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Comment by mats852 | Hacker News Reader

WFH, everything is in a 5 minutes car or 15 mins walk radius for us. The office would be 1h+ of commute away. And all that just to go there and put noise cancelling headphones to concentrate on my work.

But it's not only that. Kids need more than just being transported, fed and put to bed. You need to rush home to cook, do chores because you didn't have time to pick up the mess in the morning, take care of them. Then once they are asleep, more chores, and then your free time starts at 9-10pm, until you crash.

Being at home, especially flex time, nothing prevents you from doing laundry, and because you eat at home, you can do a bit more dishes after lunch, start cooking something for supper, etc. It alleviates my routine a lot and I also work more time with less stress.

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It's crazy how upset this website gets about an inconsiderate coworker breaking them from the "zone" but doing laundry in worktime is the natural order of things.

Sincerely, who gives a flying ** as long as things get done? All I can tell you, having 2 loud conversations going on in an open office almost the entire day is going to mess my performance up far more than taking a 30 minute break hanging laundry while I can still hear myself think. But the former is considered 'business as usual' and the latter is considered a no-no.

You'd think for once the money people would think about the money, not the method.

Control over time. You decide when to do a chore or to focus on work. Coworker interruptions are out of your control.

I choose when I want to 'do the laundry'.

I can't choose when Janet or John taps me on the shoulder whilst I'm in the middle of something important.

Good thing your zone takes laundry breaks I guess.

Doing something like laundry, or taking a shower, or making coffee, is an excellent time to think over those knotty problems that refuse to give way when you are at the computer.

Pretty confused what you're trying to say here. Maybe you could try explaining rather than sarcasm?

Just a bit startled people feel doing chores in their work time is normal. This is against the backdrop lore here of hyper focus, hyper productivity that is alas only chronically ruined by inconsiderate others.

I find it a lot more startling that you seem to be unfamiliar with the concept of breaks.

Doing laundry in break time, not work time

I take breaks when in the office too, I just can't spend that 5 mins putting the washing on. Usually I just look out of the window.

In what way is that at all crazy? These are two entirely different things, and the first one (being interrupted) is bad while the second one (taking a break and doing something mindless) is good. It would be pretty crazy to have the opposite view that the bad thing is good and the good thing is bad...

You're on clock. Do your job, focus on your zone that (finally!) noone can distract you from. How is this controversial?

What are you talking about? You're going to kill yourself if you don't take breaks throughout the day. If this is a new concept to you, you're cruising for a bruising.

Edit to add: Whether I'm at an office or at home, I go on at least one 20 to 30 minute walk and ideally two or three each day. I've been doing that for over a decade. I have no qualms saying that in public. Any employer or manager who sees this as a negative habit because I'm doing it while I'm "on the clock" is not one I have any interest in working for, and I'm very happy if they'll filter themselves out of my set of prospective employers.

If you do computer work, it's important to move your legs and extend your gaze into the distance, often. What you're advocating here and are "startled" that it's "controversial" is just strictly unhealthy. Don't kill yourself for a job. There are many many employers who won't require it of you, because they know that happy healthy employees are more creative and more productive than unhealthy burned out zombies.

I naturally took breaks when I worked from home, at the same rate I do when I work in the office. I don't cook meals for the family or do other errands when working. If there's a home emergency requiring me in a WFH situation I'd work the time owed afterwards. 24 years in the workforce, thanks for the concern but think I'll manage.

I really don't get it, what exactly do you think is the difference between doing laundry or cooking a meal when you take a break vs anything else you might do on a break?

Worktime flexibility helps a lot IMHO.

If I do laundry and quick groceries in my worktime it's a lot less of an issue if I have to log in to quickly flag an error outside my worktime. Balance is still needed, but that's a world of difference when flexibility goes both ways.

(inconsiderate workers are an issue however you turn it)

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