to think some people think WFH should be a constant nose to the grindstone?

[Yodeloo]

I think some jobs are like that definitely. Heavy workload, helplines etc

Some people think all WFH should be like this and get horrified because someone hung some washing out or helped out a family member for a short time. Plenty of jobs have flexibility and it is about getting the job done not just being present in front of the computer non stop.

I get all my life admin done throughout the day around work. I do an exercise class most mornings and then start work later on the days I WFH. I will meet up with friends, work on my side business. Nobody cares at my work. All targets are met consistently.

Is it jealousy that people get so upset?

I think a lot of it is jealousy.

If you have specific wfh working hours, surely you should be working during them? Why should your employer be paying you to do your laundry and go to an exercise class?

If you have totally flexible working hours and are allowed to do your work any time as long as it gets done, then obviously the question isn't really relevant.

Its failure to understand jobs are different.

Many who say that would not imagine working a minute after 5pm (or whenever they finish) ~ I do regularly, but I also do laundry whilst I work, always do the school run, and wouldn't hesitate to work with DS around if he's ill.

Different companies are happy with different set ups. As long as no one is actually taking the piss, its fine.

Depends. If it’s that easy to meet your targets while simultaneously visiting friends and working on another job (which honestly sounds like you’re working part time) then I’d argue your targets aren’t stretching enough.

If it’s an ebb and flow thing and in general you’re working full time hours for a position that’s paid as full time then fair enough, some flexibility rather than pedantic clock watching probably works both ways. My DH might do a load of laundry on a day he’s wfh or nip out to collect the car from the garage, but he’ll also sometimes do a zoom call at midnight because that’s what a foreign client has asked for. That’s just give and take.

Agree with this, I find it's mostly people who can't wfh who have the strongest opinions about how wfh should be done.

Yes it is jealousy.

People don't like it because they're jealous they can't do those home admin jobs because they either can't wfh because of the nature of their job or they've been hauled back into the office.

I know someone that works in a school and she's incredibly scornful of the fact I can get bits done when I'm working at home. She likes to make out I must be shirking and that my job isn't a 'proper one' like hers.

I have specific wfh hours, funnily enough we're still bound by the same employment laws as everyone else, so we do get breaks. Which is when I get my laundry done or shopping delivered, or have a cuppa with one of my parents who's just dropped by.

hanging your washing out in works time and going to the gym is taking the piss if your being paid you should be working

It's not like everyone in an office is working the whole time. There's always plenty of non-work related chat, people going to make a cup of tea, or clearly scrolling on their phones IME.

I don't think I've ever had a job, WFH or office-based, that consistently took up all of the allocated working hours. I don't understand the idea that there's something wrong if you're not constantly working. If you have a task-based rather than a time-based job, then good for you if you can finish your tasks in less time. Why not?

Not that you'd think it, to listen to some MNers.

Stepping away and doing other things can be good thinking time. We do it in the office too on a tea break!

Fail to see what’s funny if you paid a decorator to paint your house and they fuck off for the afternoon would you still be happy to to pay them for the afternoon

Meh you get paid to work 8 hours you work those 8 hours in the hours specified in contract eg 9-5. Comfort breaks and the making of a quick cuppa if you can’t last more than a half shift without one.

I think this is where the understanding falls down. Many people don't have specific contracted working hours anymore.

I am 100% flexitime, as long as I do at least 37hrs a week (I'm always way over, everyone is as the volume of work is high). No one cares if I go to the gym or hang the washing out as long as it's not missing meetings or preventing work happening. This attitude is the norm in my industry.

Get a life 🤣😭

We are back in the office half the week now.

When I'm in the office, sometimes I stop and chat to a colleague on a different floor, it might be because I'm there to sort a work task but turns into general chat.

Or I might swing round to people behind me while we discuss MAFS, or someone's holiday plans, or what we did on the weekend. We do not usually work while we gossip.

We have 2 sites and one is a 15 minute walk from the other. If staff need to go from the one they are based in, they take that 15 minute walk during their working hours, ie it doesn't count as a break.

So I really don't see how taking 10 minutes to put out washing is so insanely terrible compared to spending 10 minutes chatting with a colleague.

WFH, IME, is a complete working revolution. I work in a global role - I do an 8am call every day and often finish up about 7/8pm. . Am I going to go to an exercise class/shopping/whatever midday? Hell yes! Would my organisation have me on hand at those hours if I was in the office? Of course not! I know loads of people that work like this. It is win:win all round.

And this is why some employers, press , government and the public think WFH is affecting the economy and everyone's skiving.

That depends if you paid the painter by the hour, or a fixed price for the whole job

I have to work a set number of hours a week, when I do my hours is entirely up to me. If I’m working with a US team then I start later, Europe teams then I start earlier. The majority of my workload is at the beginning and end of a project so I flex my hours around that.

When I was office based, a colleague would regularly come in 15 minutes late then spend 45 minutes on personal calls and another would blatantly watch programmes on her iPad at her desk. Just because people are in an office it doesn’t mean they are working constantly.

I've never had a job which actually took 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

The vast majority of office jobs have never taken 40 hours a week.

There's a few people who are always loudly busy in every office, talking a lot about how they have so many emails and acting flustered all the time.

Then there's 80% of the staff getting their jobs done and then quietly finding ways to fill time and appear busy until they are allowed to leave.

WFH has drawn attention to the fact that most people are perfectly able to get their jobs done in a fraction of the time they are actually paid for, but acknowledging this would cause a massive shift in the way we approach work and the economy, so the people who want things to stay as they are hate it.