Age 56. Can't be arsed at work anymore.

Totally relate. At 47 having started my Nurse training nearly 30 years ago I also have very little enthusiasm. I love my patients and actually hands on nursing (which equates to approx 30% of the job) but it is all the BS that goes with it. I literally do the minimum to get by (always give my best to my patients). I am lucky to have a decent pension, although had to start again mortgage wise when I divorced at 40 so financially will have to down size to retire then. 13 years and counting!!

Are you in a position to work for yourself op? None of this bollocks at all.

This made me laugh, I'm 40 and feel the same!

I feel like this at 46 but know I can't retire until at least 60. I love my role but can't be arsed with the 'fluff'. So I don't participate in the fluff. I do what I need to get a good job done. I'm lucky in that they need me as I do quite a niche role. You just need to suck it up and bide your time.

@Farmgoose I have just come back from 3 weeks in Sri Lanka & would love to spend more time there, but it has changed a lot in the 26 years I have been visiting.

I feel the same, at 42 having already worked for 25 years (on my way to 26), the thought of another 25 years (but possibly more if the pension age rises as planned) is utterly depressing. Worked hard these last few years to change the direction of my career and get away from the low paid jobs that were the constant through the majority of my working life. I'm now in a good job with good prospects but I've had enough. I'm tired of it all. I pray for a lottery win, doesn't have to be huge but a nice amount that would give me a monthly income so that I could jack it all in. One day maybe...

An interesting thread. How many of you ever really liked work, I wonder?

I have always loved work but a tipping point for me is when an organisation grows to more than about 1100 staff. I've always worked for organisations with less than a thousand staff. Big enough for some scale but not so big as to become ridiculously bureaucratic with people sitting in super specialist grooves.

I retrained at 43 after a break going back to the very bottom and sucking it up. At 56 I became Head of my department, at 60 the service Director. I like having younger people in the team, somenof my professional staff are only a bit older than my children but it helps keep my mind alive. What they can do with a spreadsheet is awesome except they still need me to help with the formulas or spot when a formula is wrong

I love work but at 64 I get more tired and have to pace more and have the spectre of an aging and increasingly frail mother in the background.

Planning to retire autumn 2025 at 65. It gives me a sense if satisfaction to reach the age men were presumed able to reach. I have a suspicion I might be persuaded to stay a little longer to steer through a prevailing crisis.

Except in my 20s, the money hasn't really mattered and I wonder if it's the shift to wanting to do it rather than needing to do it. Living to work rather than working to live? Having married a workaholic, I don't think I even work that hard although still often pull a 50 hour week.

Good for you! Can I ask what your new profession is?

This is the reason I left my long service job at 54 but I was the manager that had to do the annual appraisals and review the KPI's of my team whilst thinking in my head "what a waste if time it's not going to make any difference to anything". It finally got to me when I had to deliver to the them the corporate desire to put gender pronouns on emails and also name badges this was just a step too far in policy and I resigned the same day. No intention to work again but after six months was head hunted for a role within a smaller company where I can implement policies and design annual reviews that actually make a difference to staff development.

Rather than stopping work, can you look elsewhere?

At 55 I was plodding on. I liked my job and the people I worked with. But I had the feeling that the piss was being taken by senior managers. Lots of promises about my experience, extra responsibilities, technical knowledge being rewarded. But nothing actually happened. It was always 'jam tomorrow'.

Then one day an opportunity fell into my lap. Essentially the same job for 50% more money, much bigger pension contributions and bonus. And I could WFH.

I really was that underpaid. I left my previous employer saying 'but but but...'.

Now been in my new role 3 years and I love it. I'm hoping I can keep this going for another few years.

I think a lot of employers depend on their age 50+ staff not realising how valuable to the business they are. All that wealth of knowledge and experience. Getting on with the job, not distracted by trying to look keen and shiny.

I am 39 and I've felt like this for years.

Whats become increasingly clear to me is there's a minority of people in the corporate world, for whom work is life. They love it. They give it their all. It defines them. They prioritise it without effort. They rarely switch off from it. They probably are very productive - because they love it, are constantly seeking to learn/improve their performance etc.t
They spend their lives and careers trying to coax/force everyone else to achieve this level of focus/interest.

But in reality for most people, a corporate job is there to pay bills and fund a life away from work that they value far more - raising/caring for their family, their hobbies, their home. They essentially seek a balance between earning as much as possible to fund life outside work, while devoting the least time & mental energy they can to work while still sustaining the job to an adequate standard.

I am definitely of this category. Its all so meaningless. We have not evolved to gain satisfaction and fulfilment plugging away at computers/clearing the inbox daily.

That kind of thing is hellish, I’d had enough of that by maternity leave. I don’t know if you are ft/pt or what field you work in, but is there any chance you could go self employed with your skill set?

Agree that it's a change of job feeling for those nowhere near retirement. I spent 20 years in the corporate world and aged 40 had a complete career change and it made all the difference. Life is too short to spend years being in a job/career you hate.

I feel you op. The only reason I stay working for the company I do is because my boss is equally as 'can't be arsed' as me.

He's supposed to set me objectives, but he doesn't and we cobble together responses at year end. He signs off my CBT courses and my 121's consist of installing about holidays. He lets me sort my own diary out and as long as my customers are happy he leave me to it.

I couldn't bare to have to work in a company that expects me to push the envelope, think outside the box or exceed expectations

Could you change the way you make money?
Freelance? Self employed?

I am 62- am a sole trader and run a small business I run from home, I enjoy what I do, it generates a good profit, flexible hours and allows me to attend a yoga class every morning and enough free time for other pursuits. I have no plans to stop earning.

Accept it, unless plan b, I left work at 59 health reasons, not really my choice, I coped and I could.

I’m 58 and I hear you. I feel like there’s a lot of us out there gradually doing a slow fade towards retirement.

I stepped back from being a manager and am now just a team member. I just want to get on with my job, be polite and pleasant to my colleagues and go home. I don’t want to write paragraphs of personal goals and what motivates me to build my personal brand.

My company was taken over last year by a huge multinational and it’s all buzzwords, enthusiastic jargon and every week a new cause to celebrate. I don’t care. Let me crack on with what I’m doing and leave me in peace.

God, me too!
I started reducing my hours as soon as I could. Figured I could get by only working 2 nights a week and have done that most of my working life!😊
(doesnt mean Im not looking forward to 60 though and early retirement).😄

I retired at 50. Best thing I ever did. I do a few paid things, but they are on my terms. Why work yourself to the bone for someone else if you don't have to?

I was like this a few years ago. Over 30yrs working for a huge corporate and by the end it was all about bloody performance management, objectives and KPIs and I was done with it. Fortunately for me I was able to take voluntary redundancy during Covid and I got a decent payoff.

I thought that was it for me but six months later I took a role with a very small company doing something completely different and I became alive again. It's worth seeing whether a job change would make things better rather than giving up entirely.

I did have to give up the other job after 2 years to become a full time carer to my terminally ill husband. Still several years short of my state pension (I'm 60) I've decided to draw my private pension instead. It gives me enough to pay all my bills, and my mortgage got paid off with the life insurance. It won't last forever though, which is a concern, as the state pension isn't great..

Why don't you start looking at doing something else?

Work should be fulfilling not just something to pay the bills.

You're not too old to retrain. Plenty of people carry on self employed part time into their 60s and even 70s doing something they love.

Look at all the actors, working till they're 90!

I've friends who trained as counsellors when they were 60, and a counselling friend who worked till she was 80.

Presumably you're in the public sector that means you can retire at 60, or in the private sector where you can access your pension but not the full amount.

How will you support yourself if you retire at 60?

You could have another 30 years of life- can you fill that constructively?

These 30-40 year olds saying they feel that way. That's a change jobs feeling not a 'I'm completely done with work now' feeling.

I did change jobs - not only can I still not be bothered, but the new job is worse in many ways and I really regret leaving. I’m still fed up but the option of coasting has gone. And I feel so worn down by the whole drama of deciding to leave a job that was comfortable but no longer challenging and discovering what a bad decision that was, that I have no energy or confidence to go through it all again. No, I’m just totally fed up with my career / profession / routine.

I’m in my 30s and feel the same….theres no hope for me is there?! 😂😂

I hear you. I have started a new job, colleague (only one doing same role) goes into the office from 0800 - 1800 out of choice and has only taken two days annual leave this year. Makes me look bad but also I’m questioning the role.

Can you change roles?

I am assuming you can afford to retire at 60, that's not the point of your thread in any case.

I had the conversation with my line manager, having a similar time of my working career remaining. Made it clear I intend to do my job professionally and reliably for the remaining time, will ensure that knowledge is passed on to whoever takes my responsibilities. Perhaps think about the same.