I can't really imagine a job in which someone is bothered to pay you to do work, but cares so little about the work you're outputting that they don't notice whether or not you're working efficiently/effectively.<p>I've worked from home full-time for just over 5 years now. I'm self-employed and answer to my client directly. I operate almost entirely autonomously and am given a heap of freedom, both tech-wise and with respect what hours I work. I've not once in 5 years reported my exact hours worked - but of course do report days off sick etc.<p>However, despite my client not being a developer (or overly technically inclined) I can assure you my client still notices if I'm being less productive than usual - which over the course of 5 years is somewhat inevitable e.g. when my daughter was born.<p>Actually, I find that not having someone knowing that I'm ticking over hours sitting at desk, hitting buttons, and making the screen flash, causes me to work more. For the last 5 years I've consistently worked more hours than I ever did in an office environment, not by a small margin either.<p>Sometimes you just don't feel "switched on", but if you're working in an office you're still tallying up hours. However, if I'm not totally switched on, I somewhat subconsciously know I need to work longer in the afternoon/evening. This is simply because I feel pressure (am motivated) to live up to the standards I've established with my client. I must add though, that my client is absolutely fantastic, any perceived pressure is almost entirely self-inflicted.<p>If anything, I need to start setting firm boundaries so that I work less. This means I need to start considering those less productive "hours worked" as genuine hours worked, just as I would if was working in an office.