We are all well-versed in the life of the home office by now. So much so that a lot of Dutchies are avoiding the office altogether to work from home. But here’s the twist: their bosses don’t know about it.

Dutchies are famous for their admirable work-life balance, so they’re very deliberate on their home office days. 

According to Metro Nieuws, Dutch people are working from home to avoid socialising. Instead, they’re choosing to take care of their kids or dodging workplace confrontations.

Avoiding the office

Birthdays? Nope, 12% of people purposely dodge the office on those days. And we’re not talking about a day off, people still sit behind their computers, they just don’t see their coworkers.

The same goes for work drinks: 27% of young people avoid the office borrel, which is interesting when you consider that only 16% of people of other ages did this.

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And here’s the most interesting one: 18% of young Dutch workers avoid the office so they don’t have to have a hard conversation with their coworkers or managers. This figure is also twice as much as older people.

They’re smart about it

But this isn’t just about dodging your coworkers. Dutch people also work from home to take care of their sick children, for example.

They also tweak their hours: no one will notice if you start a little later or finish a little earlier, just send “Good morning” on Slack from your bed, and you’re golden.

(Uh, we mean, don’t do that. Get to work on time.)

READ MORE | Dutch Quirk #116: Have a great work-life balance

In fairness, not everyone thrives in the 9-to-5 schedule, so maybe Dutch people just know themselves well enough to know when and how they work best. They could very likely be working fewer hours but get everything done.

Maybe we can all take a page out of the Dutchies’ book and reject hustle culture. All hail the “lazy” home office! 🥳

How do you usually spend your home office days? Tell us in the comments!

Have you ever had to put a conversation at a cafe on halt because a thundering motorcycle is flying by, and it sounds like a huge steam train is speeding right past you? Well, Amsterdam isn’t accepting this anymore. 🙅🏻‍♀️

Since last Friday, both Amsterdam and Rotterdam have started measuring the noise levels of vehicles using their roads.

Is your car too loud? A sign a few metres away will tell you (and everyone else!) in big red letters that it’s time to make some changes, reports Het Parool.

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For now, the city will only use warnings to discourage loud-sounding vehicles but soon hopes to replace them with automatic fines for too-noisy vehicles.

Loud noise, day and night

Amsterdam will soon be launching noise meters at Stadhouderskade in the city centre and Molenaarsweg in the North. More meters will continue popping up until the end of August at locations such as Europaboulevard and Tussen Meer.

A study by the GGD Amsterdam found that motorcycles pose the biggest problem, accounting for 19% of serious noise nuisances. But they aren’t the only ones, with mopeds and modified cars also among the top troublemakers.

The study also pointed out health risks associated with long-term exposure to loud noises, such as those made by noisy vehicles.

In the Dutch capital, vehicles were found topping the decibel charts both day and night — some of them even registering decibel ratings similar to a fighter jet flying overhead.

It is already illegal in Amsterdam to have a vehicle louder than 5 decibels above the standard, risking a €400 fine. However, this is too hard to regularly enforce, and so, the city hopes that these automatic sound meters will help.

What do you think about noise warnings for vehicles? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!