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Clearly it depends on how much space and comfort you have at your own home but the I've never understood how working at a laptop on a cafe table on an uncomfortable chair, with all the distractions of a cafe (or whatever) can be productive. It's just about OK if I had a few meetings and didn't make sense to return to my desk between them to reply to a few emails but I'd never choose to do it rather than being at a larger screen at a proper height with decent chair.
I've worked from home now for quite a few years now - some of it desk based, some workshop, but K and I have always done a 'fake commute'. Just moving from breakfast table to desk doesn't really wake me up properly so we go out for a (road) ride for an hour pretty much every day. Flexible working means I can do a few emails and go after school run/rush hour (or time it during the day to avoid rain).
A few dumb/kettle bells for a weights work out once a week. In winter if it's wet yoga or a run. And we bought a second hand Wattbike this year so now if it's wet/dark/freezing we've got that option as well.
Yes, some money invested but gyms aren't cheap (and I really don't like them).
How very topical..
Been WFH for about 4 or 5 years now ...2 or 3 construction site visits a month but otherwise mostly in my cellar office. I have been putting off the gym for too long now but getting fat and never riding the bike plus all the booze is taking its toll so I'm going to join somewhere local and get out as often as possible for 45mins to an hour and see how that goes. The dogs will hate me as that's their walk time but needs must. Can't work from the cafe though due to mostly CAD work and long loud conversations/arguments with contractors which would piss off other users so it will have to be a lunch time visit.
Unprofessional and, possibly, reflective of the individual’s attitude.
You sound like you'd make an utterly abysmal manager.
Rent a proper, fully serviced office, 24/7 access
Newark. north Notts £195/month – as an example.
It'd be 3 or 4 times that anywhere civilised. And probably less comfortable than my current home office.
Building a home office seems a lot of faff, why don’t you just go to your office 20km away?
This is Sweden, building a friggebod is a rite of passage. I've got one built under the previous rules (15sqm IIRC) and that'll probably end up as a home office eventually.
building a friggebod is a rite of passage.
Is that something like a Realdoll™?
I can’t work on a laptop and not a fan of gyms, but I’m lucky in that I have the South Downs on the doorstep so put 1-2 hours in the diary once or twice a week to get out on my bike at lunchtime. In the summer I sometimes have a quick sea swim. Manager does similar for jogging.
Usually I solve some problem or bug I’m thinking about whilst I’m doing this.
If working from a coffee shop is insecure then so is working from home.
There's no one ear-wigging or looking over your shoulder at home. Discussing tax affairs over Teams with colleagues or accountants in a public space definitely a no-no. The VPN bit is the easy part and they're good at that.
Good points. But the post I replied to was specifically talking about a public Wi-Fi system rather than working in public generally.
I couldn't work in a public place from a privacy perspective. I arguably couldn't even work in an open-plan office for the same reasons. But I absolutely could work in all of those places if the only barrier was "yes but public Wi-Fi". If that was really the primary issue (it isn't) then I could sit in Starbucks using my work phone as an access point.
Devil's advocate: I could sit on your windowsill and potentially breach your Wi-Fi given sufficient time (a couple of minutes for a walk-by to snaffle handshakes and then minutes to days back home to crack the password). "Not being on public Wi-Fi" is not remote security. Remote security is VPNs, end-to-end encryption, Endpoint Detection & Response and a whole host of other stuff.
Is that something like a Realdoll™?
More like a hobby house TBH.
But if you're into Realdolls™, that's fine. I'm not going to judge.
Remote security is VPNs, end-to-end encryption, Endpoint Detection & Response and a whole host of other stuff.
Which many employers have installed by default on company laptops so it simply doesn't matter which network you're on - you can't eavesdrop anything.
How long to crack WPA3 and 20 characters? Asking for a friend. . .:-)
Nothing more annoying than going to a cafe and finding that there's nowhere to sit because all the tables are occupied by people with laptops and a cup of cold coffee 🙁
How long to crack WPA3 and 20 characters? Asking for a friend. . .:-)
You want to work on your VPN somewhere you don't know the WiFi password ,?
How long to crack WPA3 and 20 characters? Asking for a friend. . .:-)
It Depends™
WPA cracking is relatively slow. But if the password is "password" then it's going to fall quite rapidly.
There's no point in spending money to rent an office to sit in on my own. I need stimulus, not just increasing the number of walls to stare at from 4 to 8.
Nothing more annoying than going to a cafe and finding that there’s nowhere to sit because all the tables are occupied by people with laptops and a cup of cold coffee
Benny's got your back
(Wait for the twist 🙂 )
@Cougar, 20 random, special characters, numbers, upper and lower case letters.
Trolling or no, it’s projection. “Given the opportunity, I’d be tossing it off rather than working. Therefore, so would all my employees.”
Many other posts to reply to but for now this one stands out as the prime example of people thinking they have me sussed when they really haven't got a clue about me
I used to go into the office once a week. Just to meet up with other people in the team and the wider business. Always good to chat and get a different perspective on things. Some people may class it as gossip but is a good way of buinlidng and re-enforcing relationships.
But the company in their infinite wisdom closed the office this week. My nearest office is now an hour's drive away, versus a 30 minute walk and 15 minute train journey.
So need to have a look at local options for co-working space, just for a change of scenery once a week.
Many other posts to reply to but for now this one stands out as the prime example of people thinking they have me sussed when they really haven’t got a clue about me
This may be true, but there's only one available mechanism by which readers may be able to "have you sussed." If you think everyone has got you all wrong - including accusations of trolling after you've literally admitted to trolling - then perhaps your communication needs work.
I can relate to this. My brain defaults to the notion that everyone I interact with is a mate. It gets me in bother from time to time.
Suns out, it’s warmish and dry. just been for a 30min gravel spin/skive round the canal and park…
Where our shop is the offices have been changed into flats.
We lost the lunchtime rush but since WFH we are getting people who just need to break their day and walk their lockdown dog . They know we are a friendly bunch so some just come in for a chat.
Always been able to WFH if required although it was in exceptional circumstances. With the COVID lockdowns etc. we switched to WFH full time. It seems to have settled into a hybrid working environment these days which suits me just fine as I have a 100 mile commute to the office (pre-covid I car shared, but it's still cracking on for 3 hours travelling per day). As an engineer I need to go into the factory to look at issues, test/develop designs etc. but I also spend a lot of time in meetings so travelling to an office to sit on the phone is pointless.
For 2 years I replaced my morning commute with a 1-2 hour bike ride before getting home and settling to work. If I didn't do a morning ride I could knock off a bit earlier (assuming an early start) and go ride in the afternoon. For this winter I joined a gym which is a load more flexible as I can pedal there, work out and pedal home. I think without doing that I'd go slightly mad!
I have considered sitting in the local cafe/bar to do some work, especially when we were having broadband trouble but ultimately I didn't bother as my work lap top is huge (technical laptop to run CAD etc.) and I wouldn't want to sit making calls in that environment
Met my wife at the gym. Be warned.
When I was WFH I made a point of doing a daily 3km walk around the local farms during lunch. Made a point of stravaing it, taking pictures and making comments on what I had seen. Looking back if was mostly about fly tipping and shit weather.
Brown Bin Down | Walk | Strava
Sunset and a strange bin | Walk | Strava
Late Georgian Digital Clock. That is wrong. | Walk | Strava
@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR Im surprised you're that bothered about others WFH habits considering how much of your companies time you spend playing on the internet.
Unprofessional and, possibly, reflective of the individual’s attitude.
Sweeping generalisation from an era that should be long forgotten.
Rent a proper, fully serviced office, 24/7 access
Newark. north Notts £195/month – as an example.
Marvellous. You paying?
If not, GTFO. Learn to deal with the fact that, as long as the job gets done, and all security policies are adhered to, it doesn't matter one bit where someone is physically located when working.
@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR Im surprised you’re that bothered about others WFH habits considering how much of your companies time you spend playing on the internet.
Whose company would that be then?
I'm not particularly bothered, it was a question. Seems to have irked a few though
rikk - you're welcine to your opinion; I stand by my comments.
So if I had an hour spare between calls and didn't have any other pressing work on, you'd object if I went for a swim?
If you did, I'd certainly object to being sent away for two weeks and what might well end up being 3 weekends at the beginning of March. And I certainly wouldn't had a brief work chat with a colleague just now.
My work is always done to a high standard and my customers are always happy. I don't see what's unprofessional about that, or why it matters.
My work is always done to a high standard and my customers are always happy. I don’t see what’s unprofessional about that, or why it matters.
Irs called presenteeism - stems from the Victorian mill method of working.
Its when the management has trust issues/poor direction or simply turtle on a post syndrome
I'm back in an office again, first time since...
Technically it's blended working but the days I'm notionally at home are really quiet so I've just gone in anyway. Guess it's just the novelty of seeing people. Did all of my last job from home without meeting anyone outside my project team and then only physically every couple of weeks. Downside is going to be less exercise - generally I was taking a break every couple of hours to do a short walk to lean on a gate and take in the view and collect my thoughts.
Did do some volunteering from Glencoe car park / cafe last month. Not sure I'd want to that on a regular basis, any cafe is a bit too busy is usually too busy for me to focus.
I guess could use some of the WFH flexibility to start a weekend away earlier. Travel on the Thursday and work part of Friday to save on leave.
Last employer had a policy for working out of the country that made me think Norway for a few weeks might be an option. Blend a bit of ski and work. Ultimately fitness / long covid was the main barrier.
And you wonder why you get accused of trolling.
You're like a dog with a bone, give it a bloody rest will you
My question in this thread had nothing to do with trolling
Cue, #username blah, blah, repeat.
I asked a question, a genuine question and it seems to have got under people's skin. Maybe those that doth protest too much and all that
You were inferring earlier that left to my own devices I choose to toss it off, hence I judge employees in the same light. That was my point when I said you'd made a wrong call, not getting tied up about the endless cries of troll
I did think that comment on judging people by your own standards was harsh.
But you didn't ask what any of us slackers actually do. Or whether or not there even is work to do all the time.
But you didn’t ask what any of us slackers actually do. Or whether or not there even is work to do all the time
Good point, although it sounds like you all do the same job 😉 (jk btw)
So what do wfh'ers do for a livng on here in general.
I'm just about to drive to that London at 4am when technically I could WFH, so maybe I need a rethink 😂
There's a bit more to it, but I need to get going...
So what do wfh’ers do for a livng on here in general.
I work in IT for a US company. I mostly get on with my own work so can do whenever and wherever I want (as long as I turn up to meetings that I need to) so the place that makes me happiest to work is surely the best place for me to work isn't it? Better mental state, happier to do any work outside of 'normal' hours and so on.
Seems like a lot of the "get back to work" gang don't understand the importance of that happiness and flexibility.
When I go into the office I probably do less actual work because a lot of the time in an office seems to be people chatting shit to each other, going to get coffees etc,.
Same as Kerley.
same as them 2.
Bloody hell, no wonder it's an echo chamber, you're all the same person 🤣
Same.
STR, I don't have anything against you (or really, against anyone here), but you've literally admitted on this very forum that you like winding people up. The only metric most readers have to measure other posters by is what they post. If you feel that you're being misunderstood - which is wholly possible - then that's on you to be clearer in what you write. Gods know I've hoisted my own petard often enough.
Bloody hell, no wonder it’s an echo chamber, you’re all the same person
Definitely not. Have you seen Kerley's bikes?
There are a lot of large American IT organisations and there are a lot of people working for them...
I'm one of those people who literally only needs a laptop and internet connection to perform my work (and sometimes some privacy) and my mum just cannot get her head round why I don't constantly work from the garden, pub, beach, Bermuda or local cafes etc. Unfortunately the rather dull answer is that I just find it easiest to replicate standard business hours in my own house. Even working in the garden on a hot day seems like a faff to me.
Its different for everyone but I think for me mostly its a work/life separation thing. I don't mind my job but its hardly a lifelong passion and I wouldn't be doing this stuff if I didn't need the money so its very much like I want to keep it separate from things I would actually do for fun or in my own time.
There is an office available about 40mins away and go in there twice a week even if sometimes I'm largely by myself in there.
Our WFH has to be home, no hotels, shared spaces, trains, gyms, park benches, etc. It's not even allowed to be another home, it has to be the one you wrote down on the form to say "this is where I'm working from".
Which sometimes feels a little ridiculous, but it's client mandated security requirements and a case of "their game, their rules".
As a result I don't bother as I'm only 2 miles form the office, which is just enough to make mornings/lunch/evenings a faff, but not enough to make riding the commute "exercise" so I've started doing an hour of Zwift each evening.
TBH, and reading most of this thread confirms this, WFH in a more mobile/flexible way definitely seems to suit people who manage tasks rather than do them which means you can "go for a swim between calls" which wouldn't be the case if your roles were more 'at the coal face' where you're expected to spend your 8 hours doing engineering calculations, coding, animating, doing accounting, or whatever.
If I had an office 2 miles away, I'd go to it everyday.
it used to be 30 miles away and I worked at home 3 days a week.
changed jobs and its now its 600 miles away and I work at home 95% of the time. visit the office for a couple of days once a month.
project/dev manager in offshore survey.
So what do wfh’ers do for a livng on here in general.
I get paid to think about strategies. And then tell people what i thought about. Then we agree on the most profitable thoughts.
The other part of my job is to review what other people thought about and make sure it aligns with what the things i (and my colleagues) thought about 3 or 4 years ago, and agreed were the most profitable.
I really don't need to be in an office. A healthy chunk of it i could do on the toilet for all it matters.
Mechanical Engineer<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> For a global company. (Who's quite happy not traveling for face to face bullshit meetings anymore) </span>
I’m only 2 miles form the office, which is just enough to make mornings/lunch/evenings a faff, but not enough to make riding the commute “exercise”
The walking could be useful though - it would for me.
Hi from Starbucks by the way as I wait for my car to be serviced.
which wouldn’t be the case if your roles were more ‘at the coal face’ where you’re expected to spend your 8 hours doing engineering calculations, coding, animating, doing accounting, or whatever.
Disagree with that somewhat, coding is what I do and my partner is a 2D UI/UX artist. A lot of the company I work for is remote, not just management roles. This isn't uncommon in software based companies IME.
Then there are people who may prefer to work at different times of the day. If I were single and writing code for a living I would absolutely doss about all morning, work in the afternoon, take a break then work from evening to the small hours. And I'd get loads more done.
Pretty much me aside from the single and coding bits.
We’ve got an incredibly flexible attitude to WFH here – I think there would be question marks raised if WFH was actually WFG.
Rookie effort
a few of my colleages have been really stretching it, booking a week off skiing, but then "WFH" and staying out in the alps for another month.
Ive got a friend who takes his van up onto dartmoor and works out his van, with a nice view, rinsing the work mobile data.
Why not?! if you can swing it, and the work is getting done, more power to you
which wouldn’t be the case if your roles were more ‘at the coal face’ where you’re expected to spend your 8 hours doing engineering calculations, coding, animating, doing accounting, or whatever.
Our staff doing engineering calculations, coding and 3D modelling/packaging all do it from home, my neighbour (no, not that one) is an accountant who works from home and my exes best friend is a senior animator for Dreamworks and works out of a cabin in the Rockies for several months of the year.
So, no.
Those roles still don't need to be in the office.
Other than people working on actual hardware, most people could WFH given a little lateral thought (and a fast internet connection)
which wouldn’t be the case if your roles were more ‘at the coal face’ where you’re expected to spend your 8 hours doing engineering calculations, coding, animating, doing accounting, or whatever.
do you really believe those people are doing that for 8 hours solid in an office environment..
So, no.
Those roles still don’t need to be in the office.
The question was whether you could do them in an hour in-between swims at the health club or justify an 8 hour job into a 6 hour day.
I could work from home (with enough screen and desk area), I couldn't see myself being able to do much more than jiggle the mouse to keep my teams icon from going offline if confined to a laptop in a cafe.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">do you really believe those people are doing that for 8 hours solid in an office environment..</span>
*waves from the office*
I couldn’t see myself being able to do much more than jiggle the mouse to keep my teams icon from going offline if confined to a laptop in a cafe
Amateur, I don't even WFH and I know the way round that is to sit your mouse on an analogue watch.
Amateur, I don’t even WFH and I know the way round that is to sit your mouse on an analogue watch.
Amateur:
https://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/caffeine/
Only works if you're not on a monitored system.
The question was whether you could do them in an hour in-between swims at the health club or justify an 8 hour job into a 6 hour day.
Yes. Quite probably.
In fact, I know some of them do.
Just to be clear I wasn't anticipating doing gym stuff all day every day with just a few breaks for work. That would be pretty tiring, I think.
My OH took a job that was completely WFH as she THOUGHT it would be better for her... She hates it, gets lonely, and has takena new office based job.
I do laugh though, as "There seems to be a common theme in a couple of threads lately with people WFH doing pretty much anything other than actually working" is absolutely true!! She takes the kids to school, goes shopping, does washing, does ALL SORTS of things that aren't work...then worres she's busy!
When I'm at the surgery I'm like a proper busy bee fromt eh time i get in, to the time i leave..
When I worked at the CCG (office based) i was in awe at the 'busy work' most people got up to. Honestly, I still stand by my statement that if their boss said "I expect project or workload X to be completed this week and you can go when it's done", the office could have been empty by tuesday afternoon....
DrP
I’ve typed out a reply / deleted / typed a few times on this thread.
The way of working is/has changed. The rest of the working world is catching up on the way a lot of companies had already moved to before COVID.
I’m a director of a US risk management company. I generally work from home, if I want to. If I want to spend the day cleaning that’s my choice. We are a results driven organisation. I have a large team, if they want to work from home and clean their house, that’s ok with me. They have targets, I expect those to be met. If they want to work in a coffee shop, I don’t mind.
That being said, I do try and encourage people to come into the office for face to face meetings, a lot of this is to ensure people are safe, feel part of the wider team, feel comfortable with talking to each other about more than just work etc. The metaphorical arm on the shoulder, checking in on people.
For reference today I’m still in bed, I’m about to go and log on before my shower….I’ll go through last nights emails and then shower and have breakfast. I’ll go to a coffee shop later this morning and take my laptop with me. I’m working on next months Town Hall, so I don’t need multiple screens. I’ll do a couple of meetings when the East Coast US come online, will then go to the gym and be back on line for a couple of meetings with the West Coast guys, I’ll probably finish about 2100 tonight. This is all my choice for how I like to split my day, based on what I need to achieve and not based on how long I should sit at my desk.
I would hate to work in an environment where there is a lack of trust. It’s up to management to ensure individuals are aware of their targets, that they are achievable and regularly reviewed. I know this isn’t appropriate for all roles, but works for the approx 1000 staff within my arena.
The vast majority of my staff are incredibly skilled and talented folk, to retain them we need to ensure we are offering them the appropriate rewards and working environment. A flexible approach to working is one such method we use. It works well for us. But we are a large global business and have been working with teams with staff based in different locations for a long time.
I do laugh though, as “There seems to be a common theme in a couple of threads lately with people WFH doing pretty much anything other than actually working” is absolutely true!! She takes the kids to school, goes shopping, does washing, does ALL SORTS of things that aren’t work…then worres she’s busy!
That is because you are measuring work by number of hours sat in an office rather than the output. I get more done than most other people yet I can still go out for a ride, walk the dogs, do any number of things while still working in between doing that.
If I get done what is required of me (which I do) then what does it matter how I get that done and at what time of the day? This is the modern way of working which a lot of people really don't seem to understand.
I do laugh though, as “There seems to be a common theme in a couple of threads lately with people WFH doing pretty much anything other than actually working” is absolutely true!!
It probably is (he said, posting on STW instead of working). But is an office any different? Few places bat an eye over smokers, yet take a ten minute smoke break out of every hour and you've effectively got staff on a four day week.
Honestly, I still stand by my statement that if their boss said “I expect project or workload X to be completed this week and you can go when it’s done”, the office could have been empty by tuesday afternoon….
Quite. Which is how it should be, n'est-ce pas?
yet take a ten minute smoke break out of every hour and you’ve effectively got staff on a four day week.
i hope you aren't an accountant 😉
I’ll do a couple of meetings when the East Coast US come online, will then go to the gym and be back on line for a couple of meetings with the West Coast guys, I’ll probably finish about 2100 tonight.
It's hard to understate this.
I don't doubt that for many roles a traditional nine-to-five existence is unavoidable. For me, one of my suppliers is based in California. 5pm here is 9am over there. As a Californian might say, "do the math."
Desk-based workers need to be going into an office if it provides a net benefit. They don't need to be going into an office because that's just what they've always done.
The work gets done to a high standard and your boss is whining that you did it at the gym / pub / coffee shop / mum's basement / Chamonix, that's little more than jealousy I'm afraid.
The vast majority of my staff are incredibly skilled and talented folk, to retain them we need to ensure we are offering them the appropriate rewards and working environment.
Are you hiring?
A mistake that a lot of people make is assuming that if I work really fast and get X done in one day, then I can get 5X done in a week. But I can't, personally. I can work really fast for short periods of time but not all the time. If you ask me to do something that is 50X it will take me more than 50 days because I cannot work at that rate all the time. What is stimulating and engaging for a day would become exhausting for two months.
i hope you aren’t an accountant 😉
Ten minutes out of an hour is 80 minutes per workday. Over five days that's 400 minutes or ~6.7 hours. It might not be a full day but it's close enough for the purposes of an example in a convivial discussion.
A mistake that a lot of people make is assuming that if I work really fast and get X done in one day, then I can get 5X done in a week. But I can’t, personally. I can work really fast for short periods of time but not all the time. If you ask me to do something that is 50X it will take me more than 50 days because I cannot work at that rate all the time. What is stimulating and engaging for a day would become exhausting for two months.
Oh absolutely...which is why, in my role, I can work my butt off, pretty well I think, for a few days a week plus a few half days, but I couldn't work like this for 5 full days a week...
DrPart-time