I hate my job

[Albaba]

As the title says I hate my job. I have been in the position for several years and have been back about a year following maternity leave. It is admin based and I go through periods of being really busy which I like because the day goes quickly but a lot of the time it is dead. I have cut my working days back to 4 and still don't have enough work to do to fill 4 days. My immediate manager and office manager are aware of the situation but don't do anything and don't motivate me at all. I have got to the stage where I don't want to go in to work in the morning and try to break my day down by working towards tea breaks, lunch breaks and finally home time.
I would consider myself to be quite a bright bubbly person outside work but in work I am not like this at all. The people I work with are so dull and I feel like I have exhausted every avenue of conversation with them. Recently I have just become completely disengaged and stopped bothering so that means that most days are usually spent sitting in silence. I am still youngish. I want a bit of a laugh but in my job it is non existent.
I would love to retrain. I have told my dh this and he thinks I would be stupid to give it up. I couldn't afford to anyway. On the positive side work are very flexible about leave and taking time off for family circumstances and I get my childcare vouchers through work but it makes me miserable. I spend most days bored silly. It doesn't help that I have so much to do at home that I really don't know where to start and I keep thinking that I could be being productive at home.
Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any useful advice?

[ggirl]

I can't understand why your bosses don't find somehting for you to do and keep busy , quite a luxury paying someone to sit around bored imo.
Can you think of extra duties you could start doing , ways of improving things that could keep you motivated and help the business.

[tribpot]

That must be very stressful, if you are spending your time dawdling at work when there's shedloads to be getting on with at home.

It can be very difficult when you've found an employer who's flexible about leave (although why wouldn't they be when there's not enough work to do?!) - every time I threaten to jump from my current work the response I get from nearly everyone is 'but how would you manage somewhere else, where you couldn't take x amount of time off every time it snows?' (DH in a wheelchair so cannot physically leave the house for at least several weeks every winter).

In my case, I suspect I would go into business for myself if I left, which would be more pressure but more rewarding. I think provided one chose a reasonable employer you would find that they would also be accommodating around family circs (and would also offer the voucher scheme).

I would start looking around. I hope you can find something better - I wouldn't just assume that you can't.

[Quincejelly]

Try and find things to do at work as ggirl said. Is there any training that they would support you doing during the time when you have nothing to do at work?? I know that´s a bit of a long-shot but could you do an OU course or something that you could work on during the times when you´re just sitting around? I´ve heard of people like night-receptionists in hotels who just have to be there but don´t have anything to do at all for hours on end doing some kind of distance-learning from their reception desk - with the blessing of their employer. If you could find something work-related would be even better.
Otherwise, as Tribpot says, start investigating other openings!

[Metalhead]

Why don't you just try and look for a similar job with a different company? If it's not the work itself that you hate but the fact you've not got enough to do (and I know how stressful that is, I've been there myself!) I'm sure there must be similar roles that are more challenging, and maybe in a better team with nicer colleagues.

[Nevercan]

How about doing online courses whilst at work or even an open university degree whilst still working

[miisamink]

Don't waste your life feeling bad most day! I don't know how may lives you've got, but I've got one :). There are always ways to improve the situation:

• new job (same field)
• use unused time at work to retrain
• take part time job doing what you love

Most important is to start figuring out what you really love doing! It is difficult to start moving away from bad situation if you don't know how your good situation would look like. And don't listen to anyone telling you shouldn't change your situation, you may end up sick because you block who you are!!

DrivenWoman runs groups in London for women who want to move on and change their lives for better. Perhaps finding solutions with others support might work for you?