If you have a stressful job, why do you do it?

[rickyrickygrimes]

I was speaking with my sister tonight. She definitely has a stressful job. Lots of difficult situations to deal with. Constant pressure from her superiors. And dealing with a lot of genuinely unhappy, angry, stressed, unwell people.

if you have a job like this, why do you do it?

Another vote for complex, high stakes and worthwhile. I love a bit of chaos and seem to have worked out a way to insulate myself from taking the pressure home at the end of the day. I care but not too much. Plus I'm now paid very well for what I do.

Money, autonomy, now too old to retrain

Because it’s:

• intellectually stimulating
• well-paid
• means I work with intelligent, interesting people (colleagues, adjacent advisors and clients)

Money but I'm not on a MN 3-figure salary. I can't not work though. Like a PP I suspect I have ADHD and get bored easily. Current job has got me at my limit though as my boss, I suspect, is paid around double what I am and is doing an awful job. I struggle with people paid ridiculous amounts and being shit at what they do.

On bad days it pays the bills but on good days I love my job.

Instinctively I was just going to say the money. Another single income household here and I’m saving like mad for a hopefully reasonable retirement.

Reading these answers though a lot do also apply normally. It’s been particularly tricky at work recently but when it’s more settled I find it interesting, fulfilling, very smart colleagues. I also quite like being in on everything at the company I work at. Seeing close up how things are done at board level in a large company has been fascinating to me.

Just for a bit more cash really. I have done a very easy role for years to the point of extreme boredom.
I get paid reasonable amount more now but there is stress.
My kids are older and I can deal with that level now and I don't have to do much outside of work hours.
I do enjoy the buzz of pressure and the feeling that I am using my brain more.
I know I am not the person to have a waking at 3am type job stress unless I absolutely adored my job and it was worthwhile.
Yours sister may be moving onto better things through taking that job and can see career progression perhaps.

The "why am I not doing anything and just procrastinating for days" kind of stressed?

Not so much my current job which is an easy bore, but my previous one (ironically lesser paying and a lesser grade to what I am now) I got a lot of fulfilment from it, it was stressful because it mattered, I had an impact, I was well known. I guess it fed my ego really! I miss it. If I could go back to a similar role on the money I am now, I'd do it in a heartbeat, an easy job is just boring, but I'm mostly financially motivated these days.

I do a fairly stressful job. Not so much hours (Mon-Fri, 8-5-ish), but people often say ‘I couldn’t do your job’.

I’m often dealing with crisis situations and an extremely vulnerable client group, and I’m a senior manager, so the buck stops with me. I manage a lot of risk.

Ultimately , I do it because it has a strong social justice element to it, and I need that to motivate me. I also thrive on a busy, demanding role. I get incredibly bored and listless if I’m not under pressure.

(I have ADHD).

I do it because I’m ’making a difference’

It makes me feel good about myself too
I don’t even need the money.

Someone has too, I am sure being a surgeon is stressful but we need them

Another person with adhd and a low boredom threshold here. I thrive on a faster pace.

But also, my job enables me to make a significant difference to the lives of thousands of vulnerable people each year. It gives me a real sense of purpose, achievement and satisfaction. I would hate to do a job that I didn't care about - we spend so much of our lives at work!

I'm pretty good at switching off from the stress when I'm not at work though.

I was bored with my previous low stress job and wanted to do something useful with my time. I've learned it's basically impossible to achieve something really worthwhile without going through some stress and I'm trying to get better at harnessing it constructively rather than letting the constant pressure bring me down. It is hard, especially when the people I am trying to help not only think I'm doing a shit job but also that I'm deliberately choosing to not help them the way they want because I don't care. The pay is appalling. But I was just so immensely, soul crushingly bored before I took this on.

I tick a lot of ADHD boxes too, though I don't think I'll ever seek diagnosis. I've always seen it as a negative - the procrastination - so interesting to see other posters identify it as a reason they're good at what they do.

I enjoy my job ,but it is stressful
But the money is fab

The pay, why does anyone else go to work? 🤷‍♀️

To me, it would be far more stressful to be struggling along on NMW or benefits.

I get paid pretty well, but I'm certain I could get paid the same in a less stressful role.

People actually go to work for many reasons other than the money.

My job is very stressful. I'm a band 7 nurse, so I manage staff as well as patient care. I do my (stressful) job because I actually do love being a nurse, but also because at my age, I'm not going to easily find another job where I earn the same as I earn now. I don't want to to retrain, or work my way up in another field. I've been building up my pension for the last 20 years, and I have full annual leave entitlement, so it's easier to stay.

I’ve been trying to work out what exactly I find stressful about my new job, whether it’s just me not coping (perimenopause etc), or the job itself, and you’ve just nailed it with your second paragraph. Not so much people unsuited to their level of responsibility, but the rest of it. I’ve been considering going back to my old job but I was bored and felt like I was coasting (plus the pay was crap). But I can’t keep doing this.

Yes this.
The satisfaction I get at the end of a hard, stressful days work is amazing. I thrive off doing a difficult job well. I'd be so bored doing an easy unstressfull job.

This is exactly the same for me. Plus I get to help people and improve some lives.

Would you go for free though?

I’ve worked with weekly deadlines since 21 years old. My job changed in the summer and now it’s more project based so still deadlines but not weekly. It’s been really weird. I didn’t realise that not all jobs were constant stress. My new role has elements of stress but different. It’s so nice. If I’d thought about it it would be obvious but I was so in my niche career I just didn’t think about out and I loved my job.

i think I strive on stress though as I’m now doing a post grad uni qualification so haven’t fully gone for an easy life.

If I could afford to, yes.

As things stand, I do have to work in order to pay the bills, but if that was my only motivation, I would do something much less stressful.

Money, I’m good at it and I enjoy it. I can manage the stress.