For the last 2 weeks, I went to my empty office once a week. It was so nice to grab breakfast, go to lunch with a friend who works nearby. I closed my computer at 4:30PM and went to the gym at work before going home. I checked my messages when I got home to clean up any loose ends that may have been there.

When I’m in my house I’m chained to my desk. I take very few breaks. I talk to no one in person until my kids come home. I work longer than I’m supposed to work. So. I think being in the office doesn’t mean I have less work. It does mean I feel more free and easy on myself to not prove I’m working. I think the WFH pace is much faster.

I have an office at work and don't work all the time. I can BS with coworkers for hours at the office and take 1.5 hour lunches. The only difference is that I waste gas and time going into an office.

I work harder when teleworking because I don't have distractions. When I'm at work, everyone wants to chat and there is so much noise and socializing.

I’m a therapist. I have an office but I work from home 90% of the time because I can see 2 more clients per day if I don’t have to commute to my office. If I have someone cancel last minute, I work out or do house stuff or catch up on paperwork. When I was full time in the office, there was always someone to talk to and I absolutely never chose paperwork. Now I choose paperwork probably 1/3 of the time.

I think it’s really different for anyone who is a salaried employee vs hourly or fee-for-service businesses like mine. This is a second career for me. Before this, I worked as a biller in a law firm. I had A LOT of downtime at that job. I never have downtime now. Working from home maximized my efficiency and made it socially acceptable to basically never leave my house, which is fine with me.

I’m a fed and I work from home and I worked both days this weekend and just finished for the night (11pm). So I get tons done. The good thing is I can be around for my kids dinner bc I’m not doing a long commute and sign back on at night. All the feds I know work like crazy but we are in a job that it would be clear if you weren’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do you screw around when you are WFH?

OP- How much do you screw around when you are working at the office?

You are a little sensitive! OP here. I never said that I think working in the office is inherently more productive. I actually don't. Sadly, I WFH pretty rarely but when I do I get a lot more done due to fewer interruptions and no commute. I do happen to know a lot of people who do tons of non-work stuff while teleworking but again, I think that happens in office too. If anything, the whole debate really demonstrates how good your average desk worker has it compared to people like nurses and teachers who are on their feet with little freedom to choose whether to screw around, or not, during the work day.

Anonymous wrote:Less than I screw around at the office

95% of people on DCUM say this. Being generous, 15% of them are telling the truth.

I worked today 60 minutes. I am exhausted

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I kind of hate that you all who barely work almost certainly get paid way more than me (non-lawyer fed).

I have always needed to warm up and build momentum first thing in the morning. WFH it tends to take a bit longer to get into the bigger tasks most days because I dont focus as well before others are out of the house. But I feel like I'm just intensely focused after that because there are no distractions and I'm very, very careful about accounting my time, e.g. if my mandatory unpaid break is 40 minutes instead of 30 I will make up those 10 minutes.

The people I know who work the LEAST are full-time Feds.

Yeah, they probably make more than me too. Not all agencies or jobs are created equal.

A big second on the Fed employee thing. I know several that are always around and about. I’m out because I’m retired, but by the looks of it, I’d say these “working” folks are too!

I spend at least two hours on here in an 8 hour day. Definitely more of a distraction then water cooler talk in the office.

Anonymous wrote:I kind of hate that you all who barely work almost certainly get paid way more than me (non-lawyer fed).

I have always needed to warm up and build momentum first thing in the morning. WFH it tends to take a bit longer to get into the bigger tasks most days because I dont focus as well before others are out of the house. But I feel like I'm just intensely focused after that because there are no distractions and I'm very, very careful about accounting my time, e.g. if my mandatory unpaid break is 40 minutes instead of 30 I will make up those 10 minutes.

The people I know who work the LEAST are full-time Feds.

Fed here. I'm definitely more productive at home because no one's stopping by my office to say hello. No hallway conversations. When a meeting ends on Team, we log off...there's no banter afterwards. I miss it a little but on balance prefer WFH because the commute is a huge waste of time. Plus I'm an introvert and don't really need to be in the office to perform my work. I'm "always on" when WFH but can run the dishwasher, put in a load of laundry, let in a repairman, etc., which are small things yet they make daily life a lot easier. I also like that i can work in my sweats!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my work to screwing around ratio is pretty much the same whether I’m in the office or at home. I take small breaks throughout the day to exercise or do a random errand, but I work more hours total from home since there’s no commute time and I don’t take a lunch hour. My company fully supports WFH and it is understood that people step away from their desks occasionally to do non-work related stuff.

Same. I either have work to do or I don’t, whether I’m home or in the office. Only difference is at home I can use my down time for laundry, errands, exercise, etc. and I love that.

There is always more work I can do, but why bother. I won't earn extra.

Anonymous wrote:I think my work to screwing around ratio is pretty much the same whether I’m in the office or at home. I take small breaks throughout the day to exercise or do a random errand, but I work more hours total from home since there’s no commute time and I don’t take a lunch hour. My company fully supports WFH and it is understood that people step away from their desks occasionally to do non-work related stuff.

Same. I either have work to do or I don’t, whether I’m home or in the office. Only difference is at home I can use my down time for laundry, errands, exercise, etc. and I love that.