To ask if there are actually any pleasant jobs any more

[daimbarsatemydogsbone]

Everyone seems overworked underpaid undervalued and often even attacked.

Are there any decent easy jobs now?

There are decent jobs but some pretty awful managers.

I had a lovely job but a change of manager turned it into a living nightmare. Now have a lovely job with a manager who recognises & treats me like a human being instead of a minion.

People don't usually leave jobs, they leave managers.

I work in marketing consultancy and love it. I can't vouch for the hours, they are long (I work 4 days which keeps a lid on it a bit). But the work is really varied and interesting, the company I work for is brilliant.

Medical type jobs that aren't hospital based get good reviews when this question is asked. Things like speech therapy, opthamology.

@ChiselandBits

I'm a teacher in a private school. Small classes, long holidays, lovely setting and great line manager. I know teaching as a whole has huge issues and I've worked in other schools in the past where workload and kids' behaviour made it a totally different job but I love the situation I'm in now.

So am I - but could have written the opposite to you.

@MissChanandlerBong80

Whilst there are some exceptions I think jobs tend to fall into one of three categories:

• Easy but badly paid
• Difficult and stressful and badly paid
• Difficult and stressful and well paid

Thing is I'm not sure "easy but badly paid" is very common anymore

I remember working in a shop, basically stoking shelves and occasionally on the till which would have been that category - but now it seems that even these kind of jobs have unreasonable targets that have to be met - with x amount of customers though the tills per hour - or staffing numbers have been cut to the bone so that everyone is run ragged

If a job is so easy that people want to do it, doesnt it just become a hobby?

The whole point is that people have to be paid for most occupations because people wouldnt willingly do them to the level required without remuneration.

I think as you rise up the salary/management ladder you often simply swap task based stress (too busy/expected to a lot of tasks in a time period) for responsibility based stress (where you on the hook for various risks/the performance of others).

Either way I don't think the scenario really exists where you just get paid a nice salary for a simple low stress job.

Good lord I’ve tried LOADS of jobs over the years, I am looking rather flaky on my CV but I cannot stay in crap jobs that make me miserable. I’ve earnt everything from 18-40k per annum, and I am soon to be degree educated (OU).

The problem with me is I also just love staying at home and don’t “need” to work. Although my bank balance would disagree.

I now work as a learning support assistant in a special needs college (age 18-25).

Benefits are…

• I laugh numerous times a day
• the young adults are lovely
• I work in a nice, friendly team (this is big bonus after numerous, awful managers
• I get 13 weeks off a year as the college has 8 weeks for their summer holidays

Disadvantages

• The pay! Win some, lose some I guess.

I love my job, I get treated like a grown up, paid fairly, work with awesome people and the work is fun. It's not "easy", though, in the respect that it can be intellectually stretching, but I like that, I'd hate to be unchallenged.

I think good jobs and good employers are out there, the problem is that they're few and far between and once people find them they tend not to leave so the opportunities don't come up often. I agree that managers can make or break a role, being poorly managed can destroy confidence and enjoyment and so many employers don't recognise that.

My job is pretty cushy tbh. It wasn't when I worked in an office but I got transferred to home working 10 years ago and it just really suits me. It's rarely stressful and I'm able to work hours that suit me.

I'm a web developer.

I'm 'underpaid' in as much as if I wanted to play the job market I could definitely increase my wages, however I've purposefully decided to continue to work for the company that I started with in the last century because my employment perks include a final salary pension scheme closed several years ago to new entrants and complete time flexibility which at my current stage of life being a parent to a teen and tween plus carer to my parents is priceless.

I agree with others though, a poor manager can ruin everything. I managed to outlast the only batshit nasty manager I've ever had. All the others have been human beings, perfectly reasonable and often lovely.

I won't say what my job is because it's a bit niche but I love it and I'm pretty sure that's due to a great manager (doesn't mind stupid questions, isn't pretty, is supportive and cares about our work exactly the same amount as I do) and that fact that it's public sector with flexi time and is doing something I think is important and useful. I stumbled onto it completely by accident looking at job sites and went into the interview with the mindset of finding out about them as well as telling them about me.

The downside is the pay isn't great, I could get more in the private sector doing the same type of work but with about 100x more stress. I think that might be the key to being treated well in the public sector actually - they know we've accepted lower pay than we could get working directly in our relevant industry so will leave if they take the piss.

Isn't PETTY, not isn't pretty - though he's not particularly pretty either

Define easy? I'm attendance officer at a large high school. Not very well.paid, and challenging in many ways. But enjoyable.

Prior to this I've been an HLTA, a trainee teacher, worked for a charity, been a marketing manager. At university I worked in a few clothes shops.

All different, all challenging and enjoyable in differing ways and degrees.

Very few jobs are a pure coast surely?

Oh but also some of it I think is due to skills shortages and people not able to match their abilities to jobs.

Eg I'm good at numbers but not terribly organised/people skill strong. If I had to be, say, a nurse, I'd probably find it really stressful because it wouldnt suit my skillset and personality. However something like data analytics I might enjoy.

I think half the problem in the UK is our education system doesnt do a good enough job at bridging from the jobs on offer in our market place to the skills available. People with the skills to do a job well will find it easier and enjoy it more. We also don't produce enough people in the right sectors, meaning shortages of staff make those who are there overworked.

I love my job, managing a charity shop, the pay isn't very good and it's always a challenge to get time off .... but apart from that it is always interesting, lovely volunteers to work with, very nice customers and fun to trawl through the donations and find the gems amongst the rubbish (brand new Radley handbag last week ).

I'm a civil servant and I love my job. Friendly colleagues, supportive management. It's interesting work, lots of choice of training and courses-personal development is really valued. It's sometimes challenging, stressful and fast paced work but they tend to be the projects that make a difference, and you get flexi-time so you can take time off to recover afterwards. Start and finish times are flexible, I work from home most of the time.

I left a job i really loved because it was poorly paid as relied on people seeing it as a 'calling' and being willing to work long, stressful hours for a pittance. I now work in a well paid job which I don't overly like but is less stressful and more flexible. I suppose it depends what your priorities are and what you're happy to compromise on. My friend works in a term time, school hours job in a school (not teaching) and her workload is a lot higher than mine but she gets paid a third of what I do because its a job they know people will want because of the hours; she will stay though as it works well for childcare reasons.

I love my job as a Health care professional, but the current environment in the NHS is unsustainable and people are either leaving or burning out. Makes me angry and feel like I'm failing my patients.

I like my job but agree it's the manager that makes it, plus not long hours. I work in tech and could get a lot more money elsewhere but an understanding boss and part time hours that truely are is more important to me.

If it is easy it's going to be shit, low paid, low respect.

But you can do something routine. I worked in a very nice call centre. It wasn't for some massive big bank or supermarket, it was for a smaller firm whose customers were professionals, so we only ever got calls from people calling us as part of their own job, and not angry members of the public. Small, well-managed teams and a day of good calls with interesting problems and questions and you could help lots of people.
People would scowl and say 'ugh, isn't that a call centre?' but I enjoyed it a lot, was paid better, sat in nicer surroundings in a beautiful office and had relaxing calls all day, so they could sneer all they liked.

I work in the civil service - for an arms length body in a technical specialist type role. I’ve had similar roles in ALBs before and always been happy in my jobs

I have a similar type job (although private sector, internal specialist for a revenue generating business line). I get the same share of bonus as client facing colleagues but have a solid 9-5 with almost no overtime (maybe a couple of hours every three months). Pay is good, although promotion is likely to be slightly slower than the client delivery people. My boss is very good - doesn't have expertise in all the areas I do so can't micromanage too much.

l love MN. I had never heard of an arms length body so thank you so much for that (I mean it - not being sarcy).
Many years ago MN answered my query about the point of twitter and I have benefited enormously.

This place is educational.

@Ragwort

I love my job, managing a charity shop, the pay isn't very good and it's always a challenge to get time off .... but apart from that it is always interesting, lovely volunteers to work with, very nice customers and fun to trawl through the donations and find the gems amongst the rubbish (brand new Radley handbag last week ).

Do you keep the nice stuff for yourself?

I ask myself the same OP.
I am signed off work sick because I mentally can't cope being around my team leader at work. I worry I will never find anything I am OK with.

Do you keep the nice stuff for yourself?

This is what stops me donating if the nice stuff gets filtered out before people have the chance to buy it.

@PinkAndViolet

I ask myself the same OP. I am signed off work sick because I mentally can't cope being around my team leader at work. I worry I will never find anything I am OK with.

I've had a few jobs since being paid to go away from the job I expected to keep until retirement (would have been 14 years so not inconceivable) due to a nasty boss, but every one seems to follow the same pattern -

-Highly paid
-No definition of what's expected
-Swamped with work
-Chaos due to high turnover of staff
-Everyone expected to do the work of at least 2 people all the time
-Angry and highly demanding customers (internal or external)

• No job satisfaction due to all the above

I dream of "downshifting" and am in the extremely fortunate position that I could take quite a pay cut - but I worry that what I am seeing would be the same in most/any job.