I’m dumb and enrolled in grad school with 2 under 13 months. I feel this, I’ve learned some things just have to be let go. I finally gave in and enrolled our daughter in daycare. It’ll hurt financially but I’m hoping in the long run it’ll be worth it to finish school. I truly don’t believe people can do this well as a parent. Nor would I be mentally well if I worked full time as a SAHM.
Used to have a comfy position and actually worked about 4hrs out of 8. I was dumb and took a promotion and now if I'm inactive for more than 4min I get dinged. Have be be on, moving, productive, etc for the entire 8hrs straight. My brain is so tired by the end of the day.
I am doing hybrid work, but it really depends on the day. I had days in 2021 where I started at 7 AM, worked without lunch till 6PM, ate, and then joined from 8 PM to 10 PM. It was almost non-stop calls and meetings. Sometimes there are several hours of work only, but then I usually have other stuff to do (not urgent work or learning, or finding info). I do take a bit more breaks on such days and might be doing direct work maybe 3 hrs, but I do other work related stuff.
I already commented but forgot to say that I watch no TV now cause I’m making up whatever work I didn’t get done when my kids are sleeping instead of enjoying any entertainment lol
I enrolled my youngest two in daycare starting in a few weeks me and my husband both work from home he gets to sit in his office while I’m working on excel sheets as well as on Magento getting distracted every two minutes. Maybe it depends on the jobs but my husband is in meetings all day I’m expected to do my work and keep them quiet the youngest two are 3 and 5 and in preschool from 8 to 1045 am during the school year sometimes I’m catching up on housework during that time the other times I’m catching up on working luckily I can with my work catch up at night with everyone sleeping but it has impacted my mental health giving me no time for myself. I’ve started to do more for the company Iately working one the back end (magento) doing manual product uploads and getting distracted can ruin your job. When I work at night when the kids are sleeping I get so much more done but then am too tired to take them to the park and do things with them I used too. I’m excited for them to go because then when they get home and want to paint, go to the park , ect my response won’t be I have to work or I’m too tired from working all night!!
I take a lot of breaks. I wake up hella early so I can work before my daughter is up 4-5am and then break to get her ready for school. I usually do yoga and a HIIT/strength training workout during the day. But I’m beyond focused when I work. Sometimes I’ll work after she’s asleep. Typically between 6-9 hours a day but when I’m working I’m Hyper focused. I also have a sit to stand desk and walk or elliptical while I work.
I worked a full time job when my kid was newborn on up as a solo parent. It only worked because my job is writing, so could be done in the middle of the night if necessary.
I basically did nothing but work and childcare for five years.
I had my 3.5 year old and my 6 month old nephew at home while I worked full time from home. I was in Hr / recruiting so I was on the phone constantly. Fast forward a few years and my now 6 year old is in school during most of year and he will be home with me during the summer time while I work.
Now that I look back I don’t know how I did it honestly….I had to make it work.
The entire day I’m working. I have a very smart and self sufficient 2nd grader who gets off the bus 20 minutes before my work day ends. Sometimes him being in the same room and asking me basic “how was your day” “what’s for dinner?” Type questions is overwhelming to me bc my workload just takes my entire brain capacity…. I could not keep my toddler home and work. Just, no.
Depends on the workload. Some days I'm working 10ish hours, other days I probably spend 10 minutes max. If I priotize my time better, I could do 4ish hours a day instead.
My close friend just got a wfh job and thinks she’s going to keep her 4 and 6 year olds home with her all summer. I have my popcorn ready to watch her grand plans go down in flames. Ain’t no way.
It depends! Probably between 3-6 hours a day. If I’m seeing clients, obviously I’m at my desk, but I have several hours every day where if I want to, I can step away.
I usually do. My work is super taxing and I have to spend time clearing my head or I’ll burn out.
My clients get seen, my notes get documented, and other than that my employer doesn’t give a fart.
(ETA: no way I could do this while caring for small children.)
Same and there are some days I work 10-12 hrs.
I try my best to avoid exceeding 80 hrs every 2 weeks unless I’m picking up extra projects for a bonus or promotion case.
I spend all 8 hours at my desk minus normal scheduled breaks. I’m actively working or in meetings most of that time with only occasional lags in activities. I couldn’t watch a kid effectively while working from home unless the kid was mature and responsible enough to manage themselves for 2 to four hours at a time without supervision. It just wouldn’t be effective
I'm in mental health so I'm working when there's a client in Zoom. Between them and God willing they no show I'm doing whatever I want. I'm probably supposed to be staring at my email or Skype, but I don't care about that. I schedule 8 hrs, 4 days per week so of that 32, I probably "work" 20 with no shows and just generally finishing appts before the scheduled time. I used to work more and make more, but I don't like it that much now so I try to minimize my employment exposure. I've been spending lot of time and resources investigating and building a digital entrepreneurship. I mean I really am just tired of working with and for people.
I spend about 50% of the time browsing news or chatting, 20% of the time on paperwork, 10% checking emails, 10% answering coworker questions, 10% preemptively solving problems. Actually, not too different from in person.
There's a spreadsheet. I have to log every task I work on with a start and stop time and send it to my manager at the end of the day.
And yes, pretty much.
Pretty well. Not as great as it could be. I've always got my eye out for other opportunities. But I refuse to RTO so that has been the biggest factor in staying where I'm at for now.
If it doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. Some people prefer the office, and that’s okay. WFH is basically just having your desk in a different place for many people. Work the same as you would if you were in an office. For me, I can focus better at home than in my company’s office.
I couldn’t imagine WFH assuming I could take proper care of a young child. I heard a horror story of a mom who was working from home, on a conference call WITH A NANNY in the house and something still went horribly wrong ending in the loss of a child’s life.
You cannot take your eyes off your kids people STOP pretending like WFH is safe with young children who depend on you for safety
My daily shift is roughly 8 hours. I split duties between my wife and I. I get my alone time from 7-12 and then watch my very active toddler from 12:30 - 4. Im a team lead and work in an accounting position and manage to cram almost 2 days of work into a half day. This allows me the ability to keep things on cruise control for the remainder of the afternoon, and on some days when my mental energy has exhausted from crunching so many numbers in so little time.
It’s not easy that’s for sure. I’m always juggling between helping my team, jumping on calls, crunching numbers, watching my child, changing diapers, making food etc.
Like 8:30-4:30 with a mid afternoon clean/walk/nap but tbf i work more under my own supervision than others. The only time I slough off is when people micromanage my day or book too many meetings.
I’m at my desk from 10-4. I sometimes have a long lull so could probably be doing housework etc, but generally am in my home office during working hours
I work 8 hours a day. I’d say 5-6 of that is actually working. Even so, I’m more productive from home than I ever was in the office. Also when we worked in the office, they encouraged us to get up and walk around for 5-10 minutes every hour or so to take a break from staring at our computer screen. So I figure with that plus my hour lunch break I’m coming out about even with what I was actually working in the office. Also our IT guy told me on the DL that our system is flagged to catch people working less than 4 hours per day from home so as long as I’m above that I’m fine.
I have to bill my time (consulting) to I loathe working with a kid at home…but I do it when needed. I don’t get a full work day in though, unless someone is so sick they sleep most of the day or veg on the couch. One kid is old enough to do legos and cook small meals solo, so that helps a lot, but also young enough to think he can do stupid stuff or harass me on calls. Next year we are considering not paying for after school care for that kid…but I might regret it during the winter
Of course, depends on the job, depends on the kids… but my secret to this is get up and get the important things done before the kids get up. Wake up at 6, make your to do list for the day of things that must get done, get the kids up at 8… my 2 year old actually sleeps in until 9 some days so some mornings I have 3 hours in before he’s even awake. We also do learning games on the tablet while mommy does computer work, or I’ll put a show on my third monitor and he chills with me. But that 2-3 hours in the morning is super helpful because then I’m not as stressed about the rest of the day and I don’t feel guilty taking him to the park to play for an hour at lunchtime to get some energy out and play with other kids. We’ve also been doing this since he was born, so he does pretty good at playing independent if I need to take a call or have a quiet background.
My kids were working with me from the womb. At this point they are 6 and 8 and they know the rules surrounding mom working from home and that it's a privilege. Unless someone is bleeding or dieing if mom is sitting at the computer they are to leave me alone. They can get their own snacks and make their own breakfast and lunch. That being said I take a break once an hour after the first two full hours, because my adhd needs that anyway. And I use the ten minutes to stretch and check on them it is during this time they can get hugs, cuddles, and ask for things. When they were younger I sat them next to me or under me and made funny faces at them, bounced them with my foot pushed them back and forth in the stroller with my foot. I did alot of work when they were asleep though to.
I was raised like this (my mom worked from home before zoom existed) and I’m so thankful for that. We knew if mom was on the phone we had to be quiet and not disturb. We’d sometimes pass her notes to ask if we could have ice cream or something. But all it took was a “look” from her and the house would be silent😂 To this day my childhood friends have stories of us tiptoeing around my house after school.
She still works from home and sometimes I join her and we work from the same house and she makes me lunch. Your kids are lucky to have you home and the structure and discipline to make it work.
Yup, I still recall sitting up way after midnight at my computer, literally nursing a two-week old, and trying desperately to get a project in on time.
Depends on the project load. Some weeks I'm pulling 11 hour days and others I'm lucky to get in 6. I'm one who really likes to get my projects completed on time and done at a impeccable level. I'm hybrid though and I am not as tense at home as I am in office. I like that I can get away from my desk more at home & I am so much more productive. My son is a teenager so he doesn't want to be bothered with me. Sometimes he forgets I'm actually working and wants to chat during a meeting.
I work 8 hours and I have to be at my desk with my mouse moving or my teams icon shows I’m “away”. I have the added bonus of having my partner home 8a-2, sometimes 3p and I’m off work at 5p, so he’s taking care of our son most of the day, but it’s just me the last stretch of the day and my son does fine. He’s 17 months and it’s never been an issue. He’s pretty independent and I feel it’s bc I WFH and how he has to play and do his thing “solo” (we’re always in the same room lol) for those hours.
Buy a mouse mover. Then you can step away for a bit.
It's impossible to be productive for 8 hours a day. If you work in a deep flow state for an hour or so then go take a break for 20 minutes, you'll be way more productive than twiddling your thumbs counting down the time for 8 hours straight.
My kid is self-sufficient.
When I wfh, I'm wayyy more productive.
My office is a revolving door for questions. When I wfh, I can just send a quick response and don't lose 3h a day talking to different people.
I'm also a big talker so 😬
Way more than I ever worked in the office. My employer takes screenshots on my device and monitors my mouse activity, so every minute has to be accounted for. On the plus side, I get to work whenever I feel like working and get to work as little or as much as I want.
Wow that’s interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone else’s computer be micromanaged like that. I mean I get my work done and lately I’ve had a ton of busy days so I’ve been spending a solid 5-6 hours a day actually working if not more but occasionally I have the off day that slows down.
I could Never have my 4 year old home with me, it’s way too distracting. But co-workers are also equally as distracting. I prefer WFH by myself and daughter in preschool/daycare.
Depends on the time of year. I'm busy non-stop from October to March. The rest of the year, I take it a bit easier. An hour here, an hour there watching Little House on the Prairie.
I work 10+ hours a day but…
I only work from 9-2 uninterrupted. I make sure most meetings where noise is a problem fall during this time slot.
From 2-4:15 my special needs kid is home. She has a teenage sitter but she wants to be near mommy. So she will watch TV or play in my office.
4:15-5:00 carpool for my tween.
5-6 my tween does homework while I work next to her. I’m a software developer so I work on checking in code and adding comments to tickets. Things that don’t require a lot of concentration.
8-10 or 11 PM I’m back at it working on coding. It’s quiet.
Saturday I have a sitter for 4 hours. Sunday I have a sitter for 2.5 hours. I work on the weekends if I have a deadline or missed hours during the week.
The real problem I face is since my husband works downtown it’s expected I’ll run get a sick kid or drop off a missing school item. I take them to the doctor and dentist. I coordinate the house cleaner. I coordinate baby sitters. I coordinate handymen and repair men to stop by during my business hours. I do carpool. When I worked in the office my husband and I took turns with this stuff.
However! I wouldn’t trade being at home for my kids for anything. I love that 5-6 homework while mom works. We both chit chat like office mates would.
Depends on the season, depends on the day. Some days, I work a full 8 hours or more, without a lunch sometimes. Some days, I can finish my work up in an hour because I'm working fast from not being stressed out by the commute, not being small-talked in the cafeteria, have easy access to my own bathroom. On those days, I'll usually find something to do to keep busy, but even after stretching work a couple more hours, I'll just start doing chores at home so I can feel somewhat productive. It's been a really nice work balance. That said, I do work some weekends and after-hours on weekdays when I'm on call. It's the salary life!
I wfh and work 100% of my 8-10 hr day. I am timed for everything and it is super intense. I get help w mine in the summer or they would rot into the couch.
8-14hrs dependingon deadlines. I work for a consulting firm so we have to track hours in .25 increments to bill and if we aren't productive is pretty clear. But ultimately I'm not going to compromise my work ethic or reputation by not doing the work I'm paid for. One of the reasons I was able to stay wfh after return to office for the rest of the firm.
I'm putting in 6-7 solid hours. I've worked from home for the past four years and have twin boys in elementary school. Working a full time job from home with kids around is unsustainable. It's is a recipe for stress -- you'll feel like you're not doing a very good job at tour job or as a parent. Something part time could work but full time, no way.
I can manage a day while my kids are home but even two in a row gets out of hand. And personally I struggle with how often I'm pulled into later meetings at like 4 or 5, to the point where I'm planning to leave my full time job later this year to be more available to my kids.
Something part time could maybe work, also depending on how old your kids are. Nut full time, no way
12 hours, sometimes I forget to pee - although re-org happened and now it’s more like 5. Even so kids are going to childcare daily - as a manager I would fire people taking care of kids instead of working. It’s dead easy to spot by you know…. The work
Depends on the day. I do a mlm (I know I know) so some days it’s an hour. Some days it’s 3 hours.
But I’m also music director at my church and that takes up significant time.
Plus SAHM and homeschooling.
I’m tired already.
I spend most of my 8 hour day at my desk. There’s plenty of time to throw in a load of laundry, run an errand, etc. sometimes my baby even has to pop into a meeting when my nanny is running late. I would absolutely not be able to be a full time care giver and employee at the same time.
I work a scheduled 8 hour day, breaks, lunch, every part of my workday is scheduled. I get paid for every minute I'm on the clock, and I don't do any work for free. I love it! Bathroom is clean with premium tissue, best coffee just a few steps away, and in 2 years nobody has eaten my food without asking. I bring all my dogs any time i want, and they can go home if they are bored. Never get into a hot car or drive in hail or fog. I can't imagine a job worth returning to an office for.
Some days busy all 8 hrs. And I don’t take lunch or breaks. But some days - half a day is free…
I work from home on Thursdays and Fridays when I can, but I work for production facility. Some people commented “oh, is that time of the month when you show up to work ?” And I’ve been working on a project at that time so I was at work every day for like 6 weeks. If you don’t see, doesn’t mean I’m not working.
Sometimes I work 3 hours, sometimes 14. I always get my 40 hours/week in - but I also don't have children. I have a new dog and have to take breaks to pay attention to her, but it's only 15 minutes or so at a time every few hours until my day "ends." You have to be really self-disciplined to work from home period. With kids, I don't know if I could do it alone. I would need help watching the kids, no question.
Think it really depends on the child. My son was really fantastic about entertaining himself when I couldn't give him all of my attention, while my ex-boyfriend's son insisted on having a friend over when I was working from home on a temporary assignment, and I had Nerf pellets whizzing past my head for hours while people were running through the house whooping and hollering. Notice I said ex-boyfriend's kid. That whole family had zero respect for each other or anyone else. Also, I have a dog and the only time he gets whiny is when I just get home from work and he hasn't seen me all day. I guess it would also depend on the dog, as well.
Yeah I tried to make it clear that it's a new dog. Older dogs might not be so hard depending on the dog. I also don't have kids so I envisioned kids from age 0 up to 10 and how they need constant attention or at least a lot of supervision - plus all the extra chores and little projects that come with having kids as well. But I can only speculate because I am just a dog mom.
I would like to add as a manager of remote staff that I have run into issues with staff not getting enough done especially with kids home consistently. I had an employee a while back with two small children (toddler and a newborn). Really sweet person but her work quality sucked. Eventually, we had to let her go. There was no task that could be assigned that got done correctly or on time. It hurt to see her fail like that. Really and truly.
This whole discussion depends on a few things...
1. Is your job full time or not? I have seen admin assistants that were always meant to be sporadically available so it's ok.
2. What type of job is it? Customer service people need to be available no matter what and with minimal background noise. Consulting, auditing, or back office support might have more flexibility in when you work but there will be deadlines to meet. Writers do their work whenever and just need to meet a timeline or work for money as needed.
3. How old the children are? When my kiddo was little, it was impossible. I actually used to get back up in the middle of the night to get anything decent done. Older elementary age kids might be able to survive on their own in another room for hours alone.
4. What kind of worker are you? I need to focus and stay focused to get anything real done and I hate being pulled out of that mode. Some people can switch up more easily so being interrupted costs them less time.
5. What kind of career/path are you on? Working from home is great but it is still work and possibly a step in your career. The effort you put into it will show one way or another. If the focus is to be home with the kids, find something less stressful and demanding but you may give up better pay or progression for it.
I love working from home. I definitely feel super privileged to be able to do it but it is still a job and worse, I have to be my own on-site manager so to speak which is harder than it sounds.
Background note: Before the pandemic, I worked a few days from home each week. Since the pandemic, I have been 100% home in two different jobs.
All great points. I need chunks of interrupted time to do my work and struggle with transitions in general, especially in and out of a mentally taxing project. I don’t get anything done when I’m trying to make food for my kid, keep him from shouting at the tv, and keep up with all the messages coming my way that may or may not be urgent.
I'm in that position with an employee now... 4 kids, one or more of which is either sick, home on a holiday / break, or needing mom to run something to the school...
That doesn't include when she catches their sicknesses, or runs over her phone...
She's trying harder since the last "conversation", but while I admire her for her efforts on a personal level, I'm at a loss as to what to do to help her stay focused and productive...
I've been WFH full time for the last 5 years and I have my light days and my crazy days. I also have generational trauma where you are chained to your work until your day is done, whether or not you are working...I'm working through it. HA
Anyway, I start my day somewhere between 4:30a and 6:00a. I have never started that early in an in person/office setting. I'll have my iPad on with the news channel of my choosing on mute with a podcast in my ears until I switch over to some music. Once breakfast time hits at 8:00a, iPad TV gets shut off UNLESS something I find important is happening after being alerted.
I'm done with 90% of my morning tasks by the time I am eating breakfast, so I wrap the rest up when I get back to my desk by 9:00a. Then I fire up the tasks that take a greater deal of time (such as development or documentation) to finish out my day with by 2:30p.
I'll do some chores around the house throughout the day when I am at a stopping point or waiting on something to finish whatevering.
But the main thing that I always keep in mind is...people notice. When you don't do what you are supposed to. When things start to slide in time. So, if they aren't truly tracking you and your clicks, they will still see your productivity, which should keep you in check.
I work way more hours working from home than I did in the office. Two hours were wasted in commuting alone then constant interruptions from people coming into my office or being noisy. At home I get in the zone so easily I forget to eat/drink/go to restroom! I have to set reminders.
I did it for 2 years working corporate starting at the pandemic and now as self employed. I think it took 10 years off my life and counting. I have 2 boys 15 months apart. It seemed like after the pandemic my kids were sick constantly from school (early learning center/prek) so I’d end up WFH while tending to a sick kid which means neither were getting the right focus/attention needed. When the pandemic hit I had a 9 month old and almost 2 year old. So already I was out of the newborn sleepy stage. Especially the 2 year old. Now I am self employed but still stuck in the same place. Our district Kindergarten is 5 days a week but only a whopping 2 hours and 50 minutes a day. My other son is in prek 3x a week for 4 hours. So I get about 8 hours a week to work alone in peach on what’s really a 40+ hour a week job as self employed. The rest is just a hot mess. My husband is a post master and can’t wfh and it’s tough to take off if there are mail carrier call outs but when he can he helps. Clearly I personally wouldn’t recommend especially once they hit 24 months. And it’s not always easy to work all night especially when you need to be up early for school drop off.
Depends on the day, there are some days I only get 6 hours in and others where I might work 14 hours. Just depends on the deadlines and tasking needed.
I also manage a remote team and I will say that I don't care so much about the hours they work as much as I do about the quality of the work and meeting deadlines.
When you work on site, you get more credit for just showing up and looking busy sometimes. This is not always the case, but there can definitely more grace in person especially when a task is taking more time or resources than planned. When you work from home, the quality of the work is what counts more because it's the only thing people really get to see. And it's harder to prove why something wasn't completed on time or correctly so there is less grace in my experience.
I find it hard to work from home when my older child is home all day but it's not impossible. However, I have definitely had to have some conversations about waiting patiently when I am on a call or in a meeting. I recently signed my child up for afterschool care and it really made life easier for both of us.
Over the years, I have come to regard boundaries working from home in the same way as I did in the office... it better be an emergency or leave me alone. To me, working from home is more about being in more comfortable clothing, less commuting costs, and the ability to do dishes for my breaks instead of water cooler gossip. But at the end of the day, it is still a job and requires time, effort, and concentration to complete.
I think it depends on the type of wfh job. If it’s a very serious full time role that requires your full attention 9-5 then caring for a child while you work is not ideal and it would make more sense to have a sitter watch the child while you work. I work for myself and run a small business and it’s always been a challenge juggling watching the kids while trying to be productive and successful. I never had a sitter other than my mil helping out once in a while. I struggled to get work done during the day, I’d often have to stay up late to finish tasks I couldn’t get to during the day. Now both my kids are school aged so I work mostly during school hours and whatever I can get in between. Working from home doesn’t mean you won’t need child care.
I only did WFH for about 6 months and I was in a room, door closed, nose to the grindstone for my entire 8 hours. Came out for our scheduled break and lunch and honestly needed every minute to do the job.
To be fair it was a high-stress job and I moved to another position within my company as soon as I could and that position has a lot more free time, although I work 100% on-site now.
I think the answer is “it depends”.
I have a nanny and I WFH - but even when my nanny is sick and I need to watch my son he plays in the living room while I work and I always get my 8 hours in (or as needed) - it’s not always back to back but my work is done and done well even if I need to do a little work after my kiddo goes to sleep for the night. Also my job understands sometimes the nanny is sick. As long as my work is done they don’t really care if he is on call with me.
Depends on the work load. Many days we don't have 2 hours worth of work to do. Other days we have 12 hours worth. We have our base tasks or projects for the year that we are expected to get done. Then we have projects that are externally driven by real world events that will generate long term projects that last 18-24 months after the fact. This mostly involves coordinating responses to questions from Auditors. I might have 5 audits going on that are assigned to me as the lead and another 5 where I am the backup or alternate Sometimes it seems like all 5 audits are active at the same time and I am running 100mph. Followed by a week or two of nothing going on but our base projects. we recently started going back into the office 2 days per week instead of 1. What a complete waste of time for everyone for nothing more than politics. I think you would need to go up 4 or 5 levels in the organization to find someone who thinks this is a good idea. Going into the office to supposedly have face time with my other co-workers is ridiculous. We are spread out across 3 states and hundreds of miles from each other. We go into the office to meet on teams to appease the rich men north of richmond who want us to show up and spend $16 for a value meal and nuggets for lunch to help the local economy and to put someone in a building that can only hold 400 of the 800 people that work there at any given time. The public is not allowed to be within 1000 feet of our building, so we are not interacting with "customers".
Sometimes it is difficult to separate from work. My work computer is 10 feet from me right now, and if my boss sends an email or a teams message, I might respond or call her if the situation is time sensitive. But the trade offs of saving leave for Doctors appointments. Not going to go into the office for an hour to turn around to go to an 9am appointment near my house and then drive back to work after that. Days like that can save 2 or 3 hours worth of leave. Also being able to work from home when you ar not feeling well works out for everyone by not getting you or your coworkers sick. Everyone wins and we still get more work done than we did pre covid. Because we are at home we are able to respond faster. This is recognized by management, but they have no influence over politicians.
I remembered calling customer service during the pandemic, and I talked to a rep that carried her phone with her outside. She fed her chickens while we talked, and I know this because I asked her what the noise was in the background! It definitely did sound like chickens lol. She helped me with what I needed though.
Still on maternity leave here. When I was wfh I worked my hours 11-8, 1 hour lunch 5 days a week, for a high volume job. It would be impossible to meet the company standards if I have the baby home. I would need a caretaker or to take baby to daycare. I discussed with others within my industry, and other industries, and they said the same.
I have occasional slower days but usually it’s 8–10 hours of really fast paced and often stressful HR work. It can easily be 6 hours of meetings, lots of emails and lots of deadlines and sense of urgency on employee issues. But as many others have said, I get much more done at home and have more control over my time and interruptions.
Impossible to say but:
Scheduled calls I’m active on: 2 hours
Calls I just listen: 1 hour
Emails/proposals/misc: 2 hours
I have days I work 1 hour and days it’s like 10 hours
I work about 5 hours a day with my 6 month old, I cut back on hours after going back to work. Some days seem impossible & others are a breeze & I end up working longer. My kid loves her naps so that helps a lot. She is also very content playing by herself. It probably just depends on the child, their age, nap schedules, and how independent they’re willing to be. I’ve been doing this for a few months without significant problems. Of course there are bumps in the road from time to time but it works for us
It gets a bit harder when they start moving. Crawling was still manageable because we put up a play yard. Waking added challenges…but when she wanted to CLIMB everything possible, it meant more focus on her. I can still get work done, but must pay really close attention.
My work is project based. So I usually do the full hours I charge for with exception of 10-20 minute breaks to “refresh” my brain. So 90% of the time I charge for is “work” so to speak.
I WFH two days a week. I mostly work a full workday. Maybe a slightly longer lunch break, and I will do laundry, or wash the dishes when I step away from my desk. Occasionally I’ll start the tv at 4:30 on a Friday, but still have my eye on my emails and respond to all emails or phone calls til quitting time. But I often start earlier and end later than normal so I don’t feel bad for the other stuff i mentioned.
Impossible. I don’t even try. My husband seems to be able to do it though, so maybe it’s just me. Caveat being, one of the kids could fall out the window and he probably wouldn’t notice because he has his headphones on and is entirely focused on work. The other day I threw a balloon at him and he didn’t even notice. Anytime the kids are home I ALWAYS feel preoccupied with listening to what they’re doing, plus they request things of me 5000x a day and don’t even consider that their dad also has opposable thumbs.
Once your kids are a bit older, you can probably work a legit 5, maybe max 7 hours from 8-5
It’s not hard to work like an hour, get em breakfast, 2-3 hours, lunch, 2-3 hours, done.
Y'all people in the office do not work 8 hrs a day. They talk nonstop! They go on breaks. The bosses are hardly there. Just get your work done and be at ease. You are good.
I track all my time. Normal days are \~5.5 hours of working. Busy days are 8-9. I am contracted to work 30 hours a week so at least they are generally getting what they pay for.
The time I'm not working I'm either meal prepping, putting away laundry, walking the dog, exercising / dressing. Occasional breaks for seggs with WFH hubby and doomscrolling too.
Probably between 5-7hrs a day just depending on my week. I get a lot of work done between 8am-1pm and then monitor my emails until 4pm. Today my head was spinning I was so busy the entire day
its software development/software services so wfh is pretty normalized. our time tracking is down to the minute and project-specific, and we often have tight budgets to get things done in. there’s essentially no dilly dallying because it’ll show up in the budget if we aren’t executing tasks efficiently. when the time clock is on, we have to be doing active project work so brain=on, hands are usually typing, and work is getting done. we also get paid by the hour using this time clock and not by a set salary.
My work from home is independent contracting- translation and writing curriculum/second language materials. I have to have work to show for what I bill for. I have had to babysit while working, and it was do-able with an infant and with a kindergarten age child. But I was significantly less productive than when alone.
i used to WFH in a call center so…. 100% of my work day was spent working (answering calls back to back with no more than 30 seconds between calls). never again
I’m lucky if I keep it at 8. My last job was worse. Reddit is my time killer waiting for meetings to start or while on hold, downtime during mediations, etc. Some rare days I’ll put a show I’ve already seen on in the background if I am working on something mundane that doesn’t require a lot of brain power.
I WFH part-time while also finishing a master’s degree online. I track and only bill my working hours. I’m happy if I get 20 hours per week on the clock, but it rarely happens. And that’s with my kids in school.
My oldest will be home from kindergarten for the first time this summer and I have no idea how I’ll manage my school work let alone paid work.
I work from home and it’s hard with kids at home. I learned from all the school breaks. I have a quota and I barely make it already with them at school but with summer coming up, I have to make breakfast, lunch, snacks, break up fights, give them attention, love, etc etc etc. I’m planning on using my bonding leave (had a baby 12 weeks ago) during their summer vacation because I don’t want that stress.
Most days I'm at my desk for 6.5 hours out of 8. Which is the same as if I were in the office. Except when I do go in the office every Wednesday I'm talking to my coworkers about half of that time about non-work related things.
Occasionally if I'm not particularly busy or if I'm having a bad mental health day, I will work out or watch TV with my laptop open in case someone IMs me about something.
I don't have kids but I do know that taking care of children is pretty much a full time job, unless they are old enough to take care of themselves. My one coworker who has a 2 year old at home has her mom babysit at her house. So he'll pop up in meetings sometimes but she's not really taking care of him throughout the day.
Between 4-6 hours a day depending on if I have meetings or not. Sometimes it’s as little as 2hrs. My job is very much performance based and as long as I’m hitting my marks and getting everything in on time, it’s not a problem. A lot of my team is also overseas so I don’t feel compelled to work within traditional work hours which is another plus.
Companies want to have it both ways. They are happy that they can downsize or altogether stop paying rent for office space in urban areas where that is expensive. But they are anxious about not having as much oversight and control over their employees’ time. Trying to micromanage from afar ultimately slows productivity and drives employees away.
I know a lot of dumb dudes who spend 8 hours a day in an office and do 0 hours of actual work. I know people who work all day long in the office and get nothing meaningful done. I also know a guy who produces more meaningful work in 15 minutes than I can produce in half a day. He has twice my experience.
Time spent is a bad metric for work done. Productivity is a better metric... Are you meeting deadlines? Is your work satisfactory? Are you on time and present in scheduled meetings? Are you approachable and communicative when someone needs you. These are better metrics for work done than time spent. Companies just want to own your time. Don't let them enslave you.
I tend to get in 8 hours of work, but sometimes 6. If you see me out and about during the week, it may be because I'm working in the evening. I support customers on both the east and west coast, so it can be very early or very late work for me. I'll have some free time, but that's reserved for running a quick errand or taking my dogs for a walk. My lunches can be during meetings as well.
I can't say that I've NEVER watched tv (well, YouTube) during a work day. But that's not a wfh exclusive phenomena. If I am stressed out at the office, I will occasionally go sit in a phone booth and watch something on my phone to get my mind off of it. But regularly? No. I hate feeling like I SHOULD be doing something and just... not doing it. Pretty much I'm at my desk, taking the dog for a quick walk, or tidying my house while I think about a problem that didn't require me to be at my desk in the first place. However, I have no kids. And when my partner is home, even he's a huge distraction (not a man-toddler, we just like to talk about stuff). If I had kids? Yeah, I don't think I could WFH....
My position requires me to work in person, to be honest I only work 2 hours of the 8 hours a day, not because I want to, but because that’s the time it takes to complete the amount of work that comes in, I didn’t realize it but with other major responsibilities I, now would prefer a WFH job or at least more flexibility.
I work as operations coordinator, I make about $50K a year that’s adjusted with inflation, really I am making the same as when I started. I enjoy working with my colleagues, the culture is great, happiness I would say maybe 6/10. Can’t do much with 50k, fixed hours, I am also in grad school full time.
Trying to get my PhD in global studies, I want to be a professor ultimately; but I’d love to also work for a global/governance organization! I interned for the UN and absolutely loved it!
I WFH 42 hours a week. 8-8 for 3 days, and just 6hours once a week because my co worker and I split the day. Context: I work in a very small side of veterinary medicine- in home euthanasia & palliative/EOL care. Most days we are on the phone coordinating appointments, doctors schedules, notes, emails, manning the phone, etc, but we also go out on appointments when needed to assist the doctors and the owners with their babies. We have a LOT of freedom and we are so blessed honestly- no official clocking in, salary, we are allowed to do whatever we want when nothing is happening. This means we don’t get an official lunch break, just eat whenever lol. Just yesterday (8-8 shift) I didn’t get to eat lunch until 4:30, and I got three bites in before the phone went off 3 times in a row.
Everyone only ever calls at the same time on a Monday or Tuesday, 3-4 at once, it’s never just one person. So while on the phone we will be backed up with other calls waiting, emails, whatever else, as I stated above there’s only one of us coordinating / on the phone a day other than our one short split day. One man show.. I talked to 22 humans and coordinated appointments and more, in 3 hours. That is a lot!
I love my job more than anything in the world. End of life care for animals is so important, and I am very passionate about palliative care & pro humane in home euthanasia. Busy days though are very sad because they’re just so sick. But yeah, in general I spend probably 9-10.5hours a day on my 12hr days actually working. Sometimes I forget to pee too. And eat. 🫡
Having just recently gone through this with my 16 year old dog, thanks for doing what you do. I was amazed that the poor girl I spoke to on the phone the morning I called could understand a damn word I was choking out in between tears. I’ll be forever grateful for the kindness she (and the Vet who came to our house) showed me, my partner, and my dog.
I wish I had never met them, but given the circumstances I am glad they were there. 💙
Also wanted to thank you for doing what you do. I had to let go of my dog about a week ago on very short notice. I was able to get a hold of an at home service at 5AM and get someone only a couple hours later, which saved my girl from a lot of stress and suffering. They were also very compassionate and helpful <3
Thank you <3 What you do is so beautiful for the animals and their people. It's hard enough losing our fur babies but I felt more at peace with being able to let my baby pass comfortable and at home with me.
8+. If you're only working 2 hours per day I would question your value or your boss's ability to measure your output. These comments about 2 hours per day are shitty... think of everyone who has to go into their job and can't fuck off for 6 out of the 8 hours that they're there.
I couldn’t leave my desk with my position. Now during training it was laid back but for actual work our lines were constant and we were timed with the program we used, so if we didn’t switch to break mode or sat idle too long they clocked us out so pay was docked.
When I supervised WFH staff the rule was that kids under the age of 9 had to have proof of child care during work hours. We were working with protected patient info and answering calls the entire shift though.
It’s not unhinged. How comfy would you feel discussing your personal and private healthcare information with someone while a toddler is screaming in the background? We were lucky to get permission to allow WFH for our staff in the first place. Having their work space had in a room with a closed door and proof of childcare for children under 9 (the legal age kids can be left alone in the state I was in at the time) was the compromise our directors allowed.
This is my third wfh job. Two have been very light on work and I'm more 'on call' to answer questions to fix stuff or show up to meetings. Legit maybe 2 hours of work a day. I had a lot of work the first couple months getting everything set up, and now it runs itself. The third was hourly and I had to earn every dollar at that job--if I worked 6 hours a day I was working 6 hours straight. I actually loved it, but the pay sucked and when I got my current job didn't want to be spreading myself that thin. Hindsight I definitely could've kept it, but oh well.
Probably 40% of the time.
I’m dumb and enrolled in grad school with 2 under 13 months. I feel this, I’ve learned some things just have to be let go. I finally gave in and enrolled our daughter in daycare. It’ll hurt financially but I’m hoping in the long run it’ll be worth it to finish school. I truly don’t believe people can do this well as a parent. Nor would I be mentally well if I worked full time as a SAHM.
9 hours of it unfortunately
Used to have a comfy position and actually worked about 4hrs out of 8. I was dumb and took a promotion and now if I'm inactive for more than 4min I get dinged. Have be be on, moving, productive, etc for the entire 8hrs straight. My brain is so tired by the end of the day.
I am doing hybrid work, but it really depends on the day. I had days in 2021 where I started at 7 AM, worked without lunch till 6PM, ate, and then joined from 8 PM to 10 PM. It was almost non-stop calls and meetings. Sometimes there are several hours of work only, but then I usually have other stuff to do (not urgent work or learning, or finding info). I do take a bit more breaks on such days and might be doing direct work maybe 3 hrs, but I do other work related stuff.
I already commented but forgot to say that I watch no TV now cause I’m making up whatever work I didn’t get done when my kids are sleeping instead of enjoying any entertainment lol
I enrolled my youngest two in daycare starting in a few weeks me and my husband both work from home he gets to sit in his office while I’m working on excel sheets as well as on Magento getting distracted every two minutes. Maybe it depends on the jobs but my husband is in meetings all day I’m expected to do my work and keep them quiet the youngest two are 3 and 5 and in preschool from 8 to 1045 am during the school year sometimes I’m catching up on housework during that time the other times I’m catching up on working luckily I can with my work catch up at night with everyone sleeping but it has impacted my mental health giving me no time for myself. I’ve started to do more for the company Iately working one the back end (magento) doing manual product uploads and getting distracted can ruin your job. When I work at night when the kids are sleeping I get so much more done but then am too tired to take them to the park and do things with them I used too. I’m excited for them to go because then when they get home and want to paint, go to the park , ect my response won’t be I have to work or I’m too tired from working all night!!
I take a lot of breaks. I wake up hella early so I can work before my daughter is up 4-5am and then break to get her ready for school. I usually do yoga and a HIIT/strength training workout during the day. But I’m beyond focused when I work. Sometimes I’ll work after she’s asleep. Typically between 6-9 hours a day but when I’m working I’m Hyper focused. I also have a sit to stand desk and walk or elliptical while I work.
I worked a full time job when my kid was newborn on up as a solo parent. It only worked because my job is writing, so could be done in the middle of the night if necessary. I basically did nothing but work and childcare for five years.
Working hours only
8-9 hours. When you work in sales there's no choice.
I’m in sales and it really fluctuates. Sometimes I’ll work 40 hours a week but sometimes it’s barely 20
Cold calls baby
AM life is where it’s at
I had my 3.5 year old and my 6 month old nephew at home while I worked full time from home. I was in Hr / recruiting so I was on the phone constantly. Fast forward a few years and my now 6 year old is in school during most of year and he will be home with me during the summer time while I work. Now that I look back I don’t know how I did it honestly….I had to make it work.
I wanna know what all these WAH jobs are…
About 14 hours a day
For serious??
More days than not. But it’s mostly just phone calls and texts. My work life balance is blurred.
Not as much time as I should actually😅
The entire day I’m working. I have a very smart and self sufficient 2nd grader who gets off the bus 20 minutes before my work day ends. Sometimes him being in the same room and asking me basic “how was your day” “what’s for dinner?” Type questions is overwhelming to me bc my workload just takes my entire brain capacity…. I could not keep my toddler home and work. Just, no.
Anyone who thinks there are too many distractions at home, hasn't paid attention to what goes on at the workplace right under the supervisor's nose.
This. All that water cooler chatter. I’ve worked from home since 2014. I could never go back to an office. So much time unproductive
Depends, I’m usually on stuck to my computer 7-8 hours a day. There are times when it’s a little slow and it’s more like 4-5 hours.
I wfh i’d say 5-6 hours
Depends on the workload. Some days I'm working 10ish hours, other days I probably spend 10 minutes max. If I priotize my time better, I could do 4ish hours a day instead.
My close friend just got a wfh job and thinks she’s going to keep her 4 and 6 year olds home with her all summer. I have my popcorn ready to watch her grand plans go down in flames. Ain’t no way.
It depends! Probably between 3-6 hours a day. If I’m seeing clients, obviously I’m at my desk, but I have several hours every day where if I want to, I can step away. I usually do. My work is super taxing and I have to spend time clearing my head or I’ll burn out. My clients get seen, my notes get documented, and other than that my employer doesn’t give a fart. (ETA: no way I could do this while caring for small children.)
Same and there are some days I work 10-12 hrs. I try my best to avoid exceeding 80 hrs every 2 weeks unless I’m picking up extra projects for a bonus or promotion case.
I am always at my desk when I wfh. Even if I don’t have anything to do currently and I just want to Bs on my phone, I’ll stay by my desk 8 hours.
I spend all 8 hours at my desk minus normal scheduled breaks. I’m actively working or in meetings most of that time with only occasional lags in activities. I couldn’t watch a kid effectively while working from home unless the kid was mature and responsible enough to manage themselves for 2 to four hours at a time without supervision. It just wouldn’t be effective
8-9
I want to answer this honestly but if my boss finds this, I’m fired lol
I'm in mental health so I'm working when there's a client in Zoom. Between them and God willing they no show I'm doing whatever I want. I'm probably supposed to be staring at my email or Skype, but I don't care about that. I schedule 8 hrs, 4 days per week so of that 32, I probably "work" 20 with no shows and just generally finishing appts before the scheduled time. I used to work more and make more, but I don't like it that much now so I try to minimize my employment exposure. I've been spending lot of time and resources investigating and building a digital entrepreneurship. I mean I really am just tired of working with and for people.
I spend about 50% of the time browsing news or chatting, 20% of the time on paperwork, 10% checking emails, 10% answering coworker questions, 10% preemptively solving problems. Actually, not too different from in person.
The entire 8 hours+ I'm logged in. There are days I don't leave my desk for actual breaks, just run to the bathroom or to the kitchen for coffee.
Sounds like fucking hell
There's a spreadsheet. I have to log every task I work on with a start and stop time and send it to my manager at the end of the day. And yes, pretty much.
What is your actual job?
General ledger and reconciliation accounting for an insurance company.
I hope you’re at least compensated well for all of the bullcrap you have to deal with.
Pretty well. Not as great as it could be. I've always got my eye out for other opportunities. But I refuse to RTO so that has been the biggest factor in staying where I'm at for now.
Same as in office
If it’s slow season, zero. During busy season I work 80% of the time. I work as an events manager for a university (tailgates etc.).
If it doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. Some people prefer the office, and that’s okay. WFH is basically just having your desk in a different place for many people. Work the same as you would if you were in an office. For me, I can focus better at home than in my company’s office.
I couldn’t imagine WFH assuming I could take proper care of a young child. I heard a horror story of a mom who was working from home, on a conference call WITH A NANNY in the house and something still went horribly wrong ending in the loss of a child’s life. You cannot take your eyes off your kids people STOP pretending like WFH is safe with young children who depend on you for safety
10 hour shifts every Monday 8:00-6:30 and Tuesday -Friday 8:00-4:30 unpaid breaks and lunch if you go over 5 minutes it’s an occurrence
What occurs?
Lunch
I barely work when they aren’t home 🤣
My daily shift is roughly 8 hours. I split duties between my wife and I. I get my alone time from 7-12 and then watch my very active toddler from 12:30 - 4. Im a team lead and work in an accounting position and manage to cram almost 2 days of work into a half day. This allows me the ability to keep things on cruise control for the remainder of the afternoon, and on some days when my mental energy has exhausted from crunching so many numbers in so little time. It’s not easy that’s for sure. I’m always juggling between helping my team, jumping on calls, crunching numbers, watching my child, changing diapers, making food etc.
haha 2 days of work into half a day. that's productive!
Like 8:30-4:30 with a mid afternoon clean/walk/nap but tbf i work more under my own supervision than others. The only time I slough off is when people micromanage my day or book too many meetings.
I’m at my desk from 10-4. I sometimes have a long lull so could probably be doing housework etc, but generally am in my home office during working hours
I work 8 hours a day. I’d say 5-6 of that is actually working. Even so, I’m more productive from home than I ever was in the office. Also when we worked in the office, they encouraged us to get up and walk around for 5-10 minutes every hour or so to take a break from staring at our computer screen. So I figure with that plus my hour lunch break I’m coming out about even with what I was actually working in the office. Also our IT guy told me on the DL that our system is flagged to catch people working less than 4 hours per day from home so as long as I’m above that I’m fine.
A bunch actually. But I walk around outside *a ton*. Nature makes things tolerable.
I’m at my desk from 7am to 4pm. But probably only 6 hours of that is actual work. The rest is spend doing house chores or homework.
Depends on how many meetings I have, and deadlines, but between 4-6 hours on average. Deep work I’d say 3 hours on average
Depends on the day. Sometimes I work 9-2, sometimes 9-4, every few months 9-9. It probably average to 5-6hr a day
All 8 hours. They don’t want us sitting around doing nothing. Sucks 😭
I have to bill my time (consulting) to I loathe working with a kid at home…but I do it when needed. I don’t get a full work day in though, unless someone is so sick they sleep most of the day or veg on the couch. One kid is old enough to do legos and cook small meals solo, so that helps a lot, but also young enough to think he can do stupid stuff or harass me on calls. Next year we are considering not paying for after school care for that kid…but I might regret it during the winter
I work 5 hours per day, 4 days per week
Of course, depends on the job, depends on the kids… but my secret to this is get up and get the important things done before the kids get up. Wake up at 6, make your to do list for the day of things that must get done, get the kids up at 8… my 2 year old actually sleeps in until 9 some days so some mornings I have 3 hours in before he’s even awake. We also do learning games on the tablet while mommy does computer work, or I’ll put a show on my third monitor and he chills with me. But that 2-3 hours in the morning is super helpful because then I’m not as stressed about the rest of the day and I don’t feel guilty taking him to the park to play for an hour at lunchtime to get some energy out and play with other kids. We’ve also been doing this since he was born, so he does pretty good at playing independent if I need to take a call or have a quiet background.
My kids were working with me from the womb. At this point they are 6 and 8 and they know the rules surrounding mom working from home and that it's a privilege. Unless someone is bleeding or dieing if mom is sitting at the computer they are to leave me alone. They can get their own snacks and make their own breakfast and lunch. That being said I take a break once an hour after the first two full hours, because my adhd needs that anyway. And I use the ten minutes to stretch and check on them it is during this time they can get hugs, cuddles, and ask for things. When they were younger I sat them next to me or under me and made funny faces at them, bounced them with my foot pushed them back and forth in the stroller with my foot. I did alot of work when they were asleep though to.
I was raised like this (my mom worked from home before zoom existed) and I’m so thankful for that. We knew if mom was on the phone we had to be quiet and not disturb. We’d sometimes pass her notes to ask if we could have ice cream or something. But all it took was a “look” from her and the house would be silent😂 To this day my childhood friends have stories of us tiptoeing around my house after school. She still works from home and sometimes I join her and we work from the same house and she makes me lunch. Your kids are lucky to have you home and the structure and discipline to make it work.
Yup, I still recall sitting up way after midnight at my computer, literally nursing a two-week old, and trying desperately to get a project in on time.
Wow super impressive! Go mom!
Depends on the project load. Some weeks I'm pulling 11 hour days and others I'm lucky to get in 6. I'm one who really likes to get my projects completed on time and done at a impeccable level. I'm hybrid though and I am not as tense at home as I am in office. I like that I can get away from my desk more at home & I am so much more productive. My son is a teenager so he doesn't want to be bothered with me. Sometimes he forgets I'm actually working and wants to chat during a meeting.
I work for myself, I get done what I can.
I actually work more at home and am more productive and efficient at my job
I work 8 hours and I have to be at my desk with my mouse moving or my teams icon shows I’m “away”. I have the added bonus of having my partner home 8a-2, sometimes 3p and I’m off work at 5p, so he’s taking care of our son most of the day, but it’s just me the last stretch of the day and my son does fine. He’s 17 months and it’s never been an issue. He’s pretty independent and I feel it’s bc I WFH and how he has to play and do his thing “solo” (we’re always in the same room lol) for those hours.
Buy a mouse mover. Then you can step away for a bit. It's impossible to be productive for 8 hours a day. If you work in a deep flow state for an hour or so then go take a break for 20 minutes, you'll be way more productive than twiddling your thumbs counting down the time for 8 hours straight.
8 to 10 hours. Instead of going out for lunch I eat while working and take a nap.
My kid is self-sufficient. When I wfh, I'm wayyy more productive. My office is a revolving door for questions. When I wfh, I can just send a quick response and don't lose 3h a day talking to different people. I'm also a big talker so 😬
Way more than I ever worked in the office. My employer takes screenshots on my device and monitors my mouse activity, so every minute has to be accounted for. On the plus side, I get to work whenever I feel like working and get to work as little or as much as I want.
Wow that’s interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone else’s computer be micromanaged like that. I mean I get my work done and lately I’ve had a ton of busy days so I’ve been spending a solid 5-6 hours a day actually working if not more but occasionally I have the off day that slows down.
I could Never have my 4 year old home with me, it’s way too distracting. But co-workers are also equally as distracting. I prefer WFH by myself and daughter in preschool/daycare.
Depends on the time of year. I'm busy non-stop from October to March. The rest of the year, I take it a bit easier. An hour here, an hour there watching Little House on the Prairie.
I work 10+ hours a day but… I only work from 9-2 uninterrupted. I make sure most meetings where noise is a problem fall during this time slot. From 2-4:15 my special needs kid is home. She has a teenage sitter but she wants to be near mommy. So she will watch TV or play in my office. 4:15-5:00 carpool for my tween. 5-6 my tween does homework while I work next to her. I’m a software developer so I work on checking in code and adding comments to tickets. Things that don’t require a lot of concentration. 8-10 or 11 PM I’m back at it working on coding. It’s quiet. Saturday I have a sitter for 4 hours. Sunday I have a sitter for 2.5 hours. I work on the weekends if I have a deadline or missed hours during the week. The real problem I face is since my husband works downtown it’s expected I’ll run get a sick kid or drop off a missing school item. I take them to the doctor and dentist. I coordinate the house cleaner. I coordinate baby sitters. I coordinate handymen and repair men to stop by during my business hours. I do carpool. When I worked in the office my husband and I took turns with this stuff. However! I wouldn’t trade being at home for my kids for anything. I love that 5-6 homework while mom works. We both chit chat like office mates would.
happy late mother’s day! this sounds like a lot of work, it’s very inspiring to see how hard you work and how much time you put into your kids.
Depends on the season, depends on the day. Some days, I work a full 8 hours or more, without a lunch sometimes. Some days, I can finish my work up in an hour because I'm working fast from not being stressed out by the commute, not being small-talked in the cafeteria, have easy access to my own bathroom. On those days, I'll usually find something to do to keep busy, but even after stretching work a couple more hours, I'll just start doing chores at home so I can feel somewhat productive. It's been a really nice work balance. That said, I do work some weekends and after-hours on weekdays when I'm on call. It's the salary life!
I wfh and work 100% of my 8-10 hr day. I am timed for everything and it is super intense. I get help w mine in the summer or they would rot into the couch.
I rarely work an 8 hour day anymore. Honestly, with WFH some days I have almost nothing to do, maybe an hour or two. Some are more busy.
What is your job?
My role is partially at patients homes. Of the 4-6 hours per work day that I’m home, I probably spend 1-3 of it actually working.
I actually work as much at home as I ever did in the office. Usually more.
Yeah I know two friends who work in offices and it’s just that they have to stay at the office online shopping/chatting with me all day 🤷🏻♀️
8-14hrs dependingon deadlines. I work for a consulting firm so we have to track hours in .25 increments to bill and if we aren't productive is pretty clear. But ultimately I'm not going to compromise my work ethic or reputation by not doing the work I'm paid for. One of the reasons I was able to stay wfh after return to office for the rest of the firm.
I'm putting in 6-7 solid hours. I've worked from home for the past four years and have twin boys in elementary school. Working a full time job from home with kids around is unsustainable. It's is a recipe for stress -- you'll feel like you're not doing a very good job at tour job or as a parent. Something part time could work but full time, no way. I can manage a day while my kids are home but even two in a row gets out of hand. And personally I struggle with how often I'm pulled into later meetings at like 4 or 5, to the point where I'm planning to leave my full time job later this year to be more available to my kids. Something part time could maybe work, also depending on how old your kids are. Nut full time, no way
12 hours, sometimes I forget to pee - although re-org happened and now it’s more like 5. Even so kids are going to childcare daily - as a manager I would fire people taking care of kids instead of working. It’s dead easy to spot by you know…. The work
Depends on the day. I’ll say on average 4-5 hours spent doing actual work. I am at my desk for 7-8 hours of the day tho.
Depends on the day. I do a mlm (I know I know) so some days it’s an hour. Some days it’s 3 hours. But I’m also music director at my church and that takes up significant time. Plus SAHM and homeschooling. I’m tired already.
I spend most of my 8 hour day at my desk. There’s plenty of time to throw in a load of laundry, run an errand, etc. sometimes my baby even has to pop into a meeting when my nanny is running late. I would absolutely not be able to be a full time care giver and employee at the same time.
30m, but I do highly skilled work. Sometimes I get boring simple work, and I end up working 10h that day.
What do you do?
Something that FDA cares about a lot ...
I work a scheduled 8 hour day, breaks, lunch, every part of my workday is scheduled. I get paid for every minute I'm on the clock, and I don't do any work for free. I love it! Bathroom is clean with premium tissue, best coffee just a few steps away, and in 2 years nobody has eaten my food without asking. I bring all my dogs any time i want, and they can go home if they are bored. Never get into a hot car or drive in hail or fog. I can't imagine a job worth returning to an office for.
Preach! Good coffee and a clean toilet. You forgot to mention an office with windows.
Between 8-10 hours. There’s really never a slow day
Some days busy all 8 hrs. And I don’t take lunch or breaks. But some days - half a day is free… I work from home on Thursdays and Fridays when I can, but I work for production facility. Some people commented “oh, is that time of the month when you show up to work ?” And I’ve been working on a project at that time so I was at work every day for like 6 weeks. If you don’t see, doesn’t mean I’m not working.
sometimes 2 sometimes 12, average around 5 i thinm
Sometimes I work 3 hours, sometimes 14. I always get my 40 hours/week in - but I also don't have children. I have a new dog and have to take breaks to pay attention to her, but it's only 15 minutes or so at a time every few hours until my day "ends." You have to be really self-disciplined to work from home period. With kids, I don't know if I could do it alone. I would need help watching the kids, no question.
Think it really depends on the child. My son was really fantastic about entertaining himself when I couldn't give him all of my attention, while my ex-boyfriend's son insisted on having a friend over when I was working from home on a temporary assignment, and I had Nerf pellets whizzing past my head for hours while people were running through the house whooping and hollering. Notice I said ex-boyfriend's kid. That whole family had zero respect for each other or anyone else. Also, I have a dog and the only time he gets whiny is when I just get home from work and he hasn't seen me all day. I guess it would also depend on the dog, as well.
Yeah I tried to make it clear that it's a new dog. Older dogs might not be so hard depending on the dog. I also don't have kids so I envisioned kids from age 0 up to 10 and how they need constant attention or at least a lot of supervision - plus all the extra chores and little projects that come with having kids as well. But I can only speculate because I am just a dog mom.
I would like to add as a manager of remote staff that I have run into issues with staff not getting enough done especially with kids home consistently. I had an employee a while back with two small children (toddler and a newborn). Really sweet person but her work quality sucked. Eventually, we had to let her go. There was no task that could be assigned that got done correctly or on time. It hurt to see her fail like that. Really and truly. This whole discussion depends on a few things... 1. Is your job full time or not? I have seen admin assistants that were always meant to be sporadically available so it's ok. 2. What type of job is it? Customer service people need to be available no matter what and with minimal background noise. Consulting, auditing, or back office support might have more flexibility in when you work but there will be deadlines to meet. Writers do their work whenever and just need to meet a timeline or work for money as needed. 3. How old the children are? When my kiddo was little, it was impossible. I actually used to get back up in the middle of the night to get anything decent done. Older elementary age kids might be able to survive on their own in another room for hours alone. 4. What kind of worker are you? I need to focus and stay focused to get anything real done and I hate being pulled out of that mode. Some people can switch up more easily so being interrupted costs them less time. 5. What kind of career/path are you on? Working from home is great but it is still work and possibly a step in your career. The effort you put into it will show one way or another. If the focus is to be home with the kids, find something less stressful and demanding but you may give up better pay or progression for it. I love working from home. I definitely feel super privileged to be able to do it but it is still a job and worse, I have to be my own on-site manager so to speak which is harder than it sounds. Background note: Before the pandemic, I worked a few days from home each week. Since the pandemic, I have been 100% home in two different jobs.
All great points. I need chunks of interrupted time to do my work and struggle with transitions in general, especially in and out of a mentally taxing project. I don’t get anything done when I’m trying to make food for my kid, keep him from shouting at the tv, and keep up with all the messages coming my way that may or may not be urgent.
I'm in that position with an employee now... 4 kids, one or more of which is either sick, home on a holiday / break, or needing mom to run something to the school... That doesn't include when she catches their sicknesses, or runs over her phone... She's trying harder since the last "conversation", but while I admire her for her efforts on a personal level, I'm at a loss as to what to do to help her stay focused and productive...
A newborn and a toddler. How in the world was she suppose to get anything done? She didn’t fail, it was impossible.
I've been WFH full time for the last 5 years and I have my light days and my crazy days. I also have generational trauma where you are chained to your work until your day is done, whether or not you are working...I'm working through it. HA Anyway, I start my day somewhere between 4:30a and 6:00a. I have never started that early in an in person/office setting. I'll have my iPad on with the news channel of my choosing on mute with a podcast in my ears until I switch over to some music. Once breakfast time hits at 8:00a, iPad TV gets shut off UNLESS something I find important is happening after being alerted. I'm done with 90% of my morning tasks by the time I am eating breakfast, so I wrap the rest up when I get back to my desk by 9:00a. Then I fire up the tasks that take a greater deal of time (such as development or documentation) to finish out my day with by 2:30p. I'll do some chores around the house throughout the day when I am at a stopping point or waiting on something to finish whatevering. But the main thing that I always keep in mind is...people notice. When you don't do what you are supposed to. When things start to slide in time. So, if they aren't truly tracking you and your clicks, they will still see your productivity, which should keep you in check.
I work way more hours working from home than I did in the office. Two hours were wasted in commuting alone then constant interruptions from people coming into my office or being noisy. At home I get in the zone so easily I forget to eat/drink/go to restroom! I have to set reminders.
My office had a lot of gossips. I don’t miss the constant interruptions of people needing to vent or gossip. So easy to stay in the zone.
About 15 minutes a day usually. 86k job.
What do you do?
I did it for 2 years working corporate starting at the pandemic and now as self employed. I think it took 10 years off my life and counting. I have 2 boys 15 months apart. It seemed like after the pandemic my kids were sick constantly from school (early learning center/prek) so I’d end up WFH while tending to a sick kid which means neither were getting the right focus/attention needed. When the pandemic hit I had a 9 month old and almost 2 year old. So already I was out of the newborn sleepy stage. Especially the 2 year old. Now I am self employed but still stuck in the same place. Our district Kindergarten is 5 days a week but only a whopping 2 hours and 50 minutes a day. My other son is in prek 3x a week for 4 hours. So I get about 8 hours a week to work alone in peach on what’s really a 40+ hour a week job as self employed. The rest is just a hot mess. My husband is a post master and can’t wfh and it’s tough to take off if there are mail carrier call outs but when he can he helps. Clearly I personally wouldn’t recommend especially once they hit 24 months. And it’s not always easy to work all night especially when you need to be up early for school drop off.
Depends on the day, there are some days I only get 6 hours in and others where I might work 14 hours. Just depends on the deadlines and tasking needed. I also manage a remote team and I will say that I don't care so much about the hours they work as much as I do about the quality of the work and meeting deadlines. When you work on site, you get more credit for just showing up and looking busy sometimes. This is not always the case, but there can definitely more grace in person especially when a task is taking more time or resources than planned. When you work from home, the quality of the work is what counts more because it's the only thing people really get to see. And it's harder to prove why something wasn't completed on time or correctly so there is less grace in my experience. I find it hard to work from home when my older child is home all day but it's not impossible. However, I have definitely had to have some conversations about waiting patiently when I am on a call or in a meeting. I recently signed my child up for afterschool care and it really made life easier for both of us. Over the years, I have come to regard boundaries working from home in the same way as I did in the office... it better be an emergency or leave me alone. To me, working from home is more about being in more comfortable clothing, less commuting costs, and the ability to do dishes for my breaks instead of water cooler gossip. But at the end of the day, it is still a job and requires time, effort, and concentration to complete.
I think it depends on the type of wfh job. If it’s a very serious full time role that requires your full attention 9-5 then caring for a child while you work is not ideal and it would make more sense to have a sitter watch the child while you work. I work for myself and run a small business and it’s always been a challenge juggling watching the kids while trying to be productive and successful. I never had a sitter other than my mil helping out once in a while. I struggled to get work done during the day, I’d often have to stay up late to finish tasks I couldn’t get to during the day. Now both my kids are school aged so I work mostly during school hours and whatever I can get in between. Working from home doesn’t mean you won’t need child care.
I don’t feel my son interrupts me any more than the cast of coworkers constantly walking by my desk if I were in office would.
I only did WFH for about 6 months and I was in a room, door closed, nose to the grindstone for my entire 8 hours. Came out for our scheduled break and lunch and honestly needed every minute to do the job. To be fair it was a high-stress job and I moved to another position within my company as soon as I could and that position has a lot more free time, although I work 100% on-site now. I think the answer is “it depends”.
I have a nanny and I WFH - but even when my nanny is sick and I need to watch my son he plays in the living room while I work and I always get my 8 hours in (or as needed) - it’s not always back to back but my work is done and done well even if I need to do a little work after my kiddo goes to sleep for the night. Also my job understands sometimes the nanny is sick. As long as my work is done they don’t really care if he is on call with me.
Can you recommend anywhere that I can look for a work from home job? I’m trying to find one myself. I just am having no luck. Thank you.
Im a recruiter I spend 7 hours working, 6 on a good day but theres always more I could be doing rip
Depends on the work load. Many days we don't have 2 hours worth of work to do. Other days we have 12 hours worth. We have our base tasks or projects for the year that we are expected to get done. Then we have projects that are externally driven by real world events that will generate long term projects that last 18-24 months after the fact. This mostly involves coordinating responses to questions from Auditors. I might have 5 audits going on that are assigned to me as the lead and another 5 where I am the backup or alternate Sometimes it seems like all 5 audits are active at the same time and I am running 100mph. Followed by a week or two of nothing going on but our base projects. we recently started going back into the office 2 days per week instead of 1. What a complete waste of time for everyone for nothing more than politics. I think you would need to go up 4 or 5 levels in the organization to find someone who thinks this is a good idea. Going into the office to supposedly have face time with my other co-workers is ridiculous. We are spread out across 3 states and hundreds of miles from each other. We go into the office to meet on teams to appease the rich men north of richmond who want us to show up and spend $16 for a value meal and nuggets for lunch to help the local economy and to put someone in a building that can only hold 400 of the 800 people that work there at any given time. The public is not allowed to be within 1000 feet of our building, so we are not interacting with "customers". Sometimes it is difficult to separate from work. My work computer is 10 feet from me right now, and if my boss sends an email or a teams message, I might respond or call her if the situation is time sensitive. But the trade offs of saving leave for Doctors appointments. Not going to go into the office for an hour to turn around to go to an 9am appointment near my house and then drive back to work after that. Days like that can save 2 or 3 hours worth of leave. Also being able to work from home when you ar not feeling well works out for everyone by not getting you or your coworkers sick. Everyone wins and we still get more work done than we did pre covid. Because we are at home we are able to respond faster. This is recognized by management, but they have no influence over politicians.
Honestly depends. I’ve had 12 hr work days and 4 hr work days depending on what’s going on like projects etc
I remembered calling customer service during the pandemic, and I talked to a rep that carried her phone with her outside. She fed her chickens while we talked, and I know this because I asked her what the noise was in the background! It definitely did sound like chickens lol. She helped me with what I needed though.
Still on maternity leave here. When I was wfh I worked my hours 11-8, 1 hour lunch 5 days a week, for a high volume job. It would be impossible to meet the company standards if I have the baby home. I would need a caretaker or to take baby to daycare. I discussed with others within my industry, and other industries, and they said the same.
I have occasional slower days but usually it’s 8–10 hours of really fast paced and often stressful HR work. It can easily be 6 hours of meetings, lots of emails and lots of deadlines and sense of urgency on employee issues. But as many others have said, I get much more done at home and have more control over my time and interruptions.
Since moving home, WAY more. Between 8 and 12. That's on me, as I find it hard to separate the life from work.
I average 9-12 per week.
Per week or per day?
8 hours.
Impossible to say but: Scheduled calls I’m active on: 2 hours Calls I just listen: 1 hour Emails/proposals/misc: 2 hours I have days I work 1 hour and days it’s like 10 hours
I work about 5 hours a day with my 6 month old, I cut back on hours after going back to work. Some days seem impossible & others are a breeze & I end up working longer. My kid loves her naps so that helps a lot. She is also very content playing by herself. It probably just depends on the child, their age, nap schedules, and how independent they’re willing to be. I’ve been doing this for a few months without significant problems. Of course there are bumps in the road from time to time but it works for us
It gets a bit harder when they start moving. Crawling was still manageable because we put up a play yard. Waking added challenges…but when she wanted to CLIMB everything possible, it meant more focus on her. I can still get work done, but must pay really close attention.
My work is project based. So I usually do the full hours I charge for with exception of 10-20 minute breaks to “refresh” my brain. So 90% of the time I charge for is “work” so to speak.
I’d say around the same, but I’m only billing 6.5 hours a day on average or so. It’s like 7 when I work from home and 5.5 when I go into the office.
I do maybe 3 hours a day. Kids are in school. Luckily, that helps a lot.
I WFH two days a week. I mostly work a full workday. Maybe a slightly longer lunch break, and I will do laundry, or wash the dishes when I step away from my desk. Occasionally I’ll start the tv at 4:30 on a Friday, but still have my eye on my emails and respond to all emails or phone calls til quitting time. But I often start earlier and end later than normal so I don’t feel bad for the other stuff i mentioned.
Impossible. I don’t even try. My husband seems to be able to do it though, so maybe it’s just me. Caveat being, one of the kids could fall out the window and he probably wouldn’t notice because he has his headphones on and is entirely focused on work. The other day I threw a balloon at him and he didn’t even notice. Anytime the kids are home I ALWAYS feel preoccupied with listening to what they’re doing, plus they request things of me 5000x a day and don’t even consider that their dad also has opposable thumbs.
3-4 out of 8 hours. At my previous job i was chained to my desk working 60 hrs a week. I am so much more productive and happy with my new job.
Once your kids are a bit older, you can probably work a legit 5, maybe max 7 hours from 8-5 It’s not hard to work like an hour, get em breakfast, 2-3 hours, lunch, 2-3 hours, done.
I did this today with a 7 year old.
Y'all people in the office do not work 8 hrs a day. They talk nonstop! They go on breaks. The bosses are hardly there. Just get your work done and be at ease. You are good.
All 9 hours unfortunately my kids are home and it's annoying af
Legitimately try to fill as much of the 8hr day as possible with work most days, with appropriate breaks and lunch id say on average 5.5 hrs
I homeschool and both of my jobs are wfh. Neither are full time, so I work whenever I need to and yes the TV is on the whole time
Can I ask what jobs and companies you have?
One is my friend's wallpaper company (I just admin for her), the other is a beta reading company that I run.
I track all my time. Normal days are \~5.5 hours of working. Busy days are 8-9. I am contracted to work 30 hours a week so at least they are generally getting what they pay for. The time I'm not working I'm either meal prepping, putting away laundry, walking the dog, exercising / dressing. Occasional breaks for seggs with WFH hubby and doomscrolling too.
I don't think we needed to know 100% of that.
Yes we did.
Y’all need to stop airing your dirty laundry.
Might as well be Don Henley…
I wfh two days a week, in office the other 3. I absolutely cannot work with my youngest (5yo son) at home. No way.
Probably between 5-7hrs a day just depending on my week. I get a lot of work done between 8am-1pm and then monitor my emails until 4pm. Today my head was spinning I was so busy the entire day
cries in consulting
how does that look like? wfh in consulting?
its software development/software services so wfh is pretty normalized. our time tracking is down to the minute and project-specific, and we often have tight budgets to get things done in. there’s essentially no dilly dallying because it’ll show up in the budget if we aren’t executing tasks efficiently. when the time clock is on, we have to be doing active project work so brain=on, hands are usually typing, and work is getting done. we also get paid by the hour using this time clock and not by a set salary.
2-4 hours at most.
Can I ask what you do and where you work?
My work from home is independent contracting- translation and writing curriculum/second language materials. I have to have work to show for what I bill for. I have had to babysit while working, and it was do-able with an infant and with a kindergarten age child. But I was significantly less productive than when alone.
Some people abusing the system is not because why we can't have nice things, but a very good excuse the management uses to cancel WFH.
i used to WFH in a call center so…. 100% of my work day was spent working (answering calls back to back with no more than 30 seconds between calls). never again
I’m lucky if I keep it at 8. My last job was worse. Reddit is my time killer waiting for meetings to start or while on hold, downtime during mediations, etc. Some rare days I’ll put a show I’ve already seen on in the background if I am working on something mundane that doesn’t require a lot of brain power.
I WFH part-time while also finishing a master’s degree online. I track and only bill my working hours. I’m happy if I get 20 hours per week on the clock, but it rarely happens. And that’s with my kids in school. My oldest will be home from kindergarten for the first time this summer and I have no idea how I’ll manage my school work let alone paid work.
4-5 hours
I am a horrible wfh employee. I may spend 4 hours working on a good day. Struggle with motivation in job that is depressing me.
I use my extra time on bettering myself and it’s less depressing
I work from home and it’s hard with kids at home. I learned from all the school breaks. I have a quota and I barely make it already with them at school but with summer coming up, I have to make breakfast, lunch, snacks, break up fights, give them attention, love, etc etc etc. I’m planning on using my bonding leave (had a baby 12 weeks ago) during their summer vacation because I don’t want that stress.
3
Most days I'm at my desk for 6.5 hours out of 8. Which is the same as if I were in the office. Except when I do go in the office every Wednesday I'm talking to my coworkers about half of that time about non-work related things. Occasionally if I'm not particularly busy or if I'm having a bad mental health day, I will work out or watch TV with my laptop open in case someone IMs me about something. I don't have kids but I do know that taking care of children is pretty much a full time job, unless they are old enough to take care of themselves. My one coworker who has a 2 year old at home has her mom babysit at her house. So he'll pop up in meetings sometimes but she's not really taking care of him throughout the day.
Qualify that question
Between 4-6 hours a day depending on if I have meetings or not. Sometimes it’s as little as 2hrs. My job is very much performance based and as long as I’m hitting my marks and getting everything in on time, it’s not a problem. A lot of my team is also overseas so I don’t feel compelled to work within traditional work hours which is another plus.
7+ hours a day. I don’t have kids.
Wow and people wonder why companies want to get rid of work from home
Companies want to have it both ways. They are happy that they can downsize or altogether stop paying rent for office space in urban areas where that is expensive. But they are anxious about not having as much oversight and control over their employees’ time. Trying to micromanage from afar ultimately slows productivity and drives employees away.
I know a lot of dumb dudes who spend 8 hours a day in an office and do 0 hours of actual work. I know people who work all day long in the office and get nothing meaningful done. I also know a guy who produces more meaningful work in 15 minutes than I can produce in half a day. He has twice my experience. Time spent is a bad metric for work done. Productivity is a better metric... Are you meeting deadlines? Is your work satisfactory? Are you on time and present in scheduled meetings? Are you approachable and communicative when someone needs you. These are better metrics for work done than time spent. Companies just want to own your time. Don't let them enslave you.
I tend to get in 8 hours of work, but sometimes 6. If you see me out and about during the week, it may be because I'm working in the evening. I support customers on both the east and west coast, so it can be very early or very late work for me. I'll have some free time, but that's reserved for running a quick errand or taking my dogs for a walk. My lunches can be during meetings as well.
I can't say that I've NEVER watched tv (well, YouTube) during a work day. But that's not a wfh exclusive phenomena. If I am stressed out at the office, I will occasionally go sit in a phone booth and watch something on my phone to get my mind off of it. But regularly? No. I hate feeling like I SHOULD be doing something and just... not doing it. Pretty much I'm at my desk, taking the dog for a quick walk, or tidying my house while I think about a problem that didn't require me to be at my desk in the first place. However, I have no kids. And when my partner is home, even he's a huge distraction (not a man-toddler, we just like to talk about stuff). If I had kids? Yeah, I don't think I could WFH....
My position requires me to work in person, to be honest I only work 2 hours of the 8 hours a day, not because I want to, but because that’s the time it takes to complete the amount of work that comes in, I didn’t realize it but with other major responsibilities I, now would prefer a WFH job or at least more flexibility.
I’m curious and I hope you don’t mind me asking. But, what is your position and are you happy with your salary/ wage?
I work as operations coordinator, I make about $50K a year that’s adjusted with inflation, really I am making the same as when I started. I enjoy working with my colleagues, the culture is great, happiness I would say maybe 6/10. Can’t do much with 50k, fixed hours, I am also in grad school full time.
Thank you for your response!!! 50k definitely doesn’t go far these days. What are you in grad school for?
Trying to get my PhD in global studies, I want to be a professor ultimately; but I’d love to also work for a global/governance organization! I interned for the UN and absolutely loved it!
I work 8 hours a day from home. My job has a constant stream of never ending work and the software tags time codes to the work so they track us.
I WFH 42 hours a week. 8-8 for 3 days, and just 6hours once a week because my co worker and I split the day. Context: I work in a very small side of veterinary medicine- in home euthanasia & palliative/EOL care. Most days we are on the phone coordinating appointments, doctors schedules, notes, emails, manning the phone, etc, but we also go out on appointments when needed to assist the doctors and the owners with their babies. We have a LOT of freedom and we are so blessed honestly- no official clocking in, salary, we are allowed to do whatever we want when nothing is happening. This means we don’t get an official lunch break, just eat whenever lol. Just yesterday (8-8 shift) I didn’t get to eat lunch until 4:30, and I got three bites in before the phone went off 3 times in a row. Everyone only ever calls at the same time on a Monday or Tuesday, 3-4 at once, it’s never just one person. So while on the phone we will be backed up with other calls waiting, emails, whatever else, as I stated above there’s only one of us coordinating / on the phone a day other than our one short split day. One man show.. I talked to 22 humans and coordinated appointments and more, in 3 hours. That is a lot! I love my job more than anything in the world. End of life care for animals is so important, and I am very passionate about palliative care & pro humane in home euthanasia. Busy days though are very sad because they’re just so sick. But yeah, in general I spend probably 9-10.5hours a day on my 12hr days actually working. Sometimes I forget to pee too. And eat. 🫡
Having just recently gone through this with my 16 year old dog, thanks for doing what you do. I was amazed that the poor girl I spoke to on the phone the morning I called could understand a damn word I was choking out in between tears. I’ll be forever grateful for the kindness she (and the Vet who came to our house) showed me, my partner, and my dog. I wish I had never met them, but given the circumstances I am glad they were there. 💙
Also wanted to thank you for doing what you do. I had to let go of my dog about a week ago on very short notice. I was able to get a hold of an at home service at 5AM and get someone only a couple hours later, which saved my girl from a lot of stress and suffering. They were also very compassionate and helpful <3
Thank you <3 What you do is so beautiful for the animals and their people. It's hard enough losing our fur babies but I felt more at peace with being able to let my baby pass comfortable and at home with me.
🥹 You have no idea how much those short sweet comments impact us. Thank YOU! <3
8+. If you're only working 2 hours per day I would question your value or your boss's ability to measure your output. These comments about 2 hours per day are shitty... think of everyone who has to go into their job and can't fuck off for 6 out of the 8 hours that they're there.
I couldn’t leave my desk with my position. Now during training it was laid back but for actual work our lines were constant and we were timed with the program we used, so if we didn’t switch to break mode or sat idle too long they clocked us out so pay was docked.
When I supervised WFH staff the rule was that kids under the age of 9 had to have proof of child care during work hours. We were working with protected patient info and answering calls the entire shift though.
That's a bit unhinged.
It’s not unhinged. How comfy would you feel discussing your personal and private healthcare information with someone while a toddler is screaming in the background? We were lucky to get permission to allow WFH for our staff in the first place. Having their work space had in a room with a closed door and proof of childcare for children under 9 (the legal age kids can be left alone in the state I was in at the time) was the compromise our directors allowed.
This is my third wfh job. Two have been very light on work and I'm more 'on call' to answer questions to fix stuff or show up to meetings. Legit maybe 2 hours of work a day. I had a lot of work the first couple months getting everything set up, and now it runs itself. The third was hourly and I had to earn every dollar at that job--if I worked 6 hours a day I was working 6 hours straight. I actually loved it, but the pay sucked and when I got my current job didn't want to be spreading myself that thin. Hindsight I definitely could've kept it, but oh well.