. In addition, the Candidate must convince the examiners that he/she is competent to disrupt meetings using any two of the following techniques:

• Temporary Absence
• Personal Reminiscence
• Total Irrelevance
• Obfuscation
• Incitement to Dither

Hahahaha

love it

I get more work done from home than I ever did in the office in less time, it’s allowed me to take on more responsibility and I’ve got an increased workload but I still have the chance to do life admin in the day time.
like you said often needing to work over in the evening or weekend when the need arises, it balances out and I don’t feel bad doing a load of washing or putting the vacuum round in “working hours” to gain myself some time back at the weekend.
I think most employers are open to that sort of work/life balance as they know it results (most often) in better productivity.

It’s interesting that the boorish martyrs who I alway found in office work bleating on about how they never stop, work through their lunch hour, work into the evenings etc because they’re the busiest bee in BeeTown, have the same attitude when WFH.

I always thought about those people “If the organisation has to get rid of you tomorrow they’ll do it in a heartbeat and won’t give a shit. Why are you working for free? Nobody cares and more fool you.”

100%

Why do people act like office workers aren’t always having a chat about Love Island, or are hosting others on their kitchen renovation, or are nipping to the kitchen constantly, or to the shop, or playing on their phones endlessly?

Oh and I try and spend at least half a day out the house when WFH. Usually I go for a day a week. And only whenever I have no meetings (I hate it when people do meetings from coffee shops as all I can hear is the clang of crockery in the background). I will got to the library, or a coffee shop to work, and will often meet a friend for lunch or do shopping while I’m out. Otherwise I get a bit of cabin fever and it’s not good for me. I did a couple of weeks ago work in a coffee shop and finished up my work for the day so went to the cinema at lunch to see a Cillian Murphy movie on my own. Bliss!

I’ve always had an hours lunch break in anny job - except when I worked flexi when we could decide but had to have a minimum of 30 minutes, which I only ever took, and maximum 2 hours. One job my lunch hour was mandatory 1hr 15 minutes! Which was way too long a when in the office I’d rather have left early. But an hour WFH is ideal, I get all my jobs done.

Exactly! Yesterday I had a meeting and some important reading to do in the morning, a load of spare time from around 1 - 5. Then I had a meeting that couldn't be done in work hours because the person is currently in the US. So I worked until about 8. More rare, usually it's just day time stuff. But because I had those hours off I was able to get my nails done, pick up the kids, do a family dog walk, then get back to work. DH did the kids tea, we shared bedtime and then I typed up a quick report and spent the evening relaxing.

Today I've had a very busy morning. This afternoon I'm busy-ish. If I get everything done today, tomorrow will be quieter and I'll be able to go and pick up some Christmas presents. While I was away from the desk yesterday I took four calls, sorted everything that needed sorting, and wrote 4 emails. Absolutely not a problem. I like being able to prioritise my own workload.

I never said it's dishonest to work from home. I work from home. But I actually work rather than having a bath or watching a film. And please spare me the 'worked hard to get where they are' speech. I have two degrees and several work-related qualifications through working my arse off. I've also chosen the career that best suits me. That doesn't automatically guarantee a high salary when you've sacrificed for your children and have to work to get to the top again. I realise these were my life choices, and bully for those who dick about all day and still get paid well, but posts like this are a bit of a kick in the teeth for those of us who actually work during working hours.

Why are you working for free?

What do you do on your lunch hour?

OP said she has a film on in the background. I do the same, I had Titanic on 😂 my desk doesn’t face the T so it is just for background noise. I can’t work without sounds, I find silence very eerie

If just ignore that person. WFH has been an absolute saviour for people with limiting illnesses and disabilities. My own CEO who is super productive and has taken profits through the roof since she started, could never work out the home due to caring and health issues. It’s bloody revolutionary and don’t be knocked by people who are frankly miserable and jealous.

I have ADHD so working from home suits me best - then employers can't see that I have long periods of procrastination followed by intense periods of hyper-focus. That's always been how I've worked and employers used to struggle with it when I worked in an office, even though I always got my work done on time and to a high standard. They just see the 'procrastination' bits as time you could be doing other things, rather than part of the process. (I have never told of any of them about the ADHD diagnosis).

Anyway, I do do some life admin at home, but no more than I'd do if I was in the office. Occasionally I'll do a bit of cleaning or whatever, but as mentioned I work to deadlines, so that kind of thing usually happens in the quieter part of the month when the deadlines aren't looming!

I WFH full time and honestly I am working for that full time - my job is really busy and I just don't have time to not work. The only thing I may ever do is take a bag of washing up if I go to the loo or something like that.

I can't work with noise which is another reason why I work fully remotely. Used to work in an office where Radio 6 was on all day and I ended up working at home every evening because I just couldn't focus in the office.

Depends on the day tbf. Sometimes we are rushed off our feet, other times it is very slow. I am a front-line manager and occasionally rostered to work later than a lot of my team (often on a Friday afternoon) so I will use the peace and quiet to tidy and clean my living room 😂

Will usually get a couple of loads of laundry done and unload/reload the dishwasher (just take my laptop/phone into kitchen with me in case I am needed).

I’m on maternity leave atm and kind of looking forward to RTW so I can get the house back in order whilst LO is at nursery 😳

There seem to be so many offended martyrs on this thread. Who are in a competition to show that they don't get 5 minutes as they're so busy that they cant have a lunch break or hang a load of washing out, let alone go for a pee ( all whilst posting on MN😶) .

Radio 6!! My sincere sympathies - even I wouldn’t like THAT kind of background noise!

I thought offices had to have licenses to play the radio but maybe it was just my old boss that said that to make people turn it off 🤣

I’m just waiting for someone to come along and say they have to use a She Wee at their desk because they’re so very busy they can’t possible leave it. Or just piss themselves

But can't you see that lots of people don't need to? My manager tells me not to. I'm in senior management and I don't let my staff do that. I know all their workloads. If it's 1pm and I know someone has got sod all until 4, I tell them to go and relax, do something else, not find busy work to do that doesn't actually need doing.

I had a new starter a while ago. She was insistent on working her 9-5, but she actually was just doing busy work. The things she was reading and sorting were incomplete manuscripts or documents. They didn't need to be prioritised until things had been sorted. I met with her in person, and the stress radiating off the woman!

I won't have that in my team. I work for a well known publication company, and it is a stressful job. Like fuck am I letting my team pile even more onto themselves. They're grown ups, not school kids. We're all able to organise our own workloads.