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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the point of work is to do the least to get the most money, to enjoy other areas of your life

134 replies

JeffsanArsehole · 29/10/2015 18:25

Even if you love your job (like I do)

Surely for most people in jobs they love/enjoy want to get enough money to live/have a family/have hobbies ?

And for the vast majority of folk in jobs they don't love and are paid poorly it applies even more?

Where did this idea come from that we should be grateful to work 50/60/70 hours a week for crap money just to feed our children and scrape through come from?

So even though I love my job and it's well paid I don't want to spend more than 40 hours doing it. As I like other things even more.

OP posts:
Oysterbabe · 30/10/2015 05:53

I think she means do the least amount of hours but still working hard while at work.
That's what I do anyway.

notquiteruralbliss · 30/10/2015 06:07

I think it depends. I work in IT and choose to contract because it is the most efficient way to work in terms of time spent at work / financial reward. However, if I had to choose between a boring, 9 to 5 job and one I enjoyed that was higher pressure / longer hours for the same £ I would always take the 2nd job. I don't live to work but do expect to do something I enjoy and am good at.

SheGotAllDaMoves · 30/10/2015 06:10

Working to live sounds quite sad.

Like proper life gets put on hold several hours a daySad.

icklekid · 30/10/2015 06:19

I don't let work take over (despite how tempting it is as a teacher ) especially now part time with ds to think about. However I am ambitious and haven't let it stop me climbing and getting promotions etc. For me doing a good job is now about more than just ensuring children in my class do well but children across the whole school-they all deserve the best education and opportunities we can give them. This isn't the easy option but my job is definitely not just to earn money!

OllyBJolly · 30/10/2015 06:55

I get so much joy from my work - it's a real privilege to do what I do and I believe I'm very lucky. I sometimes wish there were more hours in the day/days in the week so I could pack more in

lunar1 · 30/10/2015 07:14

Dh lives to work, he loves his job. I knew this when we met. It's needed in his profession though. He has time for me and the boys. He does lots extra for no extra pay, it is recognised though, his colleague basically works to rule and is poorly thought of because of it. The staff all dislike him, but they do go home with the same pay. The colleague would struggle to get another job due to his work ethic.

HerRoyalNotness · 30/10/2015 07:18

I'm happy to work my 40hrs and leave the job at the door. I was paid very well, enough to support us, without the stress. Flexibility to take time off for sports days etc..

DH on the other hand, loves his job and can't give anything less than 100% of himself to it. He admitted his job was his hobby also, which I feel is rather sad. No friends, no hobbies, no enjoyment outside of the office.

I guess some people are wired like that, I'm glad I'm not

vdbfamily · 30/10/2015 07:35

My personal opinion is that we should all work the hours we need to to pay the bills and the rest of our week should be spent putting time back into society by volunteering and supporting others less fortunate than us. Just think how much better the world would be? I went to a lecture years ago given by a couple who were both doctors and both worked a couple of days a week and then used their skills for non paid activities the other days. I have always tried to live like that. However....the other side to that is that some jobs need a certain amount of time invested in them to do them well. Managing a team of people through a period of immense change at work is something that I discovered recently is impossible to do if you are not around enough. I took on a secondment to manage setting up a new team which involved merging 3 existing teams (across 2 NHS trusts) and was only working 19 hours a week, I found I needed to be in most days to support the team and advise re the changes and my hours have just been increased to 30. So...currently I am earning more than I need to (and going against the principle I have tried to live my life by) in order to fulfil another worthy principle( that I wish to do my job to the best of my ability and do it well)
Fortunately most of the time I love my job and in doing my job I am already helping very vulnerable members of society so I can live with my change of principles!!

MissDuke · 30/10/2015 07:42

It is complicated though, I work in a hospital and a certain part is chronically short staffed so there are constant requests to work extra hours. It is very hard to say no when you know the place is dangerously under-staffed. My intention is to get a part time post and work extra hours when I can rather than every week, but it is difficult to not feel pressured to work more than you want to.

madmomma · 30/10/2015 07:47

I think for most people Yanbu, but some very lucky people love their work so much that they look forward to it and happily work all the hours god sends. My Dad was like that and he always said he felt lucky to have work he loved so much. Me, I've always felt the opposite and am a clockwatcher and underachiever. My life is for my family and home. But it definitely takes all sorts, and we'd be pretty stuck with only one kind or the other!

Stanky · 30/10/2015 08:11

Shegotalldamoves** That's how I feel with my job. I need the money, so I have to put my "life" on hold whilst I go and earn it. I switch off at work, and go into auto pilot. It's a change from home though.

Trills · 30/10/2015 08:21

I think your post is quite badly written.

People are agreeing with it by interpreting it to mean a thing that they agree with, but without clarification we can't be sure that they are all agreeing with the same thing.

irregularegular · 30/10/2015 08:38

You did say "do the least" in your title, which sounded the same as "work as little as possible" to me. And you have been quite clear that your primary motive is to earn money (maximise how much you earn subject to still seeing enough of your family)

That's fine, but that's not how everyone thinks - as this thread indicates.

StealthPolarBear · 30/10/2015 08:45

Do people feel this way about any voluntary work they do? I get paid for my work but I hope it's helping people and I class additional hours as voluntary. If I did my job in 37 hours then did an extra ten hours volunteering to hear children read in a school or dog walking at a dogs home no one would think anything of it.

irregularegular · 30/10/2015 08:46

That's a great principal vdb, though perhaps not one most people are not going to live by.

Having said that, if you are in a very high earning position (but your skills are not especially useful for voluntary work) then you are probably going to help society more by working full time but giving half your salary away in a considered fashion rather than giving hours of your time.

SheGotAllDaMoves · 30/10/2015 08:50

stanky that is a shame Sad.

Work is part and parcel of my life and brings me great joy and many chalkenges.

I don't need the money; I do it because I want to.

StealthPolarBear · 30/10/2015 08:50

Ooh irregular people won't like that!!

mintscoop · 30/10/2015 08:57

I would have agreed a few years ago but I'm luckily in a position where I don't need to work for money, and in a way that's pushed me to find a career that I find interesting for its own sake. I did spend a decade bumming around and just enjoying not working but eventually I got bored and retrained for a more challenging role. It pays a decent amount but I could stop working tomorrow and have enough money for a comfortable life.

I did some voluntary work during my non-working years and it was fun but tbh I got frustrated with a lot of the waste that went on and internal backbiting.

PuppyMonkey · 30/10/2015 08:58

I don't do the least, I do the most I can - but I leave on time. I'm sure in my last job a lot of my colleagues considered me a clock watcher - they often stayed late for no extra pay. Thing is, I'm so well organised, I did all my work within my allotted hours.

I know a lot if others who aren't organised and need to stay late - so they look like they're putting in extra hours when in fact, they're just not that good at doing the job.

Self employed now, so choose my own hours. But I do the most I can in as little time as I can.

Deliaskis · 30/10/2015 09:02

I think some people are interpreting 'do the least' as being lazy, feckless or half-hearted about work, I.e. not doing a good job. I didn't read it like that, I kind of read it as balancing the amount you sacrifice for the optimum gain. A bit like dosing medicines, where you want to give the patient the smallest dose that results in the best outcome.

This got me thinking about natural inclination, and I suppose whether their are any other beings/animals etc. That would choose to spend more effort than necessary, just for the challenge. Like if a creature eats a fruit off a tree, will it ever choose to reach for the further away ones, just for the challenge, or will it always pick the easiest available? I suspect always the easiest, but I don't know if there are any examples where this is not the case... ants? Bees? (Not including play in this as that has a different social purpose) . Anyway, I have no idea and am waffling now, but interesting thread.

Scremersford · 30/10/2015 09:04

vdbfamily My personal opinion is that we should all work the hours we need to to pay the bills and the rest of our week should be spent putting time back into society by volunteering and supporting others less fortunate than us. Just think how much better the world would be?

I'm not sure I'd want to live in such a smug, bossy world actually, where people who respond to different stimuli are ignored or derided for not being goody goody enough. I want to live in a varied world where people have time to do hobbies or things for themselves.

OP, I don't think you can really get away with what you describe these days. Probably in the past you could simply turn up at your job more easily, go through the motions and leave at the official time. Now, with constant performance in many reviews, a big part of many jobs is being seen to be ultra keen, doing extra hours willingly, etc.. Even then, if you don't create the right impression, you still risk being let go in some fields.

Deliaskis · 30/10/2015 09:12

To follow on from my post, I suppose the amount people feel they are sacrificing depends on whether they get more out of their work than just money, I.e. those who are very fulfilled in their work don't feel that they are sacrificing much at all. I feel a bit like this, in that I love my job and would always do some work, but I suppose would like to do slightly less, or have a bit more flexibility in e.g. taking an afternoon off because the weather is nice etc.

JenniferYellowHat1980 · 30/10/2015 09:13

Working to live sounds quite sad.

Like proper life gets put on hold several hours a day.

Well this is how it is for me. Real life would be getting a doable job done while enjoying respectful relationships with the people I work with / for; having time to look after my children by being available for them and cooking; looking after my own health by having the time to exercise ...

As it is, as a secondary teacher, I can never get the job done in the minute detail expected so never feel like I've achieved more than the bare minimum; I have impossible targets to meet which don't take into account the circumstances and motivation of the students in front of me and I'm spoken to like shit on a shot with depressing frequency.

I like the pay but I don't enjoy my job any more. I want to leave but I'm struggling to find a way. I am definitely working to live.

JenniferYellowHat1980 · 30/10/2015 09:14

Shoe

Excitedtoday · 30/10/2015 09:21

YANBU at all.

My old boss used to work over 100 hours a week regularly and would still be emailing whilst on holiday. Last year he retired but took an honorary position meaning he was able to do bits and pieces. Most people who do this give the odd lecture, carry on one or two small projects. He, however, has cut his hours down to full time, still has many plated spinning and still jets off around the world to meetings.

I find it really sad to be honest.

For me, I want to do the minimum amount of work possible for the next 25 years, save up as much money as possible and then retire and never ever look back. I love my job.