I do nothing all day at work and it’s draining the life and soul out of me

[ZombieWorker]

Hi all. Posting here for traffic. This will be long so I apologise. The TLDR is the title.

I graduated 7 years ago and this is my third job since then.

My first job I did nothing. I didn’t mind because I was a young graduate on a big team of people my age, and spent the day talking on the instant messager and having long lunches. When I left I said to my boyfriend (now DH) ‘finally, the real work begins’.

My second job I did a little more, but still vast amounts of nothing- think 1-2 days of work a week max. I was in a corner with my PC facing the wall behind me, and wasn’t being overlooked, so I used my downtime to write a book and do some online courses- learnt a bit of coding, French and some advanced Excel. This suited me very well, but I was still chomping at the bit to leave by the end, as the monotomy of doing nothing for 5 years was really starting to build up.

My third job I started 18 months ago. I was over the moon to get it, and AGAIN said to DH ‘it will be nice to finally start doing real work’. The first 8 weeks were a whirlwind of being taught things, but after that I was told ‘we work responsively’ and ‘you’ll be trained ad hoc as and when things show up’. Clearly, they don’t show up much- I am less busy than I was at job 2.

I’ve mentioned this before in other mumsnet chats before and the answers are always ‘talk to your boss, create your own work, get a new job, fill your day with other things’. So to address those points;

I have talked to my boss many times, always asking for things to do, and about two weeks ago it came to a head as I was nearly in tears telling her that I feel useless, that I don’t know anything more than when I started. He seems to be trying to address it and has mentioned more training, but nothing has materialised yet. I suppose it might over the next few weeks, but I can’t be confident, and it doesn’t help where I am now.

I’ve created so much work at this stage that I keep getting commended for my efforts- why nobody can see this is happening because I have NOTHING ELSE TO DO I have no idea. I’ve gone back through old folders and tidied them up, created new projects to work on, created filing systems, procedural documents- it all gets me through a few days then it’s done and I have nothing to do. I am at the point where I can’t think of a single thing to do myself. I spend a lot of time filing my emails, of which I came in this morning to a grand total of zero, triggering this post.

I could of course get a new job, this seems the logical solution, but this one is very close to my home, with a walking commute. It’s also a good wage, and I have a mortgage to pay. I like my boss, even if nobody is overly friendly here. I don’t know how I could find anything on this wage nearby. Plus, this is my third job that has been like this, so I have no faith jumping ship would leave me in a different spot.

Filling my day with other things is how I have spent my entire career to this point. This worked brilliantly at previous jobs, but I am very overlooked here and don’t feel it’s possible. We are all sat very close together in an open plan. I can listen to podcasts, and get through hours of them a day, but that still leaves me the issue of what to do with my hands. Yesterday I genuinely stared at a blank excel page for about an hour. It’s soul destroying.

My DH tries to help but what can he do. He gets upset with seeing how drained I am on coming home, and how miserable I am getting ready in the morning. He has been looking for jobs for me and sends me links but it doesn’t help that he has no idea what I do, what I’m qualified for- all the links he sends me are either not enough money or vastly past my knowledge grade. I work in a very niche area of planning regulation which I kind of stumbled into, and have no idea what my transferable skills are.

I feel stuck and it’s affecting my quality of life. I’ve gained two stone as I buy large quantities of food on my lunch to eat all afternoon. I know this is boredom but I can’t stop myself- I’m working on this now as I know a bad diet will be effecting my mental health too. I feel like a zombie trudging through the same routine every day, eating to give myself comfort, and it’s shameful. I’m at breaking point here and am really hoping somebody can magic up the answer. Thanks for reading this far.

Either change your job.... or do an MSc maybe? Look at the Open University and do something that challenges you. I had this once in a job and it was soul destroying but I used it to my advantage!

Work is unevenly distributed and there are a lot of non-jobs, but it's not a race to the bottom. I've worked in highly pressured jobs in toxic environments with long hours and jobs where there was very little to do, and jobs where there is a happy medium and you enjoy the work are like gold dust.

Nasigoreng - people like your DH are helping to perpetuate a toxic work culture by putting up with long hours and demands on his time outside work. The more people refuse to accept it, the more employers have to be reasonable.

I'm a town planner in the private sector. Never a dull moment here, v busy. I don't understand what planning regulation is though. Do you mean enforcement? If you're qualified as a planner maybe you could switch to a different type of planning or change sector?

Is anybody else angry that their tax money is going towards paying people to do nothing?

Yes and confirms what I have long suspected about "council" jobs.

Except OP doesn’t work in the public sector.

I'd love your job. When can I find a job like this? Every place I've worked I haven't had time to bless myself, everyone flapping about like lunatics, trying to get all the work done, new work loaded on the whole time. At my desk at 6am, no breaks and eat at my desk, still there at 8pm, often have to do work on Fridays and Saturdays to keep my head above water. Never had a cushy job..ever.

Private sector / money thrown to tick a box

Ah, OK then, highly vulnerable to the next round of cuts. Absolutely right to be looking for a job

p.s. like other posters, I too am impressed with your meticulous approach. That's the first thing g to go for me if I am not stretched, but also when I am too stretched.

PM me, I am a very small cog in a quite large corporate which is always hungry for good, talented people.

I would be rather worried about the job still being there tomorrow! Somebody will notice at some point and the whole department will go. I'm also a bit irritated that there is this much slack in what I have always found to be a very slow moving, bureaucratic and difficult department to have anything to do with.

@LuckyLou7 – hats off to you Lou, I think NHS workers are amazing. Boredom is soul destroying indeed, but feels like such a pointless thing to complain about compared to 12 hours on your feet without a break. The idea of being enthusiastic about my job is bonkers to me. I feel like it’s a myth!

@honeygirlz – thank you. Lots of time to be meticulous!

@ElleDubloo – I could never be a teacher, but do quite enjoy 121 training. Sadly my knowledge is not good enough to train students.

@GimmieTheCoffeeAndNooneDies – private sector. But I do see the all or nothing departments around here. I always think they should cut one person from each nothing dept and transfer them- same cost to them, less pressure on the busy depts, more work for the quiet ones.

@tenbob – as mentioned above, I find WFH soul destroying in a different way. I think I would feel worse about myself if I was home not working. I will consider it though, it’s getting to the point where there is no other option. I’d struggle to go out and run as I think it would be noted if I was away from my PC for a long time, but this suggestion has inspired me to check out the on site gym so thanks.

@PrawnoftheShed – I’ve never deleted work, but I lost two days work in my old job and my reaction was to shrug and start again. This incident is what pushed me to look for my current role, where I was excited to finally be doing something. How little I knew…

@FieldsOfWheat – I’ve definitely done this in the past, but as I am very achievement driven I always end the day feeling worse off. I like to go into work just to feel like I’ve done something.

@Wifeynomore – private sector. That is shocking though. The impression I’m getting from this thead is that it’s an across the board problem, effecting more people than I realise. Only one person I know has ever admitted to doing nothing all day.

@Anarchyshake – you have my sympathy. I don’t think either situation is easy- as I’ve said, I find WFH worse for me as I feel like I’ve done less. Could you set up a ‘teaching programme’ of online courses and do a few subjects, an hour a day or something? It might be easier to stick to if its on a schedule. Good luck to you.

@Jenasaurus – thank you. It is horrendous. My very first post uni job was one week temping on a reception desk, I read the whole time and couldn’t wait to leave. Little did I know!

@Ifonly4 – Law. My law degree has definitely got me all my jobs, but I don’t really know how to use it to get something I want. Most graduates are lawyers, I guess, which I find far too acrimonious to do on a daily basis.

@PuppyMonkey – it is baffling. Surely it’s a waste of everyone’s time and money. I am not providing my money’s worth to the firm, that’s for sure.

@Xmr1986 – I have a law degree, not STEM, so could look into this- but I have a mortgage to pay so not sure this is feasible sadly.

@Knitwit99 – it is. The positives are there for sure, but the biggest thing keeping me here is I have no idea where to go.

@Overmydeadbody456 – thank you! I do like to write. If only I could write the next bestseller, but sadly I am not very creative. I like the idea of legal copywriting that someone has suggested so will look into that.

@Waterrat – and pay my mortgage with what?

@Floribunda18 – private sector. And no idea what I would consult in. Retraining on the side does seem a good suggestion though. You are right, a balance of both seems very hard to find!

@NadiGoreng – thanks for this. I make myself sick sometimes too so it’s nice to hear I’m not alone. Also – private sector.

@Missbattenburg – I nearly replied ‘I’ll cancel the cheque shall I?’ to one of the public sector comments but restrained myself! I’m just glad people are trying to help really. And I have lots of time to repeat myself! Good for you doing your degree, I wish you luck!

@WitsEnding – it amazes me how many people have experienced this. I will look into employee sponsored voluntary work, thanks. Yes I could qualify for a few things, I’ll take a look.

@BlueJava – I would consider that, but the mortgage is an issue.

@Villageidiots – as explained above, I work in a regulatory dept to help planning go through for large projects. Not a qualified planner, private sector.

@MargaretHoulihan – private sector.

@Alsohuman – thank you for beating this drum!

@JeezOhGeeWhizz – in my experience, head for big corporate. But also don’t, it’s a whole different kind of horrible to stress.

@FinallyHere – you would think, but during a recent acquisition cut they got rid of 15% overall, but added two people to our global team. Weird. I never assume job security, but I don’t think that’s an issue here, so I don’t have that motivation either sadly. Thanks, I am never stretched enough but it may well vanish for me too if I am! I will PM later today, thanks

The overwhelming suggestion is to change industry, retrain, new job. This feels difficult at the moment with the mortgage to pay, but I have taken this on board and have made a list of all the training options suggested. I think I will just start up online training again, and if questioned I will point to my lack of work. Thanks all, this has helped. I’m going to join the onsite gym at lunch today and try and make something of my lunch break, even if the rest of the day is pointless.

At my desk at 6am, no breaks and eat at my desk, still there at 8pm

Why are you putting up with working 14 hour days??? That's not normal or healthy. As someone said upthread, it's not a race to the bottom.

Don't feel compelled to do something with your law degree. You mention fantasising about being a bike courier - why can't you do this? is the pay drop too much?

If making a career change don't ask yourself 'what can I do that is similar to what I do now?', but open your mind completely and see what might take your fancy even though its completely outside your current experiences.

I am too old to retrain now (early fifties) and wish I had done it a few years back, even a decade ago. Careers that I believe that I would enjoy include:

Paramedic
Environmental Health Officer
New Forest verderer
Emergency call handler
Air traffic controller
Teaching, but only in the private sector (longer holidays, better conditions)
Counsellor
Criminologist

All of the above would require training and incur cost to a varying extent, but I believe I would be capable of any of them (I have 3 degrees and am fairly good with acquiring new skills etc), but in the past I was too much of a wuss, procrastinated and deeply regret it.

Don't be me. Take this as a push to restart and completely rethink what you want to do, and make it happen

@LimitIsUp, I totally agree. I did a STEM degree and hate my job so much. I also hate the sound of any other job related to my degree - everything my friends do sounds dire. So I'm turning my hobby into my job.

I know it sounds naff, but what did you want to do as a kid/teen before adult life weighed you down and made you choose something corporate? Go for that. Start a "side hustle" or try turning your passion/hobby more professional. Do some free online courses. You're not obliged to use your degree if all the work is looking dull.

I'm surprised to hear what other people are saying about working in a University. I've been in University admin for 7 years (admissions, recruitment, course management) and apart from the odd slow period it's always balls to the wall.

There are legal and compliance roles in higher education which might suit you, or even academic quality type things. Our faculty's AQ team barely have a moment to eat or use the toilet so no chance of being bored!

Have a look at the OU.

I had temp job while pg and the company was upfront there wasn’t really enough work but they needed someone there - I jumped in and helped out colleagues where I could and when there was nothing else I read my OU course books and started essays - did have to drop everything if needed.

I would not be looking to leave this job at all!

Make it work for you.

You say you can’t do a course etc because everyone can see you, but you can work from home, right?

So WFH, and do a course to specialise maybe so you can do consultancy. OR, WFH and do an OU degree in something completely different.

You say your favourite job ever was working in a bookshop. You have great attention to detail and have all the hours to retrain to get into publishing or editing or something literary. I would be without question choosing to WFH and then reinventing my life on the company’s time. They want to pay you to sit about doing nothing, up to them. I wouldn’t be wasting away for them though.

Agree this situation can be soul- and self-esteem destroying.

Can you think bigger and more strategically than the self-tasked projects you've already done? :

• Get a copy of the minutes from the last Board meeting or equivilant and see if you can come up with ideas to tackle the problems they're thinking about?

• appoint yourself the champion of something: Environmental impact, diversity, women at work, and set youself specific goals- double the amount of waste from your office building that gets recycled, improve your organisation's gender pay gap. This kind of thing can give you fantastic transferable skills- set up a comittee for your chosen issue and chair it. It's hard for managers to object to you spending your time on something like this if it's not affecting your productivity and you could eventually ask for it to be added to your job objectives.

Hi OP,
Could you choose a degree you think could add value to your job/company (expand your remit) and propose to your company (go quite high up the management tree) that you would be willing to combine your job with this degree. You could ask them to sponsor your course and tell them what extra specialist areas you could cover when qualified. Choose an area of specialist that you think could carry you into something in demand and that you would find rewarding. If they accept you might have to be willing to commit to working for them for several years afterwards or repaying your course fee. Little to lose by asking.

I have a different theory op.

I think from your posting that you're probably highly efficient and process and action information quickly. Unlike the umpteen people that keep banging on about public sector workers.

There are a lot of inefficient faffers around in the working world. I'm a get on, get it done person and then enjoy my downtime person usually.

Have you thought of a volunteering role. I'm a school governor - they'd appreciate someone with your skills. I'm sure there's other committees around if that doesn't interest you. You may find if you pick something that links to your line of work it filters over/ gives you ideas. It certainly has for me (teacher).

I worked at a bank once where I had something similar

Me too. In fact the banks are stuffed full of people in non jobs, doing who knows what. Yet customers pay heft overdraft fees and interest rates to pay for them all! There were people who literally had jobs to update a policy a few times a year.... it's just not a full time job!! Yet there was always calls for more resource.

I think some of it is bad leadership - i.e. managers not knowing what employees actually do and that they have enough to do. When I worked at a bank, my manager was a terrible leader. Always going on about how busy he and his favourite on the team was but the rest of us were twiddling our thumbs and he didnt seem to really care. At first the downtime is good, but it does affect your self confidence after a bit.

Anyway good luck OP what ever you decide to do. I really dont think you're alone with this situation. There's been a few article in the news recently about bullshit jobs so might be a good research project for this afternoon.

I work in a private sector finance role for very low pay and am busy every minute of the day. It’s destroying me, especially when the cost of living has gone up so much.

I’ve also been in your situation OP so I know how you feel but I can’t help but feel a bit jealous

My job now is like this. I’m about to start return to practice as my registration as an occupational therapist expired about 5 years ago and I literally can’t wait. This job is doing my head in so I totally sympathise OP 😢 At my previous job, I was so bored I would take 2 hour lunch breaks and sometimes not even come to work. No one noticed!

I had a job like this once, but it was only a temp job for a month. I had to answer the phone and answer questions about 4 times a day, which took a total of 20 minutes. The rest of the day I could do as I pleased. I absolutely loved it. I'm creative and found a million things to do with my day. This was in the private sector.

Now I'm at the other end of the scale in the public sector. Completely overworked, underpaid and underappreciated. Most people in my team are completely stressed.

I think I might look into planning regulation. It sounds like it might suit me.

I was a learning and development manager in a company, step down for a large national company I worked for. Wasn’t allowed any WFH - in case the director needs to speak to you-obviously they had no idea how phones worked!

Some afternoons, I had no training to deliver and nothing to do. I’d wrote all the training from scratch first, was up to date as and altered as and when, all individual staff trainings matrix’s were done along with certs at the end of training, so I had nothing!

So I used to have at least a two hour sleep at my desk, in my office, that everyone could see- because I was bored out of my brains and had nothing else to do!! I didn’t stay long! I was used to 80 hours weeks, dreaming of policies etc, Andy to go from that to nothing- never again it is soul destroying!

I can’t believe the comments people are making about the public sector and people doing nothing. Just because you’ve heard a story about someone pissing about all day, doesn’t mean that the whole sector is like that. I’ve worked in local government and civil service and people are working very hard there, with very little pay.

There are budget cuts every year and I’ve been through multiple rounds of restructuring and voluntary redundancies. People that leave never get replaced, so workload is always increasing.

Teachers and the NHS are seen as the hard workers and will have their pay increased, but there are many civil servants out there who keep the country running. They just aren’t as publicly visible and therefore only get a maximum 1% pay increase a year, meaning that they earn less every year compared to inflation.

People love to whinge about their taxes without actually knowing the full picture.

Oh god this was me 2 years ago , bored to tears! Doing crosswords all day , I ended up changing my field of work to health care, nice busy job , always learning and achieving things , never looked back since!