Forum Discussion
SoniaCuff
Microsoft
MicrosoftSchedules and WFH success
I'm a strong believer that there's not one single correct way to work from home, so it's great to see people sharing what works for them. Let's talk about the timeline of your work from home day. Doe...
I'm officially home-based, but as you'll read, that isn't entirely work from home. I'll start with what my office-life is like.
My office schedule is usually more complex, because it will be potentially anywhere in the UK, but when it's in my employer's office, it's because there's a good reason to meet in person with people.
Usually that means there will be an in-person meeting with a customer at some point during the day, so I'm working at a hot desk for the remainder of the time. As in-person meetings often have a little time before to meet and greet and say goodbyes I'll need to block time either side. If the meeting is at a client's office in London then I might need to block 30 minutes either side to account for travel, too.
The remainder of the day usually falls foul of planning as if I were working from home - and everything invariably seems to take longer with regular distractions from the task at hand.
Like many in the UK, working more than your 40 hour week is unusual, so there's no pressure to be first in and last out, but because of the distance to the office I often end up working longer hours including working on the train journey in.
Working from home the day is different - I'm in better control of my day and can reasonably confidently plan what I need to do. Important pressures come up that need changes to the schedule, but it's far easier to put on a pair of headphones, switch on DnD on Teams and focus for a few hours to get critical work done. Some days though are back to back meetings. Some are video, some are audio only. I never feel any pressure to use video and mix it up depending on what we are working on. If it's reviewing something on screen, then there's little value in video sometimes anyway.. and a good chat doesn't need video either. Video is primarily useful in three or more way meetings when you rely on visual cues to see people's emotions. Audio only makes it easier to get some steps, walk around the house a little and so on.
The type of day changes as well. If I'm down in London at the office, then I'm out before 7AM and miss the kids going off to school and arrive home at sometimes after 7PM after they've had dinner. But when I'm working from home I can get them both up, do breakfast and the school runs and be back at my home office before 9AM, ready for the day.
When working from home it's important to put aside time for lunch like you would in the office. My wife works from home too, so we often grab lunch together, though don't get time to go out for lunch so often as with an hour lunch it's much quicker to make something and then sit down and have a catch up.
Although my working day is technically shorter when working from home (because I don't have to travel two hours or more each way) I actively work a longer day. But if I start at 9AM I'll do my best not to work past 6PM.
Other things - around 5:50PM the kids will begin to enter the home office, as I frantically finish for the day demand attention. It's both lovely and frustrating And on a quiet day I'll take the opportunity to have a shorter lunch and do the school pickup too. Invariably though the most common time for afternoon meetings seems to be around 3PM, so it's a rarity.
After hours I set quiet hours in Teams on mobile. I won't - unless there's a good reason - go "back to work", and rarely check or answer emails. There's only so much you can do in the working day. The laptop is shut down and switched off until the morning.
My office schedule is usually more complex, because it will be potentially anywhere in the UK, but when it's in my employer's office, it's because there's a good reason to meet in person with people.
Usually that means there will be an in-person meeting with a customer at some point during the day, so I'm working at a hot desk for the remainder of the time. As in-person meetings often have a little time before to meet and greet and say goodbyes I'll need to block time either side. If the meeting is at a client's office in London then I might need to block 30 minutes either side to account for travel, too.
The remainder of the day usually falls foul of planning as if I were working from home - and everything invariably seems to take longer with regular distractions from the task at hand.
Like many in the UK, working more than your 40 hour week is unusual, so there's no pressure to be first in and last out, but because of the distance to the office I often end up working longer hours including working on the train journey in.
Working from home the day is different - I'm in better control of my day and can reasonably confidently plan what I need to do. Important pressures come up that need changes to the schedule, but it's far easier to put on a pair of headphones, switch on DnD on Teams and focus for a few hours to get critical work done. Some days though are back to back meetings. Some are video, some are audio only. I never feel any pressure to use video and mix it up depending on what we are working on. If it's reviewing something on screen, then there's little value in video sometimes anyway.. and a good chat doesn't need video either. Video is primarily useful in three or more way meetings when you rely on visual cues to see people's emotions. Audio only makes it easier to get some steps, walk around the house a little and so on.
The type of day changes as well. If I'm down in London at the office, then I'm out before 7AM and miss the kids going off to school and arrive home at sometimes after 7PM after they've had dinner. But when I'm working from home I can get them both up, do breakfast and the school runs and be back at my home office before 9AM, ready for the day.
When working from home it's important to put aside time for lunch like you would in the office. My wife works from home too, so we often grab lunch together, though don't get time to go out for lunch so often as with an hour lunch it's much quicker to make something and then sit down and have a catch up.
Although my working day is technically shorter when working from home (because I don't have to travel two hours or more each way) I actively work a longer day. But if I start at 9AM I'll do my best not to work past 6PM.
Other things - around 5:50PM the kids will begin to enter the home office, as I frantically finish for the day demand attention. It's both lovely and frustrating And on a quiet day I'll take the opportunity to have a shorter lunch and do the school pickup too. Invariably though the most common time for afternoon meetings seems to be around 3PM, so it's a rarity.
After hours I set quiet hours in Teams on mobile. I won't - unless there's a good reason - go "back to work", and rarely check or answer emails. There's only so much you can do in the working day. The laptop is shut down and switched off until the morning.