The sneaky habits of New Jersey’s remote workers

A lot of workers left the office in March of 2020 and haven’t been back since. Years later, working remotely is still the norm for a lot of New Jersey employees, if not full-time, at least a few days per week.

While there are obvious perks like no annoying commutes and being able to go a full work day in pajamas, there’s one major perk that as someone who never left the office, I’m a little jealous of.

Many remote workers are essentially working a four-day workweek in disguise.

This happens through various means, according to a survey performed by Bisnar Chase. Remote workers find ways to start later, finish earlier, take long lunch breaks, or mark themselves as “busy” when that may not necessarily be the case.

When broken down, the study found that almost 1 in 3 (29%) remote workers in New Jersey are working a number of hours in a four-day work week over five days.

What are some other sneaky strategies that employees use to keep up the illusion of “working” from home?

⚫ 13% of employees use a mouse jiggler or other tricks to stay "active" on Slack or Teams.
⚫ 56% claim they’re “on a call” when they’re not.
⚫ 26% mark themselves as “Away for a quick lunch,” only to disappear for hours.
⚫ 18% set their status to “In deep focus mode” to avoid interruptions.

To quote that Connect Four commercial from the ‘80s: pretty sneaky, sis.

What are New Jerseyans doing while they’re fooling employers into thinking they’re busy?

According to the respondents in Bisnar Chase’s survey, instead of doing work tasks, 38% are doing chores or running errands. Meanwhile, 28% admit to playing video games during work hours.

Others spend their time binge-watching TV (22%) or sneaking in a gym session or taking a long walk (12%).

I have a friend who has to start going to the office five days a week soon, and after reading this information, I can see why she was so disappointed at the news.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.