It's normal to be sick of work by age 40!?

[Curlewwoohoo]

Judging by most of my friends / colleagues, everyone my age seems to be sick of work! Some women say they got their mojo back in their 50s. Some say they didn't! It's a long slog through to retirement... Or am I just mixing with a bunch of miseries and need to pull my socks up?!

I know a lot of friends without children who took lengthy sabbaticals /changed direction when they hit their 40s, having previously been very career focused.

I've always focussed more on jobs I enjoy than earning lots of money, so although I do earn well I am in a career that is genuinely right for me.

I'm 31 and I'm sick of work!

I’m 29 and sick of work!

It is not so much working that I resent, it is the poor management, backstabbing colleagues, the lack of flexibility (too many employers still think that the only way of working is being stuck to an office desk all day 5 days a week) and generally being treated like a brainless commodity rather than a valuable asset.

The sector I work in has got worse and worse over the years and I can't wait to get out of my current job for something new.

I think as you mature you realise that too many employers don't care about their staff and will do everything to exploit them and their good will.

There are more important things in life than wasting your physical and mental health for a boss that doesn't value you and work-life balance is really important.

My current employer has had the most ridiculous staff turnover for the past two years because salaries are no longer competitive, they don't embrace flexible/remote working and there is no effort made to develop staff.

So we have a cross-section of the population being not motivated, doing less that they are capable of, some admitting that they are pushing the boundary of acceptability. Others longing for retirement. Small wonder that UK productivity is so low leading to low growth and shortage of money to fix roads, schools, NHS etc.
Whilst others here are celebrating their successes and starting new venture or careers. What caused the difference? Backgrounds are same, education, social circles, very similar.
What went right for some of us. If the external environment is similar is it within us?

Dont we have some of the longest working hours in Europe? Possibly a correlation there with sizable population cross section being fed up and low productivity.

The management BS doesn't help. In fact some of the most seemingly cheerful workers I've met were in very physical jobs where the conditions may be difficult but there isn't as much scope for management to stick their beaks in.

'@Phoebefail · Today 11:36
So we have a cross-section of the population being not motivated, doing less that they are capable of, some admitting that they are pushing the boundary of acceptability. Others longing for retirement. Small wonder that UK productivity is so low leading to low growth and shortage of money to fix roads, schools, NHS etc.
Whilst others here are celebrating their successes and starting new venture or careers. What caused the difference? Backgrounds are same, education, social circles, very similar.
What went right for some of us. If the external environment is similar is it within us?'

Some very obvious reasons:

• long hours culture although this is actually counterproductive
• lack of flexibility from employers when it come to WFH, part-time work and jobshare
• in many jobs pay has not kept with the cost of living
• toxic work environments (bullying)
• bad managers promoted beyond their capacity and who just seem to make jobs more difficult rather than anything else
• employers not willing to train and develop their staff
• lack of respect for employees' personal lives with people expected to respond to emails and work calls outside their contracted hours
• stress: many people have to put up with appalling behaviour from the general public these days...

Basically if you have a supportive employer who allows you to work flexibly and value your input you probably are more likely to enjoy what you do but many employers are not like that.

I was sick of work at 18 🤣

I really like mine but am late 50s and did have a bad one in my 40s, fortunately I got made redundant and haven't looked back, no plans to retire any time soon and neither has DH who is close in age to me. Nome of my friends have mentioned any plans to retire early either, they still all seem to enjoy their work. However I am heading into the caring for elderly parents zone as are many of my friends, and that makes life a lot harder.

I like my job, but the thought of working for another 16 years till state pension fills me with dread.

I think there’s something in the air just now regards how people feel about work. I’ve always enjoyed working and got a lot of meaning/satisfaction from my job. On paper the job and company I’m in just now are the best they’ve ever been but I’m so thoroughly fed up of working and have zero motivation, I am plodding through each working day and have no idea why things have changed so much.

I’m mid-40s so put it down to having worked full pelt for decades and coming to a natural point of being halfway through my working life of questioning things but in the past couple of weeks I’ve spoken to a few people who range in age from late 20s to mid-50s and they were all saying the same - getting no joy from their work, starting to actively hate it and can’t imagine another job they’d rather do. Feels like work has changed somehow and people are exhausted / disconnecting from it.

In the NHS the caseloads keep going up faster than ever. New referrals come in thick and fast and we are discharging fewer and fewer patients reflecting increasingly long term chronic conditions. Patients’ expectations are greater than ever but whilst treatments can manage most symptoms many are still left feeling not great for a lot of the time. As a practitioner it does feel relentless especially when we have other jobs and responsibilities dumped onto us as I mentioned before.

When I started in the NHS 30+ years ago we had full admin support, no emails, IT issues, weekend on calls to worry about and in a lot of ways work seemed much more manageable. Nowadays we have constant performance/ outcome improvement tracking initiatives, audits etc etc which pulls you every which way and is frankly exhausting.

Not normal in my experience. I’m in my 40s and adore my job!

Just had this thought today. I'm early 40s and was in a meeting with everyone more senior and older than me. Some obv working outside hours because of their seniority. I wondered where each of them would rather be than in this meeting. Maybe with their kids? At least two don't even have to work anymore because our company made them wealthy. I just couldn't get my head around how they are still here. One is around 50 but I'm sure could quit.

I'm tired of objective setting, performance ratings and constant reinvention of the wheel.

For the past year I have been plotting my retirement. I could retire comfortably in my late 50s, not needing the state pension. I don't want to achieve any more on the career ladder. But I feel trapped. If i leave this company now and thus won't be able to hold onto my shares and good salary I may have to work until 67. Or probably 70 by that time. This is a grim prospect and I really don't want to work that long.

No idea what to do.

There are so many depending factors. Wage level, responsibilities, bosses, co-workers, clients / customers.

It's been a rough few years. Brexit and pandemic. People are feeling a bit bruised. At the same time, work just doesn't pay. Wages are shit. I earnt £22k doing a fairly mundane admin job in 1999. If wages had kept pace with inflation that type of job would pay £40,857.27 now, according to the Bank of England inflation calculator. As we all know, basic admin jobs today don't pay anything near that. It's the same across the board : we're all still working but our labour is worth less, buys us less, affords us less long term security. Damn right that's dispiriting. At the same time we've got shit roads, shit housing, shit healthcare, shit public transport. And none of us are paid enough. It feels like a struggle, because it is.

I switched careers seven years ago in my late forties and did have a renewed enthusiasm for work for a while for some years but now am 56 and just counting down until I can retire hopefully in about 6/7 years.

I think for many of us in our 40s we get to a level of seniority where we DO less and have to manage more, or get sucked into office politics bullshit.
The. add in redundancy rounds, takeovers, budget cuts, headcount reductions, below inflation salary rises, contract negotiations that chip away at benefits, hideous bought in Software packages like Concur that make claiming for money you’ve ALREADY SPENT DOING YOUR JOB impossible… and it’s no wonder were all just DONE with it

Yes I think that’s why I gave in and had a baby at 41 just to have a year off and go to 4 days.

Exactly this. I can do my job in my sleep, but also start to overthink it just because I know it so well and can't sometimes see what's good enough and what's perfectionism.

I'm just awaiting another below inflation pay rise. And although I don't desperately need the money and my company treats us better than most I'm just tired of how businesses operate and how they are going to justify this. All whilst trying to increase office attendance.

COVID and WFH changed everything for me. I understood what I wanted from life. I want money and freedom. But I 'only' have money and I don't know how to get both.

I wonder how much money you need.

Seriously I've been thinking about this. I've got a baseline figure in my head but it's probably inaccurate and concocted according to what I earn. When I actually think about what i absolutely have to spend money on ie rent (am a social housing tenant), council tax, bills, food, the real figure is probably less.

At age 50 I've already got nice things in my home, white goods, furniture etc, a car. I've got savings, a bit of pension, I'm set up how I want to be in practical terms.

I do some work "on the side" but it's very much on the side because between full time work and family there isn't space for much else. But this on the side work, the hourly rate is pretty high, I enjoy it, I get excellent feedback about it, it's something I could potentially keep doing for another 20 years, although maybe not at full tilt.

I'm seriously thinking about putting my energies into it. It would certainly give me freedom.

Do you have anything similar? Or, could you go part time? Honestly, what do you actually need to live on? Would part time cover it?

I don’t think you feel like that in the right job. I‘m your age and love the work I do. In the evenings I occasionally think about what I’m going to do the next day and look forward to it.