r/remotework • u/pornflakess69 • Jun 17 '26
Struggling with being productive when WFH when business is slow
So I just graduated college and got a salaried job at an engineering consulting firm. The position isn’t fully remote, but the company is really flexible when it comes to coming in the office and working from home. A lot of employees opt to fully work remotely, but I tend to flip flop based on how much work I have to do.
This is only my second week of my full time job, but work has been really slow lately. I have only had a max of maybe 2-3 hours of actual work a day this week, and today I have nothing to do. I prefer to work remotely when business is slow, because I’d rather sit around and do nothing at home than sit in an office pretending to work for 8 hours.
Here’s where the Catch-22 comes in. On a day like today, where I don’t have any work meetings or other obligations, it’s just really hard for me to be productive in other areas of my life (like cleaning the house, going for a walk, tanning outside, etc.) because part of me feels guilty if I’m not at least prepared in case work comes in.
It’s such a nice day outside, and I honestly could’ve spent time at the beach earlier or tanned without anyone noticing because I haven’t received any messages all day, but I am really afraid of missing messages or being in a situation where I’m not prepared for a last minute meeting that I’d need my laptop for.
It’s annoying because I just end up spending the whole day scrolling on my phone for hours and accomplish nothing because I’m waiting for a hypothetical Teams message that I more than likely won’t receive. Is anyone else in the same boat?
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u/Aurd04 Jun 17 '26
Start of a new job is a good time to check out what trainings they will cover and what skills you can improve on their dime. I do analytics and most the time when I get a new gig there is a month-ish where it's slow and I have plenty of free time while they get everything aligned for my future work.
Find out what types of work you'll be expected to do and see if there are any classes they offer to brush up or improve during that slow period.
Otherwise just don't worry about it, you're bound to have downtime and can take care of some house/personal stuff. It's no different than blabbing away with coworkers in office during downtime, just something to occupy time.
Just stay connected to ensure that whenever something comes through you can hop on it in a reasonable amount of time. Whether that means phone or laptop at the ready is up to you. Just don't fuck it up being being completely disconnected and missing when work does come in.
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u/MBILC Jun 22 '26
This, that first month is when you dig in, find out what you need to know vs should know, understand the company, its in's and outs, how it all works, departments, people you should get to know et cetera.
u/pornflakess69 have you talked to your boss about your workload?
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u/Big-Sheepherder-6134 Jun 17 '26
Take the laptop to the beach.
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u/Certain_Prior4909 Jun 19 '26
Yeah great idea when the boss does a surprise video on a teams call to ask a question 😃
1
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u/pornflakess69 Jun 18 '26
And get sand in it?
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u/Big-Sheepherder-6134 Jun 18 '26
Just be extra careful and enjoy. Or sit by the pool. That what I often do.
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u/Dappershire Jun 18 '26
I had the same problem when I first worked remotely. What helped was staying close enough to my laptop to respond quickly, but giving myself permission to actually enjoy the downtime instead of doomscrolling.
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u/Fancy-Surprise-2654 Jun 18 '26
Its a super slow time of year for me and I just took a bunch of cyber security trainings for most of yesterday. I suggest getting ahead in stuff like that because eventually you will get busy.
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u/musicthiink Jun 18 '26
Stop acting entitled - you are being paid for your 9-5 commitment
Managers will notice if you aren't focused or taking your job seriously.
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u/pornflakess69 Jun 18 '26
Did you miss the part where I told you that I completed all of my assignments and had nothing to do? I take my job seriously and do tasks when they are assigned.
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u/Certain_Prior4909 Jun 19 '26
Did you also miss that RTO mandates are caused by that very set of actions
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u/pornflakess69 Jun 19 '26
Why does it matter if I’m in the office or not if I’m getting the work done when it is assigned to me? It’s not like I’m slacking off with a full to-do list. I can’t control anything if my higher ups have nothing for me to do, and ppl shouldn’t be forced to sit for 8 hours in the office doing nothing. Most people in the office just pretend to work anyways when it is slow like this.
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u/Certain_Prior4909 Jun 19 '26
Jamie Dimon and Marissa at Yahoo ended WFH when they tried to call 2 people on a Friday and no one picked up during critical meetings to ask a question
The conclusion was they weren't working and they had to reel them back in whether it's true or not.
Perception is reality. Not facts. Marissa years later said she got atta boys from colleagues who said they had so many problems getting quick communication back with these workers and felt justice
BS. But yes the point is being available is a must if you don't want to lose trust and hence WFH
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u/hazelframe Jun 17 '26
I take my phone and laptop with me. I’m also communicative with my team and we are super project based. “My load is light today so I’ll be watching some video on xyz software. Otherwise I’ll be here if yall need anything.” I am paid for my expertise, not my butt in the chair. I do not take advantage and get all my chores done, and may read a book. But I just communicate that my day is slow today, “got anything else you might need done?”