Anyone else have to clock in & out when working from home?

[brokenkettle]

Just started a job, currently working from home, that requires me to clock in and out. I know this is probably really silly but it's causing me a lot of stress because I feel like I need to be constantly in front of the computer during those hours, even though if I were in the office I'd be talking to other people etc and not constantly sitting down staring at the screen. I rarely have urgent work, so it's not like I need to be constantly available.

My previous WFH job did not require this and I felt much less pressure to be constantly at the computer - I would spend a bit of time with my child before & after school without guilt or rushing. Now it just feels very stressful to do so, like I'm being monitored or lying about my working hours! It's having a negative impact on my family as I end up grumpy and stressed, feeling like my child is imposing on work (when really it's probably the other way around...).

Am I being irrational? Does anyone else feel this way? Should I just stop overthinking this and spend the time with my child, go for a walk/exercise etc??

And no, I'm not going to start getting up at 5am so I can squeeze in more time in front of the laptop to make up the hours You might’ve better to go into the office full time so the issue of making up the hours doesn’t arise - you come across as a skiver!

Yabu, i wish I could play with my kids and go for a walk whilst being at work!

@Hairymoohead

And no, I'm not going to start getting up at 5am so I can squeeze in more time in front of the laptop to make up the hours You might’ve better to go into the office full time so the issue of making up the hours doesn’t arise - you come across as a skiver!

Did you read the rest of that post?

I hardly think attending to my child for 20 min each morning & taking a 10 minute walk so I don't end up crippled at 40 is skiving!

Wow, I didn't realise there were so many people who did computer-based work for 7-8 hours straight with no downtime, no taking care of themselves/others and no distractions! What a load of crap people talk sometimes.

@brokenkettle ask your employers whether they think you are skiving or being reasonable going for a walk and playing with your kids while you should be working. I think the suggestion is 20 for 20 with your back that is every 20 mins you take 20 secs off for a stretch - but it's daft you asking on here - we are not paying you - if I was I'd say you were skiving!

You can’t seriously think it’s ok to take 20 minutes out of your working day to take your child to school. Or to do a 10-minute walk. That would get you sacked in my workplace. Negotiate a later start if you want to do that, or take your walk at lunchtime.

If you're in a job that would sack you (seriously??) for stepping away from your desk for 10 minutes and getting some fresh air, you need to get another job.

No, the 30 minutes, not 10 minutes, out of your working day would get you sacked, yes, if you did it every day and thought you were entitled to it. That’s 2.5 hours a week. 10 hours every four weeks. It’s a lot of time.

@MaudBaileysGreenTurban that's pretty much all contact centres then. You get breaks and lunch for that, otherwise you need to do your job which is answering calls!

@Ladylokidoki

Thank God you don’t work for me. This is why people need to go back to the office.

But that's person wasn't doing 8 hours in the office. Wether you agree with this person stance or not, that's not because they are working from home. If this persons job allows them to come into the office at 9am but not start until 10am, they didn't do 8 hours work in the office either. So why would they if they were at home?

I do think people forget, that those in offices (usually) did spend a huge amount of time not actually working.

Presumably they were being paid to do 8 hours of work but slacking for years and now think it is their right not to/ that it would be "slave labour". Many of us work 12/14 hours at a time of more. This is pathetic frankly, it's not about wfh or not just someone with a terrible work ethic.

@WorriedMillie

We used to be trusted to get on with it (I’ve always been home based), but recently, with the entire organisation WFH, we’ve moved to time tracking, which means we have to record activity for every minute of the working day It’s…tedious. Also, previously,when working flexibly, I always went above and beyond, now I do my 7.5h and that’s it, so they’re actually getting less out of me

Same. I have WFH for the majority of the time for years. Always made extra effort and put in extra hours ti reciprocate for the flexibility. The day they start monitorint me in my own home and tracking what I am doing is the day that mutual respect has gone and I will work my contracted hours and not a second more.

@BananaHammock23

It is absolutely bonkers that you expect to spend time with your child and go for a walk on work's clock. If you were in an office you wouldn't just pop out for an hour whenever you wanted to go to the park or go to the shops. You'd wait until your lunch break and do it then.

I can see why bosses are wanting people back in the office!

Eeerrrr yes in many jobs you always could do exactly that. Because you are paid to achieve results in the area assigned to you, not just to sit at your desk.

@NakedAttraction

I do think in some jobs people need to communicate a bit more about what they are doing and when if they are wfh. In an office you can easily see if someone is around or not, can see when they are on the phone, etc. You can even ask someone if they’ve seen so and so or know when they might be back. And I would never disturb someone eating lunch at their desk (hate it when people do that to me!).

When people aren’t visible you often have no idea whether they’ve popped to hang the washing out for 10 minutes or gone to the gym for an hour. We’re very flexible as a team but it can be really infuriating when you can’t get hold of someone for ages and have no idea when they’re going to be back.

I make sure I put things like the school run or trips to the gym in my calendar which my team (and boss) has access to.

Earlier in the pandemic many people felt like they couldn’t leave their desk all day, like people always expected them to be available because where else would they be? It’s not like they could be in a meeting somewhere else or have gone to see a client. Thankfully we’ve moved on a lot from that.

Control freakery. Trust your team to get on with their jobs. If their results don't match expectations then performance manage them. Otherwise what do you care what they do every second of the day? It terrible managememt from people with outdated and frankly counterproductive management "skills". Do you have nothing to do yourself?

If you want a meeting with a colleague/ employee then send them a meeting invitation to agree a mutually convenient time. Many people aren't available whenever you feel like a "chat" at random due to a whole host (of largely work-related) reasons.

If you don't trust your staff as professionals then sack them and employ new people. Micromanaging people and tracking their movements is only going to end with jigh staff turnover (so loss of skills and experience in your workplace to better employers) or such low staff morale that people just sit there all day doing basically nothing of value.

I am amazed anybody is still decending presenteeism in the face of the overwhelming evidence that it is bullshit.

It’s not about presenteeism in my job. It’s because jobs need to be timed to the minute - as it’s a highly time-critical environment. Imagine air traffic controller. You can’t wander off in the middle to do something else. You can’t, even if you let a duty manager know, go off to do a school run. Someone would have to cover you for those minutes to do the job at that precise minute.

@lemonsyellow

We have tracking software that organises the work. It’s the same as in the office, so no difference at all. We have to account for every minute of the working day. You couldn’t go for a walk in work time, and nor could you do that in the office. Yes, I spend all day in front of a screen. I can take a few minutes to make tea or go to the loo, but you need to account for it.

It's like that in my work also.

I think it's clear from this thread that not everyone can be trusted to work without being monitored - some people aren't very professional...and probably more people should be sacked for their crap attitudes - sure companies are often happy to be flexible and allow you to pick your kids up from school but I think most expect you to make up that time. How do you feel when you a builder a day rate and they go for a walk, pick up their kids, take a few extra tea breaks, a long lunch - are you so understanding then?

We assess people based on the quality of the work they produce, not monitoring what they do every minute of the day. If people need to start a bit later, or end earlier that’s fine, we’re flexible. I’d encourage anyone on my team to go for a walk if they need it, it’s good for their mental health. They are adults and they are performing well, I trust them to manage their own time and their own work life balance effectively. Sometimes the job requires longer hours and you see people put in the effort to get it done. The payback is that if you’re having a quiet day or need some downtime then by all means get away away from your computer and take some time to refresh. I want happy and productive employees, not stressed people tied to desks.

I work from home and don't have to clock in/clock out. I'd hate this and it would probably make me want to look for another job! I'm not a child and I can manage my own time.

Obviously it is different if you work in customer service and they need you on the phone.

I also think flexibility is important, and possible in most jobs. As long as I'm doing the job well, does it really matter if I take 20 mins out one day for a walk? If I was in the office, I'd probably spend that 20 minutes of downtime just staring at the screen anyway.

As long as I'm doing the job well, does it really matter if I take 20 mins out one day for a walk?

Well, depending on the job, yes, it matters hugely. Because doing the job well and of high quality means doing it when you’re required to do it. In my air traffic control example, you would be sacked if you took 20 minutes out willy-nilly. In my industry, the company would be fined tens of thousands of pounds if something didn’t happen at the precise minute it was meant to.

Obviously it is different if you work in customer service and they need you on the phone. Doesn't seem to be any different - have you tried calling customer service recently - they all seem to out for a walk or picking their kids up from school aka we're unusually busy, too busy to work.

@Hairymoohead I can assure you my company isn't! I think it's a mix of things - staff isolating and not being able to WFH, being ridiculously busy (this is us) and some skiving if they aren't monitored as heavily as we are
If I was in unavailable for 10 mins my boss would be ringing to check I was ok

As long as I'm doing the job well, does it really matter if I take 20 mins out one day for a walk?

I do that on my lunch break.

We bill clients by the hour - if our team recorded their time as billable when they had spent it out for a walk or picking up their kids we would see that as gross misconduct - sackable offence and I expect our clients would too as we’d be submitting fraudulent invoices - we don’t have a category on our timesheets for a 20min walk or anything else that isn’t work! They would clock off for the walk and clock back on again afterwards. Of course we can’t know for sure they do this but loads of people behave dishonestly and don’t get found out - it doesn’t mean it’s ok.

There are loads of jobs that aren’t in customer service or on the phone, where you need to be doing your job at a precise time- if it needs doing by 11.30am, you can’t delay it and decide to do it at 7pm when it might suit you better. And nor could you incorporate 20 minutes’ walking time into a job time. I’m in a high-pressure, well-paid environment.

I’m back in the office now but when working from home there were the same expectations as there are in the office. I’m also monitored for every minute of my time including set breaks, toilet trips and lunches regardless of my location. Walks, school runs, making a cuppa etc are not considered part of the working day, I have to do this in my own time or designated breaks.

I'm going to take a wild guess and assume no one on this thread is an air-traffic controller.

And I'm also assuming that that if you were eg: a surgeon, you wouldn't go for a walk in the middle of performing an operation, either. Or, if a teacher, probably wouldn't go and pick your kids up in the middle of double maths. When I was a labour-ward midwife, I wouldn't nip out and grab a quick coffee just as the head was crowning.

Give people some credit, please. We know how our own jobs function.