If you earn more than £30k how much responsibility / pressure do you have on your shoulders?

[1person100names]

If you have a lot of responsibility/ pressure do you think it is worth the wage? Would you prefer to take a pay cut and have less stress on your shoulders?

Pondering and following a discussion with my sister this evening!

To be fair I will provide my own experience!

I dont live in London and earn £40k, I would consider this to be a good earning outside of L but I am aware there are many higher earners on here!

To answer my own question, I have a considerable amount of responsibility, I'm in a public health role and I have to make decisions that can affect peoples welfare/ lives (with assistance from my team). I report to very senior members in the organisation. I work unsociable hours, including weekends and night shifts. I enjoy my job but its exhausting, I know i am capable of a lot and as cheesey as it sounds I am proud of the work that I do. Some days I consider stepping down but I know in reality I would miss the work I do. I am sure to some my wage isnt that high for the responsibility and hours I work! I guess its not just the wage, but I would say the combination of the satisfaction I obtain from my job makes it worth it!

Pondering really... sorry if this is a ramble, hope this post hasn't come across as a massive stealth boast, it wasn't meant that way I promise!

My husband earns £40k outside of London. No management responsibility or reporting to very senior colleagues. No work which is life altering or making big, difficult decisions. Works standard hours 8-4 five days a week with occasional paid overtime. He works in IT.

P.s. I worked as a teacher and it was far more stressful, longer hours, responsibility and accountability. Much lower salary (around 25k)

You could be describing my job, and I earn similar. I do sometimes wonder if it is worth the stress, but like you I get a fair bit of satisfaction from it. I would also struggle to take a pay cut, as my standard of living would have to drop.

Career changed from your type of role to tech, not London but quite expensive area. Company are great, good work-life balance. Pay including bonus is slightly less than you. Role is junior/grad level. But I guess your pension will be quite good?

I’m glad and lucky I changed career as this one much better suits my personality. I used to be v stressed and anxious. Family life is better too.

I earned £32 PA working in social care, it was high stress and I often worked well over my contracted hours. Previously I had considered it an Okish wage (certainly higher than I ever thought I’d earn). In the end I didn’t think it was worth it and now I do a lower pay and lower stress job. I’m
Much happier now but I am glad I have the option to return to the ok wage if I need.

I personally think jobs where there is a lot of responsibility for people’s welfare should be better paid. Annoys me that these jobs are so undervalued.

I imagine living in London makes a big difference though.

I'm Head of English and have, earned between £44k and £52k across two different schools. When being paid the higher wage, it was not uncommon to be in school 7.30 until 7 daily. I'd receive emails between 11pm-1am (sometimes during holidays) asking for data reports to be in by the following 7am. Ridiculous amounts of unnecessary paperwork. Staff in tears constantly, very challenging school, culture of staff bullying etc. It was horrendous. I quit, and started the 45k job in another school. Same role although less responsibility overall. Worked 8.30-4.30 on average (sometimes until 8 other times leaving school at 3.30), hardly took work home. To me, the money is not worth stress and working 80-90 hour weeks.

£47k (pro rata). Very little responsibility but a lot of trust and a huge group of people to produce work for (25k).

I earn over double the amount you put in your OP. I wouldn’t say my job is unbearably stressful. Sometimes it is busy and challenging, but my Manager is very supportive. I occasionally work late or on weekends but not often and don’t begrudge it. The good thing is, my work is interesting and my colleagues are nice. It isn’t relentless, we have a laugh in meetings sometimes even though there are lots of serious ones too. I am driven by money to some extent as I live in London and am the only wage earner in my family at the moment, but I wouldn’t stay in my role if it didn’t fulfil me or have lots of positives going for it. I was in a well paid job that I hated once and I took a big pay cut to move to a job I knew I would much prefer (that also had good career development opportunities). That turned out to be a really good decision as it paved the way to another better paid and equally interesting job further down the line. So, I guess my answer is I would probably keep looking for a well paid job that was also enjoyable that did allow for a bearable work life balance as they do exist.

I have big budgets (£10's of mil pa) and the decisions I make will effect other peoples lives - but it isn't stressful because I work in a culture that encourages us to ask for second opinions if we aren't sure about an aspect of the decision. I don't line manage, which I would find stressful.

£36k not loads of pressure really. I'm a planner. But I do it well ;)

I retrained for something more family friendly. Eventually it's a payrise but I miss the variety and challenge of my old career.
So unless you're moving for a positive reason I would advise not putting yourself out to pasture just yet! If you enjoy the challenge of your job and make a difference then great.
Perhaps there are ways of reducing the stress/impact like upskilling / delegating more to your team? Agreeing when you are contactable (if you are working out of hours etc).
My job now has no "homework" or extra task stuff though which is great.

On about £40k in London - in publishing, interim line managing two people (this may end when someone who's mat leave I was covering and was then furloughed comes back) and juggling quite a lot due to people being fuloughed. But not all that much pressure at the end of the day. No one's going to die if I get anything wrong and the vast majority of the time I can put my job behind me when I'm not working.

I'm a senior nurse, and yes, I have a lot of responsibility and pressure. Sometimes I feel nauseous or like I can't breath. I work really hard like hours extra work each day, and I constantly feel half a step from being involved in a serious incident where someone has come to harm despite genuinely trying my best.

I would obviously expect to be responsible for my own practice, and the practice of the junior staff in my team. I think the expectation for being responsible for the practice of colleagues who I have no control over (often the medics) is what makes me feel I'm going to be pushed over the edge.

Sometimes I think about going back down the grades, but thr reality is that my family needs me to stay in my job. I suppose I'd be bored to go back to some of my previous jobs which the level of experience I have.

I earn £32,500 for 32 hours a week (although I normally do more) and my job can be stressful at times, can feel like there is a lot of responsibility. I don't find it overwhelmingly stressful though and I have no team to manage although I do assign tasks to people and have ensure they are keeping on track. I sometimes have to work into the evening, but not too often, sometimes every day for a week then not for another few months.

I have previously done a lower paid job that I found much more stressful. I wasn't suited to that work though.

I would absolutely not take a pay cut to have less pressure. I genuinely think I'm good at my job and if anything I'd like to take on more responsibility, despite the extra pressure that would come with it.

Depends on the job.

I am paid well for doing book keeping. No stress, no problems, I work my set part time hours, and then don't give it a second thought until I go into the office again.

I earn a chunk more than that. There is loads of stress - millions of pounds and my own reputation resting on judgement calls on a daily basis. Plus a lot of responsibility for winning work and developing the team. I am always on - I work with people in lots of jurisdictions so I check my phone first thing in the morning and before I go to bed, as well as throughout the day. I deal with a few emails a day on holiday (except in Belize, where there was no cell coverage when I went a few years back).

I worked as a dental nurse on Harley street and eventually negotiated my wage to 30K, I'm now working in a dental hospital on 21K and a million times happier!

40k pa, pro rated. 10% of the company turnover is 'on my shoulders'

I should be paid more really. 🤣

Teacher £47000+ plus 13weeks holidays.
Have a reasonable sense of responsibility for my income, but not excessive.

37k as a middle manager in a college outside of London. Sometimes it’s insanely stressful other times not as much. The Covid situation has been totally shit though.

£36k FTE as a senior analyst within the NGO/charity sector. Minimal stress, pressure, leadership or responsibility. Space to explore my own research interests as well as completing the obligatory work. I've been at this level of responsibility/seniority for a while now and am considering just one more rung to climb. Lead analyst/analysis manager would suit me well from a pay vs. responsibility balance. But I wil stay within either the NGO/charity or public sectors. I'm not dipping my toes in the private sector again.

I work in healthcare, part time (17-18hrs per week) and earn over 30k. I used to earn far more working another 12 hours a week but I also owned the business so a lot of wfh on top of actual job I do. Selling the business and cutting my hours was the best thing I did. I’m now mid fifties and can retire at 60 on a decent pension but can work part time in the private sector and double my pension.
I’ve worked hard to be in this position and made a lot of sacrifices. I was able to work part time when DS was young but it has probabl6 impacted on my pension. DS has always come first though.

NHS management at 55k. It's incredibly stressful at times and incredibly rewarding at others. Managing surgeons is rather like herding cats at times. There are all kinds of wicked problems that just can't be resolved and every little thing to change or fix is tightly interwoven with a million other things, so every decision requires a whole lot of analysis around the dominoes that are bound to tumble. Everything I do is in service of patients, employees and the public yet I feel always a step removed. The on calls are alternately boring, stressful and frightening. I get paid for 37.5h and work 50 every week. I could earn twice as much doing a similarly demanding role in the private sector. I cant picture doing a different job.

£45k working for a contract caterer, outside of London. Ridiculously stressful having to deal with all facets of the business. Usually work 6 days a week, starting at 7am working anything to 2am.

Often wish I had a "normal" job but I don't really know if that exists??