To think people who work from home don’t understand this?! And they’re paid more usually

[Ugriap]

I work in a job where I can’t work from home. I get that’s my choice but when I trained, working from home was not common. Now it is in a lot of places. I know I can re train but it’s not that easy!

I can’t just go to appointments during my lunch break. I can’t ever do this. So I have to book leave if I want to get my haircut or dental appointments. Or I go on a weekend so I’m basically having less free time.

A close friend is a high earner and she is always galavanting round during the day then catches up on her work in the evening at her convenience. I can’t understand why people like this don’t get that I don’t have this flexibility?! My time is so much more limited. I feel really isolated from the friendship group these days

I am working from home while my office is temporarily closed but I most certainly can’t do whatever I can’t during the day, I have to work my core office hours

I imagine she has a job where she needs to be available at all times. Both my husband and I have jobs like this. So yes I pop out and pick the kids up from school or go to the sldentist or what ever but I am available from 6am to 10pm everyday and yes that includes the weekend. Obviously im not working all.of those hours but it evens out over the course of the week.

What’s wrong with/funny about that? I think it’s great that people’s jobs support their lives outside of work.
I work out of the home but DH WFH and it makes life so much easier. Can’t believe he used to work in the office 5 days a week with a 1.5 hour commute each way. Bonkers! I basically had to be a SAHM because he was unavailable during the kids’ waking hours.

Who said life was fair?

Life’s not fair 🤷🏻‍♀️

Different jobs have different perks - this is nothing new (and something one person regards as a perk, another person may not).

I wfh - guess what, I’ve been working since 7am this morning, I’m just running some reports and playing on MN while they finish. Yes, I took 90 mins at 3.30 to do the school run and get the kids’ tea ready instead of taking lunch. But I’ll be working probably til midnight so next week if I am slacking off I won’t feel bad!

i do know people who take the piss whilst wfh. I also know people like me, who use the flexibility and give back aplenty - late evening working, long hours to hit deadlines, I have taken my laptop and work phone on every single holiday for the last ten years. I was even on my laptop the day after major surgery from my hospital bed!

My close friend is a high earner and she is always galavanting round during the day then catches up on her work in the evening at her convenience. I can’t understand why people like this don’t get that I'm don’t have this flexibility?!

Does she really care that much what you do?

My friend of 25 years can’t work from home and doesn’t drive. Beyond giving her lifts when we go out, I really don’t concern myself on how she manages her appointment. She’s a healthy, capable woman, she’ll figure it out.

I work a hybrid week, and when I’m wfh I feel like I have to be contactable at all times; early, lunchtime, late etc. When I’m in the office, I feel I have clearer break times and can go to the gym at lunch or pop out for a coffee with a colleague. I’ve found that if people take the mick at home, then they probably do the same in the workplace.

I am both senior and lucky enough to work at home two or three days a week. I'm not pompous about it though (all these people working "harder" at home 🙄). I see it as a massive privilege. I benefit hugely from the days I don't have to commute across London. I get hours a week of leisure time back.

I also totally see how it feels unfair to others. It feels like Covid created a class of people who benefit from this huge social change/better work-life balance, and a class of people who don't. I absolutely see their point of view.

Presumably since you’re senior you can afford to have the heating on in your home office unlike us plebs who are working from home under three blankets!

It completely depends on the job. Both my partner and I work from home in very different industries. I’m lucky that my job is very flexible, and much like your friend, I can go to appointments during the day without needing to take time off. I always let my boss and team know, and will catch up later in the day or evening.

My partner absolutely can’t do that. His job monitors his computer and they have some kind of tracker thing that shows if his mouse hasn’t been moved in 5 minutes. He needs to take leave for appointments.

So, YABU to think that wfh means an easy life and that we’re all just sitting around watching Netflix.

Both my partner and I work a lot more hours than our contract requires sometimes. Him because he seems to be one of the few competent people on his team, so often picks up the workload of others, but he also feels grateful that he can wfh, so he sees it as a trade off.

I work with a great team who all pull their weight, but I work longer sometimes just because I want to get things done or I want to help with a project. I’m happy to do it because I love my job and I fully appreciate how lucky I am to have a boss that allows me the flexibility I have, so I see it as give and take.

I would say this is def a friend issue and not generic to working from home. My husband works from home and there are two benefits: the heating is on for me and the kids getting in and he doesn't take up bathroom time getting ready in the morning. He might do a quick hoover round at lunch time but certainly not every day.
I can't work from home in my job. I have fixed annual leave too (teacher) so can't even take a day off when I really can't face work. It is what it is. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Because presumably she's still doing her job to the satisfaction of her employer even with working as flexibly as she does? Same with me really, I work from home a lot and very often run errands and get non-work stuff done during the day. So long as I do get my work stuff done on time nobody cares. For other people with different jobs it may be different. Moaning about it makes no more sense than a fireman moaning that I don't have to wear a big heavy coat and wellies while working so why should they.

Nah this is rubbish. Your friend’s experience is not universal. In my work world, wfh means being chained to the desk all day and having less rather than more opportunities to take a break because people assume and expect you to be available at all times.

I voted you're being unreasonable because I've worked from home a LOT and have never had any expectations about other people's availability other than what they have told me themselves.
I also have not usually worked flexibly while WFH, I still had to log in at the right time and be available for the whole day, with no distractions, unless my manager had agreed I could shift some hours for e.g. a doctor's appointment.

I WFH. I get an hours lunch break and will pop to the shops etc. my lunch hour isn’t a set time so I’ll go to the dentist but use it as my lunch break as only down the road anyway. Anything that takes longer like hairdressers, I’ll go at the weekend. I have a hospital appointment on Monday, I’m taking the day off as leave as I don’t know how long I’ll be. Not everyone is like your friend. And you if you don’t like your monday-Friday office working, then change jobs.

It entirely depends where you live and work. My office is nearer for most of my appointments than my house. I do a mix of home and office days. My flexibility is governed by what's in my calendar on any given day but if I don't have meetings or other events, it doesn't matter when I take my lunch break.

Changed my answer when I saw this. It isnt really a wfh issue that much in that even wfh, if people have inflexible employers they cant go off and get hair done for example any more than you can - they would be restricted to their lunch break like you. If people wfh and have flexible employers then yes, they can do more appointments etc but do still need to make that time up. If someone is office based but can flexibly work they can do that too - the difference is really the commute.

When I was younger I once worked somewhere 5min from home. I had rigid hours and no flex but had way more ability to do things than some friends.

It’s not about seniority, it’s flexibility of the tram. I’m B3 NHS, so very far from senior and can work from home. I was the last in my team to get a laptop, it was only in December 2020. I was in the office all through until then. I rarely do WFH but being able when needed to do so is invaluable. I consider myself so very lucky at my banding and don’t take it for granted. Yeah, people do take the piss with it but they get found out. Easy to tell those who do.

I have a senior role with flexibility, partly WFH. The flipside is that overall I actually work significantly more hours than I’m paid for. I might be able to get to the bank in the day but then I’ll be catching up on emails or writing up reports for most of the evening instead. I also often have to respond to incidents at very short notice, including at weekends.

It’s easy to judge from the outside and think people have it better than you but it’s often not the reality.

I sometimes work from home and all personal appointments are on annual leave days.

I work from home, the only benefit I've had in 8 years is being able to do school run, but thats in lieu of a lunch break most days.

You are being massively unreasonable.

When I work from home I use my lunch break for medical, dental, hair etc appointments. When I worked full time in an office I also went in lunch time, or I asked for permission to adjust my hours so I could arrive later/leave early to attend. If it was medical or dental I wouldn’t have to make the time up, whereas I do it all in my own time when wfh.

Sometimes the other kids will have nicer toys.

Sometimes you’ll only think they do.

Either way, you’ll probably wanna have a little grow up.

It doesn't just depend on the job or industry or position but the workload in any given day.

I WFH and this week alone I've had one day where I was at my desk working before 7am, and barely stopped for breath until 7pm. I've also had one day (today) where I gallivanted: did some token admin at 7am, went for a run, met a friend for a local quick lunch and glass of wine, came back and finished off my easy tasks in about half an hour. Swings and roundabouts.

If I worked in an office the first of those days would have been very stressful as there wouldn't have been enough time to get everything done, or I'd have had to stay late - if I have to work til 7pm, doing it at home means at least I can immediately flop on the sofa and DP has already made dinner without having to commute. And the second of those days would have been annoying and pointless with so little to do.