Anyone in a job paying £50K+ working 40 h per week or less?

[notnearlythereyet]

Inspired by the work vs. life balance thread.

I have a Masters degree and five additional qualifications (all related to my profession and three of them postgraduate). I am on around £50 K and should be at a place in my career when I am reaping the benefits of my studies and 10 years of experience. Instead, I work 50-60 hours per week, suffer from work-related stress and anxiety and dream about retiring, although I love my profession and feel like I make a difference (full disclosure: I work in a school but work through around half of my holidays).

If you have a career related to your studies/experience, you are happy and have a good work-life balance (e.g. working 40 h/week) and earn £50K+, what is your job? I struggle to think of a career where you can earn a decent living and not be pushed to work more than 8h/day. I would like to advise my daughter and students on career choices that won’t ‘break’ them AND provide a good living, because I feel I failed to see the realities of the career path I chose.

Also-are you in a career that you feel ‘failed’ yyou in providing the work-life balance you hoped for, I would love to hear about it too.

I work in Communications and I earn just over £50k. I normally get in at 8.30 and leave at 4.30. Occasionally work additional hours, but not often. I'm well organised and get a lot done during the working day. I work with a lot of people who complain about the hours they work, but IMO, I'd they worked nor efficiently then it wouldn't be necessary. It's a cliche, but work smarter, not harder!

Not me, DH is a self employed IT consultant earning £400 per day so around £90k before tax (he allows for 35 days off per year. Tax savings make it equivalent to a salary of around £110k).
He tends to work 8am-4pm so leaves the house at around 7.15am and is home around 4.30pm. He could start later and finish later but he gets to spend more time with our ds this way.
He works very occasional weekends but usually takes a day off during the week that week (or just charges the extra day).

@Merryoldgoat what is your DH's job title and what experience / qualifications does he have to get it? That's the sort of job I'm after as I live 15 min walk from a big university and would love to have such a short commute

I fit tee criteria if you count my FTE - I'm 0.8FTE at the moment on & 45K, so if I were full time I'd be on £57K.

I'm a civil service analyst, grade 7 level. I pretty much work my contracted hours (36 pw, so again pro-rated to ~28 pw, ie 4 days of 9-5.15)

I used to work more hours when I could, ie pre DC, but even at my height of overtime it was maybe 42 hours pw (I was full time then) plus working through lunch. The culture of long hours in the civil service means rarely beyond 7pm, and many people start at 9.30am or later.
It's a good place to work if you are bright and want to work hard during office hours then clock off. You'll never reach much higher than 100K, and most civil servants won't exceed my level so will be capped at 50-60K, but if you're happy with that level then it's a good balance IMO

IT here too- depends of course on the company (chronic understaffing is a killer) and your approach to the job ( seen my share of workaholic, prove your worth by being seen types) but there is definitely plenty of scope for a good salary with interesting work that allows for decent work/life balance. Like most jobs, you'll probably not find it 2 years out of uni, but hang in there!

I think it's partly to do with industry, not just job. I do digital marketing but for the healthcare/pharma industry which pays incredibly well.

I work 32 hours a week - three days I finish at 2, one long day I work at home, and I only do one full day in the office. My FTE salary is £65K, my current role is 85%. It's very low stress

But no way could I get that in most other industries. My skills are transferrable but FMGC or telecoms, say, would never pay the equivalent

Can you look for similar roles in more lucrative industries? Energy, insurance, banking, pharma?

I earn 50k (inc bonuses) as an Executive Assistant in London working 9-5 Mon - Friday

Not me but my husband works 35 hour weeks, 8-4 for just shy of £70k. Insurance related role. Great work life balance, home by 4:30 most days, occasional travel nationwide and America to mix things up but overall very flexible and lucky!

@RedSuitcase, are you a spy?!

I am an analyst working in the civil service in an analytical/management role.

I work less than 40 hours a week, but I'm a flexi time system that means some weeks I work 20 hours and some I work 50+ hours.

The role I am in allows me to work from home when I don't have face to face meetings, but also requires considerable travel sometimes and the occasional al overnight stay.

Overall I would say I have a good work-life balance considering the £50k+ salary. I can't dictate most of the travel dates, but I can normally wriggle things so that I can be at kids concerts/work short hours around naps when they're sick etc.

I would earn about £20k more per year if I worked in the private sector, but the balance that the civil service gives me is far more valuable to me.

I have seven years of study ( BA PGCE two MAs ) worked as a teacher in London. Ended up on my knees mentally and physically, doing 70 hours on 40 grand, huge London mortgage, single. Thought 'fuck that', moved back to Ireland, doing the same job, about 35 hours, more money. Lucky I could move here, from Ireland. Feel like I've landed in a dream.

I earn more than that and do 9-5. Insurance manager. Not in the city either so a 25 min commute door to door. Love it! Have worked there since 1994.

I run a finance team in a research agency, and earn c£80k including bonus for a 4 day week (I am off on Fridays). I have what I consider to be a very good balance as I work from home one day a week too, and rarely have to work additional hours. I've been qualified for 12 year and am in my late 30s. Hope that helps?

Deputy head teacher. 42hours. Very little planning and marking or work to take home since most of the stress is at school.

I do work half the holidays though but still a good work life balance. Work from 8-4.

I earn 60k for a 37 hour week. Flexibility to work from home when I need to.

I’m an IT Manager but not at the sharp end so stupid hours aren’t usually required. More along the lines of IT Service Delivery. That said I will work late and deal with incidents if required and I’m frequently called by my boss in the evenings.

I earn £11k a year, I work about 6 hours a week so pro-rata I must earn about £50k a year.

I do accounts and admin.

At the high point of my career, in the late 1990s, I earned £50k as a freelance writer, and worked eight months of the year. Occasionally I did bits and pieces on top in summer. But for eight months, I worked until 8.00pm most evenings, most weekends (even right through Xmas one year) and was often in the car to go to meetings at 3.30 am. It was not compatible with motherhood, and the nanny was not tax-deductible, although a secretary-receptionist would have been.

NC for this. £61k a year for 28 hours a week, plus bonus (usually only 2kish). Lawyer, live offshore and doing a non-fee earning role. Is literally 9-5, 4 days a week, no extra. And am changing hours (to do same but start and finish earlier) once baby born.

Could easily earn over double that as a fee earner (and did previously) but means long hours, loads of stress and cr*p work/life balance.

Pretty happy with it as know if feel need more money in future can either go full time in this role or get a fee earning role again

I work in Insurance and earn more than that and have a v flexible employer, rarely have to put in any hours past office standard, work from home loads, can do stuff like school assemblies, dentist, longer than usual lunch and make time up no issues.

I'm not an actuary, if you are mathsy they earn £££££££££££.

But our pay gap is 40-50% so for even more bang for your buck, come and join us but call yourself Dave and you will be sorted

Husband is on £100k plus bonus. He works a 50 hour week every week and struggles to take his holidays.

He is stressed but he likes the job.

Comms Manager, £51k, 35 hours, flexible/ remote working for 4 days a week so no commute as I work from home mostly. One day in the (London, 2.5hr journey) office per week. I'm always on call though and work unsocial hours when needed - in reality not that often.

@notnearlythereyet I haven't read the whole thread, but a good work-life balance is possible working for a university in a professional services role.

I did a science degree, drifted into a PhD then moved into the IT industry in the boom years. After having children I was looking for better work-life balance so I moved from an IT consultancy to a London university, in a senior analytical role which pays around £52K. I could earn more if I wanted to manage a team, but I don't want the hassle of management - been there, done that. Full time hours are 35 per week, though I work part-time, 3 days a week - universities can be very flexible (though less so if you go for the senior leadership roles).

It's an interesting place to work. People are friendly. The pace of getting things done can be frustratingly slow at times though.

Myself and my partner do, but I'm on maternity leave right now. Both work in Government (separate depts) and work 35 hrs per week. Never any more than 35.

I earn £60k plus bonus plus benefits for a 4 day week in Financial Services, work from home one day, no qualifications apart from experience.

DP does. He's another software developer.

I want to know what job that is redsuitcase