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?

Anything I fancy including running my sideline business - but I get my work done often working into the evening if it suits me to do so.

They wouldn't although we usually put in chat if we are popping out. Some people go to collect their kids from school, etc. and will usually stick it in Teams in case someone is trying to get hold of them. We aren't monitored, our work doesn't really lend itself to that anyway.

No one monitors us in office or at home really. We have tasks with deadlines. No one really cares how you structure your time as long as you meet the deadlines

Don’t you have breaks at your work?

I used to work in a role where some people had to be in the office (including me) and some people got to work hybrid. The office people would often moan about skivers WFH and then totter off to speak to Helen from accounts for 45 minutes outside their break, missing the irony

My workplace is much the same - as long as the works gets done and 35 hours a week are worked, it’s fine. It does end up in people sometimes working in the evening and night time but as long as they’re meeting their deadlines who cares.

Actually, no, I don't get protected breaks at my work. But that doesn't alter that standard breaks at work don't tend to equal the time taken for going to the shops or making a pie. Nor should folk be wandering off for random 45 minute social chats.

I do my full job I’m paid for

we are logged into a phone system and database so it would very quickly be obvious if I was skiving

Yeah, it's called expecting a decent work ethic from people.

When I used to work from home, I worked my normal daily hours, often more. I did start earlier than usual and take a longer lunch break sometimes. Put washing on first thing in the morning and hung it out at lunchtime, which was handy. Answered the door to take in parcels but was basically working.

This is so confusing to me - my work involves back to back meetings much of the time. And expects home workers to answer calls straight away and on video. I’m not sure how all the skiving OP describes can happen. Mind you I also have a home office so I’m not in the kitchen/living room looking at home things that need doing.

2 coffees by 10am! I’d have the trots 😂

I worked more when working at home because people weren't always popping by for a chat, waffling on about stuff and interrupting my concentration. I could just get my head down and plough through the work. It was great.

I work in bursts, and in my productive bursts I'm incredibly productive. In my ebbs I break away and do other things like prep dinner, have a shower, walk the dog.

My work isn't rigid in terms of hours and we're measured on delivery and output which means periods of working very long hours so it balances out over time.

I work in the same way whether in the office or at home. I have ASD and ADHD, and have had the conversation with my boss about my working style so it's completely transparent. I always have my work phone on me and respond to things quickly in my ebbs too.

My company’s teams has a status for each worker and we can all see each others. It will for example say “Craig last seen at 1.15”.

The loophole is if you have Teams on your phone all you have to do is log on to it and it turns your status to “Online”

Well, jobs are not all the same. I have maybe one 15-min meeting a day, I don't usually take any other calls, I presumably just do very different work to what you do. It's not really confusing, just different circumstances.

I work in publishing, and as long as I meet the day's deadline then no one cares if I'm away for 10 mins loading the washing machine or whatever. Plus for the design portion I can listen to stuff in background as it uses a part of my brain that doesn't require the same sort of concentration as when I'm doing the reading/writing part, so I can have a box set on or listen to podcasts while I do it.

Just loads of different factors, but I'm quite established in my career so not micromanaged either.

You don’t have breaks at work? Do you work full days?

Surely break lengths are break lengths and it doesn’t matter if you’re making a pie or martyring yourself working through the lunch hour, reading a book etc.

What would you say was acceptable for break activity WFH?

I have the bursts too - I call it my power hour. I get a shit load done then will relax a bit for a few hours

I definitely go downstairs to stick a load of washing on/put it in the dryer, do bits of housework at lunch, and we're allowed to go to the dentist/hairdresser/nail salon etc as long as we make the hours up. As long as everyone gets their work done, we're not bothered if they're actively hands-on-the-keyboard all day long - it's the same in the office to be fair.

I don’t skive - I can’t afford to, as no one else will pick up the work if I don’t do it. But what I also don’t do is useless “busy work” - reorganising my emails, clearing my desk drawers… the kind of crap you’d do in the office on a quiet day in case someone senior walked past.

I’m paid to be available for work as much as for the actual work. If my company wants someone they only have to pay when there’s actual work to do, they can hire a freelancer, who will in real terms charge more, and may not always be available when needed. If I’m having a quiet day and stick a wash on or do the ironing, as long as I’m there when there IS work to do, what’s the problem? I can hear the ping of a Teams message and be back at my desk to answer it in seconds.

I don’t believe for a minute that people who are fully office-based never check their personal emails, kill time reading gossip sites or order a couple of things online while it’s quiet. I don’t see how running the Hoover around is any different. The only reason people don’t do it in the office is because it’s not physically possible.

I'd say what's acceptable WFH should be what's acceptable in the office. I don't think "almost a day off", as the OP put it, should be acceptable in either setting.

This is why lots of employers are calling people back to the office.

We are monitoring productivity when wfh now. Not for everyone but we have the data and it's one of the first things we check when performance issues are identified. We are therefore bringing individuals back to the office on a case by case basis because some people just take the piss. Those who are working well can carry on working remotely.

The ones that have been forced back into the office are furious but it's tough. If they hadn't been skiving off in the first place, then they could have carried on doing hybrid.

I get more done than when I'm in the office work wise. If I'm in the office people are always wanting to talk so I end up behind work more than if I am WFH and doing remote meetings.

But people from home aren’t in the office, so why should they behave like they’re are? It’s a bit controlling. When I worked in an office I went to the staff room to eat lunch (that I’d often popped to the shop to buy) for an hour. I don’t have a staff room in my home.

I have to be in the phones at work during core hours, so I am working then. I will do chores during lunchtime and in the time I would have been commuting to and from work. I would never take the piss though as WFH is a privilege that I don't want revoked.

Well, they're meant to be working. Not getting paid to do nothing for most of a day like the OP says she's doing.