I get paid a lot of money for doing very little

[Thrilley]

I'm not proud at all, I'm a bit bored, but also recognise I have it pretty good.

I lead a small operations team, 3 people including me. I took the job mostly because it paid the same as my old job, but for only 3 days pw, whereas before I was FT.

Partly, I have little to do becuase my no2 is very good and very keen to take on new work. I'm enjoying developing her and there's no doubt she's doing some work that should be mine. She seems happy with this/glad of the training though. Regardless, I think our team of 2.6 people is probably 1 too many, the others aren't over worked either.

However, no one outside the team seems to have noticed, no one seems to care about cost, everyone is very happy with the service we deliver and none of us is likely to easily find similar work for similar money

So, I keep quiet....? It doesn't seem quite ethical, but neither does volunteering one of our jobs!

I am financially independent, and hardly work at all, unless I choose to. What strikes me is how many people on MN need to wave their cocks around about it.

An acquaintance of mine earns thousands each month painting abstract designs at her own pace.

You strike me as a mini Hitler if I am honest. Perhaps working class done good, as they say. Slightly peeved and overly concerned about one-upmanship.
Often find this heady combination creates a rather toxic attitude to 'work', whatever the pay.

Then again, I don't feel the urge to lord it over my perceived subordinates, so perhaps that's why I don't have high blood pressure?

Title of post is also MN peak wank.

"I am enjoying developing her" 🤢

Why are you letting her do your work too??
Even if she is ‘keen & Happy’ to do it

sounds good

Me too OP.

I'm a manager with no direct reports, I work 100% remotely. I get paid just shy off £100k.
There's work to do, but my part can only happen after other people do their part (approvals, regulations, licences etc) so I spend a lot of time just waiting for that to come through.

It's meant I do my FT job in PT hours, save on childcare 2 days a week and was able to start a side hustle earlier this year doing quite well.

My manager got promoted and was previously doing my job, so he "remembers how busy it was". I go along with it, but it's not. What no one talks about is that people work at different rates and efficiencies, and bring something different to the department. He would have a whole 1 hour meeting trying to coax information and decisions from higher up , I'd take 15 mins to ask up front - are we doing this or not.

Differrent ways of working which means I have much more time. And no risk of any redundancies because the manager "remembers how busy it was" when he did it... Okay. 😳

I'm sure she would and that's OK. She applied for my job actually, and we're busy filling the gap in her CV that meant she didn't get it.

Becuase that's part of what any good manager does - developing those who come behind them. Or should I be keeping her in her place and not givng any opportunity to learn and develop?

I've had staff who don't want the oppotunities and would object to being asked to do anything outside their pay grade, and that's their choice, but they're always people who aren't going anywhere.

As I've said the responsibility remains with me, which means if she gets it wrong (or fails to do it) it's still my problem, and that she feels supported to have a go.

Yes, I'm good at this too. I went out to three meetings in 2 days this week. I achieved what I needed to in 30 mins each, including some chat for relationship building. My boss would have been in each for at least an hour and a half.

I'm in a similar boat but it's been 20+ years in my profession to get here. I act more as a consultant so advising other colleagues and delegating work out. They would be stuck without me as I work in quite a niche part of the business but on a day to day basis I don't have a heavy workload at all.

I'm paid well but could demand more elsewhere in the same field. But I'm happy with the flexibility and work life balance I have which feels more important at this stage of my life.

To be fair some people are just useless. My first job was a receptionist and I replaced two full time receptionists, one who had retired and worked for the company for years and was basically seen as God. After about a month once I knew what I was doing I had done all the work by 10am that it used to take the both of them to do! They had a part time person come in to cover my lunch and do some typing (I didn't type). We basically replaced 80hrs, with about 15hrs a week. The place was spotless too and people couldn't believe they got their mail by 8am when before they wouldn't get it until after lunch. I have no idea what those two other people wasted their time on

Snap although not in education. Working lots of extra hours with no overtime, working 12 days on the trot, including overnight at weekends. I’m now very experienced and that’s what is being rewarded so if I an less busy one day I don’t panic.

OP is that £70k full time salary but you get 0.6 of that? Or your 0.6 post earns you 70k?

There are probably quite a few jobs where a person who is good at it won't need to work hard at it and their employers are fine with that. What an employer cares about is that the job gets done, and if the shit hits the fan it will be dealt with competently. They could pay less for someone less experienced, and some will choose to do that, but they risk the employee being overwhelmed or missing parts of the job and not being able to cope with the shit meeting fan situation.

I used to do statistical analysis and for a couple of years I worked for a company that only had enough work to occupy about 40% of a full-time job except for a few weeks of the year when it was busier, but it was cheaper and more accurate for them to employ me full-time than to send it out to an agency or have a part-timer and then have a panic at the busy times. I left because I was bored and got a more interesting job.

It's not 2021 anymore, companies aren't hiring anyone with a pulse. In fact they're still correcting the over hiring of that period. Far better to get an adult apprenticeship or something like code first girls.
Or to break into a non-technical role like product management, service management, etc.

Also OP I wouldn't worry. As PP said you're delivering as expected. you shouldn't feel guilty for being good at your job.

Also so many people are terrible at meetings. No agenda, no control of the discussion, they/others speak in such a long-winded way, get sidetracked, etc etc. I've met people whose entire jobs revolved around creating the need for and attending meetings... They could go around in circles for months with zero to show by the end of it.

Your advice is to lie and say they need another person, even though OP is underemployed?

With that attitude I hope at least that you're not public sector.

OP I wouldn't worry about it, as you seem to be winding down to retirement anyway.

I am grateful though to work somewhere that everyone, at all levels, pitches in and works hard.

I think you need a change of attitude, OP. I think that I work in a similar sort of role to you where, basically, my job is to make things run smoothly. If I do a good job then it appears simple and as if it runs itself. I try to blow my own trumpet every now & then ... because if you don't then who will!?
You need to make others aware of the value you add. You have justified yourself here, after criticism. It might be an idea to 'justify' / advertise yourself at work to pre-empt any similar thoughts there. Or occasionally drop the ball (on purpose!) just so they appreciate you the rest of the time, on a "you never know what you've got til it's gone" basis.

I blow my team's trumpet, which has the same effect without bragging about myself iyswim and also endearing me to the team. When "my" work goes well, I'm more than happy to say, thanks but really it was all down to No2.

💪Good to hear. I shouldn't have underestimated you!

I don’t think I do, but - like many women - I have major imposter syndrome. I find my job very very easy, but that might be because I’m good at it. I honestly don’t know.

The organisations I work for seem happy, though. And often employ me multiple times, so I guess they think I provide value for money. Which is what matters, I suppose.

I'd keep quiet and not worry. But also anticipate your no.2 person could leave and you'd then have to pick up more work. My job is based around external deadlines, so it can be very busy but then have very quiet periods. I just take advantage of the quiet periods!

I find my job very very easy, but that might be because I’m good at it. I honestly don’t know.

I’m the same. I seem to be able to do same amount of work as others in half the time and often to a better standard.