Do Most People Skive At Work?

[Parkerbosily]

Just a very friendly and fun debate going on at work today when someone tried to tell on someone else for being on TikTok in the toilet and obviously skiving rather than working which the manager said he's not bothered about, so long as we get our work done he doesn't care. But it sparked a bit of a conversation where people were basically all admitting to skiving from work whenever they could with a few exceptions saying they didn't.

I definitely take 5 minutes at least once or twice a day just hiding and playing on my phone. I wondered if many others felt the same? (I'm good friends with my manager who has also admitted to doing this which I find pretty amusing considering he's usually the highest rank in the building)

No. I take short ‘thinking’ breaks to keep momentum but I take my work commitment seriously.

I'm always thrown by people taking calls while walking the dog, hanging washing etc. If I'm talking to someone I have to make contemperaneous notes of the conversation so I'm typing as we talk. I work flexi time though so I can just not work if I have an appointment and make the time up elsewhere. But I can't both work and not work at the same time. That's not a judgement on those who can, BTW, I'm somewhere between jealous and bemused!

I'm quite conscientious but I remember in my first office job being sent to the shop by people senior to me (literally everyone was) and bumping into a big boss on the way out. I was a bit worried I'd get in trouble but she gave me some money and asked for a packet of crisps! Honestly the world doesn't end if you need 5 minutes after a stressful event. Unless you work in a call centre, where I understand it might.

I work from home flexibly and go into the office on occasions. I don’t consider myself to be someone who skives. I definitely have days where I work at a slower pace (reply to texts, maybe put some washing in or run the Hoover round, life admin.) It balances out though as some days (more often than the slow ones,) I work non stop other than essential loo breaks. My work rate would be considered excellent but the type of role I’m in means the work can fluctuate between fast paced / urgent and slow paced.

I work very flexibly but have work I need to get done because I care about my work. If I do something when I planned to be working, I'd cause myself to need to work another time. Lots of friends are similar.

I don't call that skiving. I'm one of the most productive members of the team but I have ADHD and work in bursts. I'll work hard on something for 20 mins, then a 5 minute internet surf. Rinse and repeat. But I'll bet my house I'll have more output at thr rnd of the day than penny plodder at the desk opposite.

There's not only one way to work.

Haven’t done paid work for a long time but good grief, would never have gotten away with skiving!

Work from home and have been skiving for two years without being noticed. Previously was a teacher for 10 years where there was nowhere to hide. Although tbh before teaching I was also a skiver my whole working life without issue. And at school where I did fine. So I’ll carry on for now doing my shopping, watching tv and taking naps.

Goodness yes, and I’m a senior manager.

I WFH and attend office maybe once every 6 weeks.

If I need to hoover, I hoover. If I want a cup of tea, there’s a cup of tea made. If I need to nip to Tesco, I nip to Tesco. I expect the exact same from my team.

We work responsively, some days there is no work to be done, some days we do not stop. We are paid no matter what. I listen to Audible when replying to emails and completely manage my own diary.

I do work smarter though, and sometimes keep peculiar hours. It wouldn’t be unheard of for me to send an email at 04:15.

On the rare occasions I need to speak to my own boss, a quick WhatsApp - ‘ring me when you have a minute please’ might result in him ringing me 48 hours later.

None of us get terribly upset about anything, there is no point.

Nope. Never. Work in a school and literally work every spare second and work over and go in early for no extra pay. I do it because it’s the only way things get done with the budget we have.

Don’t have time to go to the loo at my work.

My boss is a MASSIVE skiver though.

I take regular breaks, but that isn’t skiving. When I am in the office an inordinate amount of time is spent on coffee/ tea breaks and general chit chat. At home breaks are more along the lines of a bit of time in the garden or dealing with laundry. People aren’t built for hours of nonstop work for hours at a time - the only exception being when I worked jobs that had equal mental and physical requirements. It was easier to keep at it when I was using body and mind vs just mind or body for 8 hours.

I'm sure the law states you can go to the toilet during your working day.

OP, do you not have regular breaks?

My work is brain intensive. My workstation locks down every 55 mins for 5 mins.
Knowing I will get a break keeps me focussed, having a break refreshes me. I don't regard it as skiving. I don't have a manager breathing down my neck.

Retail in an extremely busy supermarket- the other day I didn’t even get time outside of breaks to take a sip of water so definitely no, we’d be fired!!!

No, I never have.

But it is going to depend so much on your job.

Not everyone is sat at a computer

I'm not paid when not actually working so skiving would be pointless

Depends on the job. My current job the work comes in waves and is unpredictable. Usually Mondays and Fridays are the busiest and I can work non stop without a break all day. Tues - We’d it can be quiet and I have a lot of time throughout the day doing nothing. So I will do other non work related things to look busy and keep me awake. It’s tough cause when I was working fully remotely it was easier to deal with but now I’m back in the office and it’s torture.

Sounds like a really weak and bad manager
the kind that makes the ones that do work hard, do others work too

Taking a break is not skiving
At least not in any decent workplace.
If there's a lull where I work I'll have a cup of tea and scroll social media, read a chapter of my book. Never occurred to me to think of it as skiving.
I work alone and don't get an official break in my 12 hour shift. So I feel totally entitled to manage my own time according to what needs doing when.
I'll have shifts where I barely manage a cup of tea it's so busy, and then others where I've probably spent hours on tiktok tbh.

Me too, and that is exclusive of a year off on sick pay to get me to 67 because I have been treated like shit my whole working life and I have zero loyalty!

Nope. Not possible as I'm a teacher and it's too busy. I do make sure I get a regular wee and cup of tea though. I didn't used to, but now regard them as non-negotiables (been teaching over 30 years).

I don't skive off but I used to work a lot of overtime and now I am working contracted hours only. So my boss isn't getting anymore of my leisure time for free.

I don’t think it’s skiving to take a 10 minute break tbh. In office jobs most managers don’t mind you going for coffee for a while to relax. Constant concentration for 9 hours would mean my work was shit by the end of the day.

I took tea breaks whenever the smokers went outside. Seemed only fair.

Agree100%

no despite being part time I have a bad habit of checking email etc when not working- so they get good value out of me