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?

What’s your industry?

Btw if you ever slag off teachers on MN I will find you…

Help clients with complex benefit forms over the phone, do "better off" benefit calculations, give advice in response to specific benefit enquiries from staff/clients, draft mandatory reconsideration requests, draft and submit appeals, prepare for appeals, prep training material, weekly zoom meeting, attend various corporate online meetings.

Some of my work is out in the community, or in the office, we have a monthly meeting/training session that's F2F and appeals are heard in person now, so around 25%-35% of my job is out of home.

Far from it being a skive, my caseload is treble what it was pre-Covid. We've carried on with some of the practices we adopted during Covid because we've found them more efficient.

I work. Its extremely busy.our work is monitored so skiving is not an option.

@Wffhh what industry do you work in?

I work pretty much solidly when WFH. I don't take my lunch break even. But I stop for a cup of tea whenever needed. I also don't have the opportunity to chit chat, I'm productive at home.

I just do a normal day's work, sometimes bit longer as a day from the office as I don't have to do the commute. I sometimes have music on.

That said, I don't think it's wrong to have a bath or go to the shops in your lunch hour. It's your lunch hour, do what you want.

I work, just as I would have done when in the office. I have music on as it helps me concentrate, which I wouldn't have done in a shared office space.

I do some very minor tasks (empty dishwasher, fold clothes, tidy etc) around the house when I'm making a coffee, or having a 2 minute leg stretch, but not to the point where I'm taking more time away from my desk than I would in the office.

I do all my work then if I have nothing left to do (which does occur) I will watch tv with my laptop on my lap in case anything else comes in. But genuinely I do my work.

Lunchtime I do what I want - but don't leave the house. So washing, ironing etc, but that's irrelevant as I don't get paid for that.

Here's may working day:

Up at 5am - coffee and emails catch up (always schedule replies for 8am)

Shut laptop at 7am - get the kids up, breakfast and dressed for school

School run at 8am

Arrive at the gym at 8.30 - coffee No.2 and work until body pump class at 10am

10-11 body pump, swim, steam dressed and back home by 12.

Lunch 12-12.30

Working from 12.30 -2.30

Clean 2.30 - 3.00

School run 3.00 - 4.00 .. just sat down for a coffee! I'll do another hour from 5-6 and then do dinner.

I'm contracted to do 3 days over 4 and have Friday's off (which I sometimes don't and dip into work) ..!

I've been working for the same corporate for 14+ years I've earned my stripes, my flexibility means I get to do as I please as long as the work gets done - which is does. WFH only works if there is trust in the individual and dedication to get shit done, sadly many take the piss and this is why there's such hostility towards remote working. For the record I worked from home long before Covid 10+ years and most of my team are US based.

It depends. Sometimes I'm glued to my computer for longer than I should be (I work part time). Sometimes it's an hour here and there. The rest of my team is in California so usually it's fine for me to go out for a decent walk, do chores, procrastinate on MN etc

I write scientific software, sometimes if I'm working on something difficult the way forward is more likely to occur to me while I'm walking than staring at a screen.

When I dropped to pt and my working became more erratic as described, my productivity (which they were perfectly happy with before hence being allowed to wfh) didn't drop much

I love a bath on my break! If I'm doing design work that doesn't require reading then I often have something on TV in background or a podcast on. If I'm doing reading/writing stuff then I don't have anything else on.

I do the usual laundry load, sometimes some dinner prep.

We are task-led, we have specific tasks that we need to get done every day without fail, and once they are done there are no tasks till the next day, so as long as the tasks are complete, no one really cares where anyone is at a given moment. If someone doesn't complete their tasks then the operation falls apart, so it would be very obvious if someone was doing nothing.

I used to work. I hated WFH though.

Xpost with @rockingbird - last para is spot on.

Generally do global meetings, online trainings, testing & documentation plus email at home. Most of my tasks can be done alone or involve working with people in other locations so where I am makes little difference. I tend to use my two days in office for any networking, soft skill development & face to face meetings but otherwise office days are pretty similar.
Whether in the office or at home I’ll use lunch breaks to do personal jobs. In office it might be checking our accounts, ordering shopping online, sorting out play dates, paying for kids clubs, writing birthday cards, calling into little Tesco for things we need, filing my tax return, booking appointments etc. At home it might be swapping over washing loads, prepping food or emptying the dishwasher.
If I have to go to doctors or dentist I generally arrange for a wfh day as house is closer than office & if there are things like school plays on that I’m going to I’ll arrange to wfh to minimise time away.
Like others I’m very flexible with work when needed and enjoy that they are very flexible with me in return. It’s essentially a perk some wfh jobs offer and in some cases I can imagine it amounts to having ability to have a lazy day per week as long as you’ve put in the needed work on days you are in the office.

I do a lot more work at home than in the office. My office is very chatty, and I'm easily distracted. I save my biggest, most challenging tasks for when I work at home because I'm very productive at home.

We’re quite lucky because as long as our hours are done and projects completed, they can be at times to suit us. We are also actively encouraged to take as many calls as possible whilst outside walking in the fresh air. Work life balance is a big thing in the company and they’ve put in processes to reflect that.

God, I'm so busy when I'm working from home. I would never have time to take a bath. I occasionally doomscroll on my phone, Mumsnet, but don't waste half as much time as gets spent on chat and stuff in the office.

DD reckons she gets more done at home. If you’re faking it I wouldn’t be too surprised if your firm calls time in wfh.

I'm in the wrong job

Min wage

Get up at 7.15am
Start logging on at 7.50am ready for 8am
Work until my 10 min scheduled break
Work until my 30 min scheduled lunch
Work until my 15 min scheduled break
Log off at 5.30 or 6pm depending what shift I'm working

Not a lot of work.
Today for example I mowed the lawn, went to the salon to get my eyebrows waxed and cleaned the kitchen.

I always do my housework and food shop when wfh.

So if you work from home are there people monitoring you? How would they know if like the op you popped to the shops?

I love it when there's a big team meeting that only requires listening and I can have my camera off and potter around. I managed to paint a cabinet I was up cycling during a 2.5 hour all staff update once!

I used to go to the gym on my lunch break but my gym is literally a 5 minute walk away. I'm now pregnant and refusing to exercise.

I have 30 minutes until I log off and I CBA starting anything new so I'm monitoring my emails and scrolling on Mumsnet. If I was in the office I would simply go home.

I'm monitored via a board my manager views and the available status it's in

I love your list OP it’s very Good Housekeeping 🤣

I sometimes have a little nap at lunchtime. If not I’ll put the washing on, prep food for dinner etc and yes it does feel easier going to the shops when there’s no one to clock watch about when you’re back. But I couldn’t take the piss beyond a couple of hours as my boss would be wondering why I hadn’t done my work. I would take time off for hair appointments for example. But the way I see it is I’m getting so much more done as there’s no one to yap at me about Love Island, and I’m most certainly not the worst piss taker. One bloke sets his Teams status to Offline permanently and I’ll message him and it won’t be read for 4 hours sometimes. I work for a very trusting organisation though!

My job's largely asynchronous so I do the same things I do when I'm in the office. The only thing I prefer to not do is have meetings, but I rarely require them. My team communicates online even when we're in the office - we like to have things in writing for projects, etc. anyway and as long as deadlines are met, how I prioritise my tasks is my own business.