Should I feel guilty for doing this when WFH?

[Globewalker]

I WFH 3 days a week, I get everything done that I need to and my manager is happy with how I’m getting on.

There is the odd lull in the day, and increasingly recently I’ve been using this time to ‘have fun’ shall we say with my DP, who is usually finished with his work and home by 2pm every day.

I am technically getting paid for this, which we always have a laugh about after.

Would you feel a bit guilty? As I said, I’m getting all my work done.

Why on earth would anyone ask for more work when they can do less and still have some me time for the same pay?!

🙄

Blimey you've really wound up all the mumsnetters not getting any

I wouldn’t feel guilty, what I would think about though is why you’re not reaching out to your line manager and asking for something to work on which you wouldn’t normally get involved in , would be a technical stretch and would require some mentoring.

Which could in the future equate to better opportunities. Seems very short sighted to spend your time shagging instead of progressing - when there is plenty of your own time in your evening for your partner.

I work my arse off for the NHS for the increasingly entitled, rude and disrespectful general public. Posts like this don't make my day. You probably earn more than me too. Not sure what you were expecting to gain from your post.

It kind of depends how you're paid and how your hours work. Will your job notice you're not there/not being as productive? If so then it's a bit silly as skewing the stats is only going to make companies want staff back in the office. If it's a case of you've nothing to do, your work is done, and even if you sat at your desk you'd be twiddling your thumbs, it's fair game!

EDIT: I worked for a company who paid me to do two specific tasks per day. The tasks would take me about 3 hours in total, but they paid me for an 8 hour day. My boss told me to spread the work out and get housework/shopping/TV watching done in between. I did. I got paid a stupid amount for doing this, for almost 2 years. Then, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, the company went bust and now no longer exists.

EDIT 2: We were a team of 6, and all did this, and were told to do this by our team leader.

You don't work for me time. You are employed to do a job not take the piss.

But that's your choice?

Really not sure why that needed to be shared on the internet?

I am more interested in what sort of jobs people do where they have lulls in the day or lull days 😄 . Never enough hours in the day for my job !

She said the work gets done and everyone is happy so why do more? You won’t get a medal for it.

Oh, I don’t know, there used to be this thing called doing the right thing

As long as you get the work done I don't think it matters. I once had a bath while listening to our team meeting on a teams call because I was so cold and couldn't warm up (camera and mic off obviously!). Usually the whole team's cameras and mics are all off throughout (mics off by managers request), and the manager just presents a PowerPoint load of stuff to us like figures for the month, feedback, safety stuff, updates from management etc and there's only ever a few mins of discussion if people have questions. I was still fully present, listened and participated in the chat - just from a nice warm bath! What harm was done?
I did have to quadruple check the camera was off. Could have been risky 😂

Yeah right

A bit off topic but still want to make the point. I have a management role at a large financial institution where employees are currently allowed to work from home two days a week. What they don’t know yet is that we (the managers) are preparing to call for a return to the office at least four days a week, for multiple reasons. And after a while it will be full time (we are doing it incrementally).

Threads like this are comforting me in this decision. I’m convinced that widespread WFH will become a thing of the past. I don’t know a single CEO who’s in favour of it — most see it as a drag on collaboration, culture, and ultimately performance (even though people always claim they’re more efficient at home, they don’t work as a team anyway blah blah blah).

Ultimately, if employees aren’t happy with returning to the office, they’re free to look elsewhere — with the downturn there are not enough office-based roles anyway, graduates are desperate for jobs…

So many uptight people here …
depends how long your “stress relief” breaks are haha
ive done the same when my husband is home and I’m working and I know people in my team who take longer fag breaks hahaha

youre getting the work done so what’s the harm

But if the work gets done and the boss is happy then she is doing the right thing.

As long as it's not during a meeting with the camera on then I think it's fine.

What !

Very off topic indeed. You must be fun at parties. All the best employees will vote with their feet and your company will be left with underperformers who can’t get a job elsewhere.

lol 😂

@Arcencielle I’m in banking. I’ve just moved from a bank that was 3 days in the office, to one that’s 5 days in the office. I (obviously) much preferred 3 days in the office from a personal perspective, but there is no denying, a lot more gets done in a team where we are all in 5 days a week. I think a lot of banks are moving in that direction, I don’t think you’ll be a huge outlier in a year or so.

And that’s why firms are insisting people go back in the office.

There also used to be this thing of wages going up as the cost of living rose too, whereas in the Uk we have had wage suppression since around 2010. Most of us are extremely underpaid and being taken for fools by employers. So people are more savvy now and do what’s best for them because the employers certainly do.

I think it’s a weird thread but I don’t actually object to what the OP is doing. If the work gets done it gets done. No prizes for martyring yourself and asking for more and more work just for the sake of it.

Rest/breaks are important too.

Granted sex with a partner is not what springs to my mind when I want a break, but there are people in offices going for 20 minutes smoking breaks.

I don’t know. Do what you want.
However there are plenty of people who work long hours whilst WFH and posts like this spread the view that we’re all just sitting about watching loose women whilst nudging our mouse to keep us online. I get far more done WFH than I do in the office.