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

If your friends aren't being understanding, I can see why that's really frustrating, but as many said, it's not universal, and going on about whether it's fair isn't going to help anything.

I know I've been irked with at-home staff saying that they couldn't complete X thing that has be done before 8:30 the next morning because of their finish time, there is part of my mind that goes 'you're already at home, why are you putting this on others', when really it's a frustration that we're so understaffed and my own struggles with keeping boundaries at work. When I step back, I admire that they can keep to their hours so well.

Different workplaces have different flexibility. Where I work usually has few to no one working from home, and there are still people who go get their nails done or have a hair cut at lunch time. I've had a dental appointment over lunch (it's in a short walking distance from where I work) though I normally take leave. I'm one of many who is eating breakfast in the office/during meetings, and regularly at lunch as well, though my manager is strongly against it, but that flexibility does exist and we all use it now and then. I plan and do a lot of my gift shopping over lunches because I work a lot closer to shops than where I live & I'd rather go straight home at the end of the day than try to squeeze into shops shortly before they close.

My workplace recently had pipes burst in part of the building over a weekend that caused a lot of damage by the time it was found on Monday morning. Everyone who could work from home was sent home the first day when the extent and safety of the building wasn't known. It wasn't the higher paid staff, they were all on site scrambling and still in daily. Those in my office, it's largely the lower paid computer-based admin staff who are at home and now taking it in rotation to have a couple on site to keep everything running with the rest from home while we have no end in sight to when repairs will be done and very little available space where staff can work. Those of us who need to be on site for our jobs, we're now completing what needs done on site each day, then working from home on computer-based tasks that doesn't need us to be on site.

This has its pros as it means some days I can leave at 3-3:30, get home, chat with my husband and the kids for bit, then pick back up shortly before 5 for an hourish to finish things while the Teams is quiet, but I have also been working longer hours and for the first time since starting this job, digging into it on Saturday to catch-up and get things ready for the next week. It's snuck up on me having my work laptop at home where I can check it for 'just 5 minutes to check if something is ready' and I fall into it.

Everything has its pros and cons. I chose a job that needs people to be on site, moving things around and dealing with people face to face over the admin roles for my own wellbeing in large part because I know I'm the kind who can fall into computer work if given the opportunity and not yet built in the boundaries that others have with this.

I work from home 2-3 days per week and it's fairly intense. My diary tends to be booked out most of the day with back-to-back calls and I certainly don't have time to gallivant about. I try to block off time to do more focused work like reading or writing a report, but that often gets eaten up catching up on emails because I am so busy the rest of the day/week. I definitely work harder at home than when I am in the office, where it necessary to build gaps into the day to move about the building, I'll stop to have a chat with a co-worker and people may recognise when I'm stressed out and make me a cup of tea. I do have the benefit of flexi-time so I can log out and go to a doctor or dentist appointment when I am wfh, but I need to make up the time later. To be honest I find it easier to fit jobs around the days I am in the office because it's in the city centre and everything is on our doorstep. I really struggled with work-life balance when I was fully working from home during covid because I couldn't take an hour over lunch to get my eyes tested or my nails done, and I had to make a trip into town especially to buy a birthday present or pick up some item that the kids needed whereas when I'm in the office I can do it on my lunch break or on the way home.

I totally get this op. A lot of my friends just don’t understand that I can’t just skip off to a yoga class at 10, or do the school run at 3. It’s very frustrating at times. And the thing is, it’s not hard to understand that someone working in an office (or working from home but doing something like call centre work) can’t have flexibility

Why don’t you get that your lack of flexibility isn’t everyone else’s problem ?

I work from home. I struggle to have an appointment on my lunch break. In fact it’s pretty rare I have a lunch break. If I need to leave work during my working hours; I have to inform someone and block out my diary and work additional hours to catch up on what I didn’t do through the day. Same thing while working in an actual office.

There is an assumption that everyone who works from home is just out and about all day - and I bet some of them are. Generally though to have a working from agreement means you’re trustworthy and actually do your job.

Schedule time with your friends during your free time. I haven’t seen any of my friends face to face in at least 6 months because we are all parents and working adults.

Good grief. What a pity party post. “Wah wah wah it’s not fair”. Are you 12? 🙄

Why do you seem to think people who WFH go gallivanting about during their work day? We don’t. The person you know is in a senior role and therefore will likely have different flexibility and responsibilities to the vast majority of us who WFH.

I worked in an office for years. I’ve worked from home for the last 12+ years in a field based role.

I don’t go out on daily jaunts to the hairdressers etc. I’m working. And most days I end up working more hours and through my lunch, because it’s actually harder to switch off. I have meetings and back to back calls I have to make, I wouldn’t have time to go out gallivanting even if I wanted to!

Why should you get more annual leave purely because you don’t WFH? I probably work more hours than you do!

Tell you what isn’t fair? You comparing all people who WFH to your friend and assuming we all have the same work environment and do the same thing.

I work from home, my schedule is flexible but that works both ways: if I need to speak to a customer on a different timezone and it's outside of 9-5 then I still need to speak to them.
Most of my calls are with people in other countries so it doesn't matter where I am when I do them.
I am in awe of people who get up and physically attend a workplace everyday. I was fine doing this in my 20s but now I'm in my 40s with mobility issues it's a different story. I feel blessed to be able to work from home.

The advantages of working from home according to my neighbour .

1. she can stick a load of laundry on
2. she can take a few minutes to peg it out in good weather
3. she can quickly clean her downstairs loo
4. she can take in any deliveries
5. if they need any trades to do work she can let them in
6. she can let the dog in/ out the garden
7. she saves time and money on the commute
8. she doesn’t need to be dressed for the office she can be comfy / casual
9. she saves £ on buying lunch

Disadvantages

1. no proper lunch or coffee breaks
2. no downtime on commute home she’s straight into mum / domestic mode
3. no chats to to other staff / colleagues
4. no doing a quick wander to the nice shops at lunch or after work
5. no post work socialising, there were times her husband would be looking after the kids and she could go for a coffee or drink with a colleague or even a wander round the shops on late shopping evening

What is your neighbour's job role?
Just out of interest and no problem if you don't want to respond

She works managing a Legal team