@VinylDetective
Not every high paying job is stressful and demanding
What’s the justification for it being highly paid then?
Niche skills in a lot of cases.
I’m literally the only person in my country who does the job I do in the industry I work in.
If I left, I’m sure they’d find someone from the same industry willing to upskill, or someone with the skills willing to learn about the industry. Other companies in the same industry tend to buy in my expertise, usually from very expensive consultancies who operate across different, often complementary, industries.
My company is the only one in the country doing what we do on a huge scale therefore needing a dedicate team to do it.
I know I’m not indispensable. If I left tomorrow they’d find someone else, and the salary would make it very attractive to someone willing to take six months of pain to get up to speed. In the meantime, they’d have to pay a consultancy to keep my projects going at the cost of millions.
But they’re happy with me, I’m happy with them, I have a great work-life balance, save them a fuck-tonne of money- we all benefit.
The idea that everyone who is highly paid is working 16 hour days and getting their eggs frozen at 22 is another dangerous myth.
Absolutely there are many companies out there who want slaves instead of employees, but that’s true of minimum wage jobs also. In fact, in my career, the most awful job I had was when I was unskilled, paid around £20k (including shift allowance) and expected to be available 24/7 and drop what I was doing if my psychotic boss demanded something. I would literally get a call to say they needed me in work and when I said I couldn’t as I didn’t have transport, they’d tell me a taxi was dispatched for me. He would actually stand at his office door and scream at us, calling us all cunts and telling us how he’d have us all on the dole.
He’s a very well known entrepreneur and was often on tv. Generally regarded as a classy businessman.
He was the kick up the arse I needed to seriously look at my options, and I was able to return to education part time and retrain.
Extreme example, I know, but my life became much easier once I hit a certain level of expertise and had the security of knowing I was more easily employable.