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?

😂😂😂😂

It’s not an ‘idea’ or a myth. Everybody knows that the ONLY reason people are desperate to wfh is because it means they can, and do, skive. All the bs about being more productive at home is a crock of shit and we all know it

bollocks

So NOTHING to do with the fact that is saves time, effort and money then? That's the main advantage for me.

Not to mention avoiding office politics, reducing chances of sickness (no germs from office ventilation systems and public transport), no more colleagues smelly fish in microwave stinking up office, allows them to spend more time with their kids because they don't have to worry about an hour commute each way, increased flexibility (e.g. I can work on the weekends if I needed to which I couldn't if working from office as it wouldn't be open).

even if you still think skiving is also a contributory factor it's idiotic to dismiss ANY other potential benefits.

I do a job where we have to record chargeable hours (to bill clients). I generally do nearly twice as much chargeable work when WFH. Office time there are more distractions, it's hard to concentrate etc.

I'm not sure that's right, as long as they're available to respond to any calls from work during normal working hours, and as long as the work gets done (they say they work late and at weekends so it balances out).

It's different of course if you work in, say, a customer care role which requires you to be constantly interacting with customers during working hours, but otherwise I don't think it's a problem.

I have ADHD and that kind of working pattern would work very well for me and likely make me more productive overall.

(clicked wrong button & can't delete... but can edit?!)

Work, with music playing out loud.

But when boiling the kettle for tea I usually do a couple of bits around the kitchen.

Lunch breaks (if I take them) are cooking dinner or catching up with sleep.

Most importantly I'm around for my mentally ill SO and get to spend every precious second I can will my child.

I don't anymore but when I did basically anything but work, sometimes actually fuck all. I miss working from home...🤣

I’m more productive on my days wfh and have a better mindset as no one to p me off / ask me to do ridiculous things (go and buy milk / wash cups etc - going to decline these from now on )
I do sometimes have TV on in the background . I always ensure I go for a long walk at lunchtime too !
Id weather is bad I’ll take / collect son from school - 15 mins each return journey !
I have been to the gym but it’s too rushed so do that in the evening !
I don’t take the p .

Seems I am the odd one out here as when I work from home I do loads and loads of work - far more than I do in the office as there is nobody talking to me all the time! I will put the washing on in the morning but then forget all about it as I am so busy working, and I take the dog for a walk at lunchtime but then end up working late to make up the time. Looks like I am in the wrong job!

Maybe this is why so many companies are insisting on a return to office working.....

I used to manage the software allowing people to work from home, this was only for certain days, usually a Friday.

We monitored mouse movement and login data and sleep mode and initially did not share this with the business or let people know we were doing this.

We found that mouse movement and sleep mode monitoring demonstrated 5 times more activity for people in the office than those at home, we had a few people who never logged in from home.

When we advertised the fact that we were doing this and passed the data to the business it changed to about half as much activity at home as opposed to 20%.

We had open table discussions and it was hilarious seeing people who had never logged in or had minimal activity saying how more productive they were at home, data does not lie my view is that unless people have something that is completely measurable WFH means working less and is better for the employee not the business or the customer.

if everyone was more productive at home then this would mean more work was being done and less people would be needed and mass unemployment would take place and this the reason cited p, has this happened ? Of course not.

My view is many people tell porkys about how they work at home for fear of having this benefit taken away. So don’t kid yourself or think you are hoodwinking others, again unless it’s completely measurable people who work from home do less than they would in the office.

I just work. Find it a lot more effective than office where I end up chatting. I only work 4-5 h per day (part time role) do don't take breaks other than having a tea or coffee. Housework is done after I finish work. It's much more productive to WFH than office work as I don't have distractions.

It’s the time saved by not commuting that helps. My days in the office I’m too knackered to do many housework jobs by the time I get in.
It’s easier to concentrate on complicated tasks at home. Only the cat to come and disturb me : )

You're kidding yourself if you think your one singular experience is generally applicable. You must know remote work covers a diverse range of sectors and roles, and that over the last few years the UK has suffered from skills shortages so the unemployment point doesn't make sense.

Honestly, people could just say this is my experience and it didn't work for us. They could even say they don't think it works in their specific role/sector. But some of you just cannot seem to help yourselves. If something has happened to you, that means it has to be the one true experience with no room for deviation.

When I first started at my current company I would clean the bathroom etc. I took an entry level job I could do with my eyes closed (data entry basically). However since then I’ve been promoted twice and done 5 different roles in 3.5 years. As soon as I got out of the entry level position I stopped doing life admin during work as the work was more interesting!

I do put washing on etc during my lunch break though.

IMO if you are working late and weekends then that is because you aren’t working during your contracted hours! Get your life back, focus during your contracted hours and use your evenings and weekends for you rather than missing out on family time. Nobody ever said they wished they worked more on their death bed.

The fact that your company were monitoring mouse movement rather than output tells me everything I need to know about that company.

And that they did that without being upfront about the monitoring in the first place. No wonder people weren’t working - the employer doesn’t trust them!

You trust people until they give you a reason not to. As a manager I have had to withdraw the privilege of working from home, but only because their output was significantly reduced and sometimes non-existent on WFH days. Not because they didn’t tap their keyboard or move their mouse enough. That sort of monitoring is lazy and intrusive with no real basis in fact - some people don’t use the mouse much and will use shortcut keys and vice versa.

I am glad I don’t work for the sort of company that would do this.

Those of you saying that you only need to get the job done and don’t need to be present - What job do you have?

My view is many people tell porkys about how they work at home for fear of having this benefit taken away. So don’t kid yourself or think you are hoodwinking others, again unless it’s completely measurable people who work from home do less than they would in the office

i don’t work less at home, someone people probably do but its not everyone that works from home. Stupid generalisations are just that….stupid

I know someone who works from home and actually does TWO jobs at the same time. Has no problem completing the work and doing the meetings. Quite long hours overall, but fits it all in.

I work from home. And I make sure the task is done. I make sure I’m on my desk or the computer is on for the hours needed. And if I need a break (which in the office would look like going to the shops quickly, I don’t smoke but for those of you that have regular 30 min cigarette gossip breaks, or having a tea break and bumping into a colleague and having a chat) - then I take the break to do something like hoovering, cleaning, sorting things out, going to the post office etc.

I spend the hour of lunchtime cooking a quick meal, and then using the rest of it doing the school run - my colleagues knew - it’s a flexible working type of workplace.

It depends on what you do but I worked in a seasonal career in an office where we would be super busy for 6 months and spent the other 6 months not doing much - our director would take us out for Prosecco 2-3 times a week (dangerous) and we’d have long lunches with the sales team because we could - this was when working from home wasn’t the norm, before covid - and I would think to myself “why am I swirling around in this office chair with nothing to do when I could be doing life admin - all shops close at 6 so I can’t even get things done when I finish work”

forgive me but your inability to understand or interpret my post tells me all I need to know about your managerial skill set. You don’t understand how monitoring or data collection works or is managed or even what anonymous data is. I think someone needs some training before they are allowed to give or remove privileges to staff.

Sadly this is not your fault but a large number of middle management are not trained nor selected for their skill set just that either they will take the job that no one else wants or they will do everything senior management tells them to do without creating a fuss.

Ai In the end seeing the data of over 8000 staff form an organisation of 3 times that is less accurate that what has happened with your team, really ?

I will do small tasks like pop a wash on or unload the dishwasher while making coffee. I might occasionally take a slightly long lunch break to fit in a decent walk. On the flip side I sometimes end up working late, or have a day of back to back meetings where I can barely fit in a break. I wouldn't dream of having a bath or watching a film as per the OP.

No one is micro managing my time, but fundamentally I'm governed by clients, projects and deadlines. If I slacked off for an extended period, I'd just have to work later in the evening to meet some deadline. So it wouldn't ultimately be to my advantage. I also need to be generally available for my team during normal hours.

@Cromwell1905 i found your post informative and confirmed what a lot of people think. Some people can’t be trusted to wfh and take the piss.

I work flexible hours from home and love that I can take a break to do life admin or anything really. However I log the hours I actually work. I don’t do life admin while I am supposed to be working. One day I might do 6 hours another 9 so over a 4 week period I always do my 148 hours.