Would you go for an easy no stress but boring job or a stressful but interesting job if pay was same?

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My current job is busy, constant interruptions with stuff that gets landed on me. I need to be super organsied, juggling lots of different things. You come into work and you won't know what the day will bring. Things get landed on you from management that means dropping everything. From a learning perspective it's been great. I need to be "on" all the time and have my phone email with me even when not at work just in case something happens but only a few times I've needed to do a bit of work when on leave / evenings etc.

Work takes alot of my head space / energy and I'm knackered by the time I come home. sometimes I wonder would it be better to just have an easy and boring job where I don't need to think or do anything and have more mental space for my family and myself. There's a job that's come up in another organisation which looks boring but no hassle. I know someone who works there in another department and she's said it's really chilled out and the managers seem nice etc and I'm wondering if I should go for it. It's actually even a bit more money than what I'm on now too.

Commuting etc is similar and there even looks like there might be scope for a few days long term home working too. But it wouldn't be something that would help me "grow" if you see what I mean. It would be very same-y but zero stress. It sounds like the complete opposite of what I'm doing right now. I'm in my 40s and not ambitious at all so I wouldn't see it as a step back or anything like that. I want to spend more time with my kids and have more energy to do things with my family and for myself. I sometimes feel I give the best of me to work and not for myself or my family.

Wwyd?

Absolutely go for the easier one. You have that experience under your belt now, so if you did want to step back into a job like you have now, it seems doable. Jobs like your current one sound exhausting.

If you have children, definitely the second one

I hate being bored at work. The day drags. What kind of stress are we talking - customer facing, emotional work, time pressure, difficult colleagues, etc? Can you delegate any of it or work smarter (not always possible?)

Low stress and see what I could do with the spare energy! There are often improvement projects you can suggest or ways to improve yourself or your own workflow etc.. I have had a low stress job for three years, it is fab, have been attending night classes due to having brain space.

Same here, my job is full on,don’t know what I will get from one day to the next, juggling 100 different things, have to drop whatever I’ve planned if the job demands something else of me that minute. It’s challenging, keeps my brain going, I love it.
But..
I’ve had enough as there is absolutely no recognition or appreciation so I’ve made the decision to leave it.
Same JD, but in a far more sedate environment with much less hassle & far less madness.
It’s just not sustainable and i need peace which I will never get in my current role.
Good luck with your decision, for me it was an easy decision, for those around me not so much, I’m getting pressure to reconsider a lot, but it’s what’s right for me.

Bluewavescrashing exactly, Im thinking what if it's too boring and my brain just dies! I do like variety and learning new things and I know I won't get that here.
There's no chance of delegation I'm afraid. There's only 3 of us and we help each other out when someone else needs help but we are all busy supporting our own directors.

ChanceChanceChance yes! I so would love to do some fun evening class like pottery or painting or something for such a long time. But I just don't have the energy right now.

crosser62 congratulations on the new job. I hope it works out for you. It's always daunting starting a new job, you just don't know if it's the right decision until later.

No stress for me
Why have stress when it can be avoided with no loss to your life financially

I'd take the less stressed job and enjoy having a life outside of work.

Think about how many days you've been exhausted. How many evenings and hours during annual leave you have given up. And for what?

If you need to feel busy to exist, something isn't right. If you need work to stop you from being bored, you're work life balance is way off kilter.

The fact you're scared to take your foot off the pedal is a concern.

Take the other job and enjoy a normal pace of life. Enjoy having the energy to find and do things that make life more pleasurable.

I just have - similar work but less pressures. I’m a lawyer and having had a child and returning from mat leave the move made sense for practical reasons.

Go for the new job, the current role although having many positives is having a negative effect on your health and your family. Your current role isn't likely to get easier whereas a new position may being new, bring opportunities particularly if you breeze through it.

I think there’s a difference between stress and pressure.

With the more challenging job:

• do you look forward to starting every morning or feel awful every Sunday night?
• do you worry about things when not at work, like at weekends or evenings?
• does the day fly by?

The thing is, some pressure is actually very healthy. In a more boring relaxed job, the day can go by extremely slowly and it ends up being a real drag.

To earn money in a role where the days fly by and you can switch off when not at work - to me, that’s great and a perfect level of ‘stress’/pressure

Also note that some relaxing ‘boring’ jobs are not actually boring when you are doing them. The urge to do a good job and to learn as much as possible and contribute to your work life in other ways, can provide some ‘intellectual fibre’ and make it more challenging.

I did it ten years ago (not through choice, I got made redundant). Life is so much better without the pressure, which was starting to make me ill. There are slow days but it gives me time to step outside the routine work and tackle projects that make a long term difference which is something I wasn't able to do in my old job which was very reactive. I can also spend time really getting to know the whole business not just my bit. Also, because its low pressure its very flexible which suits family commitments and means I don't mind keeping an eye on email on my day off in return.

less stress yes..But there is nothing worse than being bored shitless.

Too little stress is as bad as too much.

It really depends on your personality though. I'd rather be stressed and have the day fly by, than bored and have it drag.

I'd go for the easy job in a heartbeat. Ten years ago I suspect I'd have gone for the interesting/stressful one. It's very personal and depends on your current circumstances IMO.

I think the type of job you do depends on you as a person and your needs. If you want more energy for your kids, then a more sedate pace might be what you need for a while. Personally, I like to be stretched and stimulated.

I was an accountant for a few years. Paid well, comfortable desk job, sat looking at spreadsheets all day, 9-5. I’m naturally good at maths and a bit of a spreadsheet geek, so the work was straightforward.

But my word, it was dull.

I took a pay cut to retrain as a teacher. I LOVE my job so much but it’s harder. The pay is less, but it’s comfortable enough. I’m at school 7:30-17:30 most days and do bits of work at home (I’m child free) It’s emotionally draining at times, and I can lose a lot of sleep thinking about different children, but honestly, it suits me so much better. I love the pace and the challenge. I love hanging out with enthusiastic people all day.

Think about what lifestyle suits you best and what you feel you need right now.

On my first day a senior executive advised me “it’s like the devils wears Prada in here” . She wasn’t wrong and I handed in my notice two months later. I did not want to be married to an all consuming career and ‘get ahead’. No thanks!

Boredom can become a kind of stress over time. I had a well paid job once where there was little to do - at first it was fun mucking about all day, over time it became more and more stressful trying to fill my time, look busy, pure presenteeism. I tried to suggest useful things I could do, or asked for work and pissed people off whose work it turned out I was proposing to do, or showed up more senior people who weren't doing much either. So then there were people annoyed with me and I was seen as a bit of a troublemaker. It was awful.

I now always go for the busy job as long as the people are nice. Even the busiest most stressful job is preferable if you're working with people you like and respect.

If you like your colleagues and you're not taking work home with you, stay.

If you have other things that need headspace, go.

Go for the easier one!
I got made redundant from a very stressful job, not covid related, all good, got a nice package and took the opportunity to take a less stressful job.
New job advertised as admin but in the field that I have always worked in.
New employers must have been rubbing their hands with glee when I applied.
So now they are paying me an admin wage but giving me tasks suited to my old role due to my experience, so basically I'm doing a higher level role but payed an admin wage
I'm looking for another new job, the stress is not worth it

People are saying you'll have lots of energy if you take the boring but unstressful job but in my experience there's nothing that leaves you feeling more lethargic and unmotivated than having been bored all day. I definitely find that the more I do the more I want to and can do.

If you have kids, then definitely the easier job! I am actually due to move from a stressful job to an easier job very soon. I cannot wait! I was like you, I enjoyed being busy. But not all of the time. And it's just too much with school runs, pick ups etc. It went really quiet with Covid and I realised how much happier I was chilled out and relaxed. One of my colleagues has what I'd consider an unhealthy addiction to their work and being busy. Unfortunately, as an outsider looking in, it's obvious it's had an impact on both their health and family life. I just think life if far too short for it all.

You can always try it and if you don't like it, move back into something faster paced.