I tend to find that if someone is not in the same/next room to you and can’t be arsed to answer a question, they just ignore emails/teams.

That’s a symptom of poor leadership.

Why not just got to the office a couple of days a week if you’re bored with WFH

I don’t have an office, the nearest one is 2 hours away.

I tend to find that if someone is not in the same/next room to you and can’t be arsed to answer a question, they just ignore emails/teams.

Fortunately the people I work with are decent workers and always happy to help out a team mate (yes, this might also be slight troll 🙂 )

Call me cynical, but given the opportunity to do this dossing at home, or down the pub, unchallenged, there wouldn’t be much work done at all.

That raises the question of how are you actually managing your employees at all? If I didn’t actually do the things I’d been asked to do, it would be pretty obvious. My boss would slack me and say ‘where’s X?’ and I’d have to admit I hadn’t done it, and then I would be in trouble and eventually fired. How would people in your industry get away with not doing any work?

You’ll be pleased to know that if I tried to work on a public WiFi system I’d be sacked for putting your tax details at risk.

Fortunately we have a security framework that deals with that.

Maybe in the construction industry you (I) come across more people willing, nay as keen as possible to do as little as possible to see out their daily commitment to turn up. Call me cynical, but given the opportunity to do this dossing at home, or down the pub, unchallenged, there wouldn’t be much work done at all.

Perhaps because

A lot of people are paid to do 8/10/whatever hrs work though

?

“Your job today is to build that wall. I know that it should take eight hours and will pay you accordingly. If it takes you six hours or ten then that’s on you, but you’re being paid for an eight-hour job.”

If instead you’re evaluating performance solely based on hours, you’re rewarding lazy workers and penalising grafters. What’s my incentive to get this job done efficiently if you’re just going to give me extra work if I do?

The point of this post is that I would spend several hours working in the cafe at a gym for example then instead of popping on STW or going to chat to Andy, I would lift some weights or swim or whatever, then get back to work. I’m not anticipating spending all day exercising then pausing briefly to do work. DL works well for this because they have nice cafes and lounge areas, so I’m looking for somewhere that has that but is less expensive.

You’ll be pleased to know that if I tried to work on a public WiFi system I’d be sacked for putting your tax details at risk.

I’m slightly confused by this.

When you’re working from home and not on public Wi-Fi you are presumably on your home Wi-Fi. Are our tax details then exposed to the public Internet?

The lounge are in our local Bannatyne is pretty tired looking and usually full of retired folk – not the vibrant working environment I’m looking for.
They do rent out meeting rooms though 🤔

@Cougar it is my understanding that a lot of people who build houses are on piecemeal rates. In theory that means that more efficient workers are rewarded, but in practice it means the management can squeeze the pay so much that people have to work stupidly fast to make a living, to the point that they can’t do a proper job and they have to cut loads of corners. Either that, or they are given enough money to do the job properly but they realise they can make more still if they cut those same corners.

🤷‍♂️

TBH, I realise that there’s a thousand reasons why what I posted may not be appropriate in STR’s environment. I have worked in construction / construction-adjacent places previously, though it was a long time ago now. But what they’re describing is a very “traditional” way of working, it would be considered old-fashioned in a progressive office. If people aren’t answering emails then the solution shouldn’t be to perpetually corner them like rats.

I tend to find that if someone is not in the same/next room to you and can’t be arsed to answer a question, they just ignore emails/teams.

are you one of those people who try calling/messaging after 5 mins to ask if I got your email?

your priorities aren’t my priorities…

You’ll be pleased to know that if I tried to work on a public WiFi system I’d be sacked for putting your tax details at risk.

Has your work not heard of VPNs?

You can set up work laptops to only connect via a dedicated trusted server with an encrypted link between the two. My wife’s laptop is like that….

I’m slightly confused by this.

I think the OP is as well.

I’m slightly confused by this.

When you’re working from home and not on public Wi-Fi you are presumably on your home Wi-Fi. Are our tax details then exposed to the public Internet?

I don’t make the rules, I just have to follow them 🤣🤷‍♂️

If people aren’t answering emails then the solution shouldn’t be to perpetually corner them like rats.

I fully agree. You need to understand why they aren’t being answered.

have you been to an office recently? if I wanted to look busy and do nothing, an office is a far easier place to do it..

Last time I had an office-based job I found increasingly elaborate wats of keeping busy but doing absolutely nothing. Easy options are making everyone a brew, doing a run to the local cake shop (money from collective tea fund), putting out the bins, tidying the cupboards etc. I even went on a ‘Training Camp’ at the HQ (Canary Wharf) for a month, smashed out the training in 3 weeks and spent the 4th essentially walking around with a clipboard, a few mugs and wandering out ‘on errands’. Didn’t even get found out but one or two people did get suspicious on the fourth day as I’d been carrying the same two mugs for over 3 hours. I even had my own little racetrack round the whole building incorporating lifts, every hour or so I’d see if I could beat my PB without getting above a gentle walking pace. I confessed to a fellow trainee on the final night in the hotel and she admitted to doing the same thing that last week too but got busted on the Friday morning!

If I WFH normally that’s because I would be sitting in front of my PCs for more than 10 hours with 3 monitors and two PCs on at all time. I could work from 9am until 3am in the morning. Whereas, my office only provides me a PC with one monitor which is difficult to work on when I need to concentrate. Therefore, even with all the facilities I would have no use of them, since I would be glued to my PCs.

If I go to office usually I am there to chat to people or to disturb others or to fall asleep with minimum work done or to go shopping after office hour.

Has your work not heard of VPNs?

… which is precisely why I asked.

If working from a coffee shop is insecure then so is working from home. If working from home is secure then so is working from a coffee shop. Unless I’m missing something?

WFHers, do you have somewhere to go?

Yes. I’ve been working from home on and off for 20 years but have always had an office or somewhere to go to if I wanted/needed to – either corporate office or a drop in space at Regus etc. During Covid and lockdowns I really struggled being stuck at home all the time and felt trapped, mental health took a battering but sunshine and outdoor activity mostly sorted that out.

I now work for a company where I’m the only person in Europe and have no office to go to. I walk the dogs every day but that feels like a chore through the winter, and my exercise regime was mostly in the garage. In December I joined a local health club and am there probably 5 times a week using gym, pool, squash courts (not all in working hours!). Just getting out of the house for a long lunch is so helpful, I generally go to the gym and do some weights for 40 mins and then swim for 30 mins. Occasionally I’ll take my laptop and work from the cafe there but like others I don’t particularly enjoy working from a small screen, that’ll change over time though no doubt as it feels good sitting somewhere else for a change. I can highly recommend it.

Just curious, does this tie in with what your company is expecting you to be doing?

Yes. My company expects me to do my job. As long as it gets done and the business continues to grow then everybody is happy. I am trusted to manage my time in whatever way I see fit, and the company are very happy that I am taking steps to remain sane.

I’d struggle to get my work done somewhere that wasn’t my office (home or actual work building) – background noise but mainly lack of privacy

Would also have to work off my laptop and I prefer proper screens and peripherals, although many don’t seem to worry about this as much. Also want a proper chair and desk

I actually like wfh, although I go into the office about 1 day a week. I get to see my kids, balance work and life, and then don’t have wasted commuting time

If I had somewhere to go I wouldn’t actually use it to work from, just go there and back. I do leave the house to walk the dog and exercise though

TBH I’m hoping to try a co-working space pretty close to the beach this year as I currrently feel like I’ve reverted too my 14 year old self locked in the bedroom programming the Speccy 🙂

I also would find it hard using just a laptop but it depends exactly what I’m working on, if it’s just a lot of coding then it’s doable and tbh in a coworker space no-ones going to take much notice if you took a bigger monitor.

I miss the old commuting days of cycling 5 days a week.

I’m quite happy to work on a laptop, as it has a decent trackpad. I make heavy use of alt-tab (or cmd-tab) and swiping to switch virtual desktops.

My sanity barely survived lockdown and that was with leaving the house everyday to go the workshop or to customer’s homes (I’m a joiner). I’m amazed at the way that folk cope with being at home all week not having the stimulation of a different enviroment and meeting people in the flesh.

I use this place quite regularly. Costing me a fortune in coffee, but worth it.

I’m amazed at the way that folk cope with being at home all week not having the stimulation of a different enviroment and meeting people in the flesh.

Effortlessly. Really easy

You do meet people. Gym, shops, go for a walk, can talk to your neighbour through their letterbox (I know they’re in there).

I’m amazed at the way that folk cope with being at home all week not having the stimulation of a different enviroment and meeting people in the flesh.

I’m not an extrovert at all but I don’t really cope well. It’s hard. When I have lots of customer stuff going on, even by webex, it’s alright, Or if I have something really engaging to work on like code or some other technical problem to work on. But the more mundane work doesn’t stimulate me, and without any other stimulus it’s hard.

Fair play, I now WFH for 99% of the time and sometimes get to Thursday and realise I’ve not even left the house!

Usually I know as I start getting an odd headache, trying harder to get out at lunch and go for a walk which helps reset my mind

Crikey, it just dawned on me that I have not worked in a 9-5 job for more than 28 years now.

The last time I worked in office environment was in factory office environment (downstairs all the machines upstairs all office) where the boss/manager would sit in front facing us like in a school environment. For internet search I need to fill in a form to ask the administrative lady to do it for me. That was the last time I worked for an old fashion fast east company before I legged it to UK, after spending 3 years in preparation.

Unprofessional and, possibly, reflective of the individual’s attitude.
Rent a proper, fully serviced office, 24/7 access
Newark. north Notts £195/month – as an example.

I WFH and walk the dog every morning before work and again after work.
Tuesday night is bike ride night, and Wednesdays is lunch at the local cafe with friends.
Couldn’t do it any other way.

Thump goes to the Uni gym to give him a break during school exam revision. Works out and then sits in the cafe studying. Loves it – meets and talks to uni students and also gets signed up for psychology experiments. He is 16 and can consent himself, earning good money as a psychology guinea pig (or by attempting to sniff out treats like a dog on one occasion).

I’m amazed at the way that folk cope with being at home all week not having the stimulation of a different enviroment and meeting people in the flesh.

I don’t cope with it particularly well.

Rent a proper, fully serviced office, 24/7 access
Newark. north Notts £195/month – as an example

Sounds lovely, don’t think I’d find anything that cheap round these parts though. Mind you, I will investigate as I’m sure there are a lot of people in need of this kind of thing, maybe shared office space somewhere.

After three years of working from and armchair (not comfy), then a kitchen desk (still not comfy) and finally a proper multi-monitor desk at home, I am finally at the point I need/want a home office. Local laws allow me to build something less than 30kvm on my own land with submitting plans, so I am doing hat.

It will allow me to separate work from home life, and give me a place I can set up both the turbo and a rowing machine and do some exercise during the day. If I leave the coffee in the house I will get a short walk in between bits of work and we can recover a large and messy section of the lounge that is currently taken up by my desk.

A gym membership and working from there is not going to happen. The closes place is Uppsala 20km away and, if I am going there, I may as well work from the office in Uppsala.

Building a home office seems a lot of faff, why don’t you just go to your office 20km away?

I’m amazed at the way that folk cope with being at home all week not having the stimulation of a different enviroment and meeting people in the flesh.

Like weeksy, I have no issues doing this. I’ve spent most of my working life working from home and usually been fortunate to have a dedicated room for an office, which probably helps. I did go a bit strange when I was WFH and living alone for a a year or two though, caught myself having an out-loud conversation with myself whilst walking down the street. Decided to get a lodger at that point… My partner now WFH full time too and she does struggle with it a bit more than me tbf, but then she’s only got me for company so understandable.

Over half of my team (including my manager) are the in the US, person I work closest with is remote in Vancouver. Not really sure how being in the office (we do have a couple in the UK) would improve my productivity tbh.

If I didn’t actually do the things I’d been asked to do, it would be pretty obvious

+1 to that, people often say to me they don’t know how I get anything done WFH. If I didn’t get anything done then no-one would pay me…

My climbing gym has a dedicated work room. I’ve used it a few times but more to fit in bits of work around a climbing session rather than the other way around. I find it a good way of getting some balance where I’ll do the work that needs doing then go climb whereas if I was at home I’d get drawn into doing other work stuff.

I hate the isolation of WFH so happy to sit in a gym or a cafe to do the work that lends itself to this kind of thing. Obviously if I was having a big virtual meeting with contractors or customers I’d do it from my home office

One of my climbing buddies is a game Dev and he works all over depending what he’s doing as well as using a paid for shared workspace in the centre of Leeds.

I’m lucky to make it the kitchen for a brew.

Keep saying I’ll get a 239 to 12v plug and work in the camper van on the beach. I’ve not yet…

Unprofessional and, possibly, reflective of the individual’s attitude.

So?

My perceived attitude is one of any number of metrics that don’t affect my ability to do my job and do it well. Do you suppose that comes up in performance reviews? “Well, Dave’s reliably provided nothing short of exemplary work all year, but he didn’t do it in [sotto voce]a proper office…!” … “Well, shit, best sack him immediately then, we can’t have that!”

Rent a proper, fully serviced office, 24/7 access
Newark. north Notts £195/month – as an example.

Why? Because your employer doesn’t trust you?

Sure, if your home doesn’t lend itself to a “proper” workspace then it makes sense to go elsewhere. But a two hundred quid per month investment in a spare bedroom, you’ll be officing like royalty inside of six months.

Just because it’s a possibly awkward question, it doesn’t mean it’s trolling

Iirc Your an employer aren’t you ? They all suspect we are doing nothing ….. Reality if I did nothing I’d have several high dollar locations grinding to a halt and alot of questions to answer…… And yet I got more done working from home as I didn’t have nonsense from upper management trying to micromanage the shit out of you.

Building a home office seems a lot of faff, why don’t you just go to your office 20km away?

To do a task that can be done without wasting time traveling 20km ?

Unprofessional and, possibly, reflective of the individual’s attitude.
Rent a proper, fully serviced office, 24/7 access
Newark. north Notts £195/month – as an example.

Tbh this is more reflective of a stuck in the mud not moving with the times attitude. – as someone who works from the office in management – but has no problem with my team WFH – most come in most of the time tbh as the job is easier in office as we are building equipment. But Long as they do their tasks and I don’t get issue from clients + are contactable through usual means during business hours I don’t care if they work from the International space station….. Fail on any of those without good reason and we have words – hasn’t happened yet. I have more issues with the field team – who have never been office based.

There seems to be a common theme in a couple of threads lately with people WFH doing pretty much anything other than actually working.

Funny that, the second post in specifically said…….

I’ve fallen into the trap of WFH and working through lunch and also working during the time I’d be commuting to office – so an extra 2 hours a day

But then I saw that you posted this………..

Call me cynical, but given the opportunity to do this dossing at home, or down the pub, unchallenged, there wouldn’t be much work done at all.

And realised that I shouldn’t really be falling for an obvious trolling

I work more productively at home as I don’t really like people, the noises in office are a distraction and I don’t bother taking breaks as nothing to do. When at hime I start and finish when I like, go out for a ride, play a bit of guitar etc,. throughout the day and am generally in a much better mood and mental state for getting work done.

Not going to humble brag the £ but my bonuses suggest people are happy with what I have done over the last few years..

I’ve been WFH for about 12 years now. I’ve got a pretty decent setup with a proper desk and twin monitor pc in the spare room and a workshop at the end of the garden for the practical side of my work. Probably spend about 50% time in each. Very happy with that. Also have the wife here. I occasionally go to other people’s sites for work but not often, maybe once a month. I do enjoy working with others but I certainly don’t miss spending every day in an office.

We have occasionally taken the van out as a mobile office. Last time we went to the Forest of Dean. I got a nice ride in and the wife set up her laptop in the back.

I’m happy enough to work whenever and have no compulsion to do 9-5. If the weather’s nice I’ll do something fun then work in the evening. Also if I’m lying in bed thinking about a work problem I’ll just get up and get on with it for a couple of hours.

And realised that I shouldn’t really be falling for an obvious trolling

Trolling or no, it’s projection. “Given the opportunity, I’d be tossing it off rather than working. Therefore, so would all my employees.”