I earn £50k and barely do any work - AIBU?

[lexjoey]

I competed my MSc in 2020, managed to get onto a very good grad scheme and landed a role where my current line manager and his "right hand" woman barely have time to share work with me. TBF I would not have accepted this scenario if it had not been for Covid, I was just grateful to have a job but honestly I do about 15 hours worth of work per week and just waste time for the rest. I will say I complete one ouptut which the team hates.

It makes me feel like a great big lump of useless space and I plan to move jobs in the near-ish future. I've witnessed my sister go from being a wet blanket to the ultimate professional which has only highlighted the fact I have reached a dead end with this corp/team.

I'm really not gloating, just curious if anyone has found themselves in this position. On the one hand, I am lucky but it's only a ST solution and I really DO want to develop and I'm just stagnating.

The 2 people above me are very possessive with their work and don't have the time to upskill me.

AIBU?

Get on the job hunt - for your mental health!

I hate it when the senior people in my team IM me asking if I am free for a quick chat....they know I ALWAYS am...makes me feel ugh

@lexjoey you could be writing about me!!

Why else would I be on mumsnet at 13.38?
I get paid £55k a year and my output is minimal

I have an appalling, unsupportive, manager who just doesn't understand my skillset or know how to use it (even though I have told him, how I could add value to numerous projects). He would throw any of his team under the bus to progress his own career. I was signed off with stress for 6 weeks late last year. Since then, i have been working at most at 50% capacity.

You need to move jobs ASAP

I have acquired a new role in the organisation which is a lot closer to my skillset. I am really looking forward to it but know i am going to have to really mentally prepare myself.

I am so happy to be leaving this team, at the last count 9 people have resigned since he joined.

CBT really helped me, your organisation may have a link to a well being provider so see if this is open to you

Thank you all! Thought I would be ripped to shreds for not being grateful during this cost of living crisis.

Will certainly start researching jobs and getting things in order. There is also a course I would like to take in a new discipline - something to explore

I am about to leave a job like this. Well paid but not challenging enough. I tried asking for more challenging targets but it didn’t happen. I think the reason is the person who reviews my work doesn’t want more to do so doesn’t want me to work harder. I wonder if wfh has made this issue more common?
anyway I totally understand what you describe - feeling like I wasn’t fulfilling my potential (always previously a high achiever) made me so depressed and lose confidence in myself. I spent some time looking back over my career in great detail. Not just looking at my cv but feedback I had received, projects I’d done which I had forgotten about. I identified quite quickly what had made me happy and found myself a new and much more challenging role doing that. It’s daunting but I want to get out of my comfort zone otherwise I’ll look back on my life later and regret allowing myself to coast.
lots of people find this hard to understand - that’s because they think being under utilised is a dream but for anyone whose brain needs to be occupied it’s a nightmare.

I lost my job in lockdown, wasn't allowed to take redundancy and the union refused to back us. So had to take the job they offered or leave.

I took the job for a year and it drove me bananas as nothing to do, there was 8 of us to do the work of 3 people

I find courses to do that enhanced me leaving, have set up my own work now and am far happier

That's the way it is though. I'm not convinced that senior people always work hard. They are decision makers, but don't have work piling up IYSWIM. I expect your managers aren't doing much either or they certainly would be delegating.

If I were you though I would hang on to the job if you are wanting to have kids. I was all for a career, but after my second child (who turned out to be very challenging) I now appreciate a job I can cope with that can have a few quiet periods. I do feel underdeveloped (in public services) and am probably too comfortable where I am on just an average salary, but I'm glad it has only been full on for this last year (child is 3). I'm in similar work, but am an analyst - give me some tips! I need to kick start my career again.

@unicornglittersprinkles cmon unicorn, moving stuff around on a Kanban board, themz is skillz! Scrum masters craft a job out of just that, and then act like they're totally indispensable (when the reality is I could just talk to the devs myself).

This is me too, £42k pa for mainly wiggling my mouse. I feel so guilty all of the time, it’s so demotivating that I don’t even use the time wisely to get fit/sort home life things. I think it’s made me depressed, I need to snap out of it. I dream of being offered redundancy

Yabu. You've dropped on there.

I’m kind of in this boat too! It’s not your fault OP so don’t take it to heart. Out of interest what are the hacks so you use so can step away for more than 5 mins from Teams but still look active ?? Try not to stress too much and start looking for another role ...chin up !

You need to move - if you’re a data scientist you should be earning way more than £50k. Also it’s a fast moving environment and your skill set will become outdated if you’re not involved in new pieces of work.

Solidarity !

Am in a similar situ but earn (a lot) more. I am a specialist in my company's crappy processes, my role would be redundant if everyone else did their jobs properly.

Job wise:
I push for change and improvements within the organisation.
I learn as much as I can to help other teams.
I run an internal network.
I do networking stuff. Most job come through connections, so do whatever you can to maximise yours.
I have a clear conscience. It's not OUR fault there is nothing to do.
I do all the training going.

Personally:
I max my pension contributions
I do a lot of exercise
I have a very tidy house.
I am always on top of the washing load.

It sounds like you are making yourself feel bad. There is nothing worse than a colleague who doesn't do what they say they will, you do the job they all hate once a month. They probably LOVE you for it.

Only you can decide but this could be a good opportunity. Buy a mouse jiggler and enjoy the sunshine. Set up a side hustle.

Yes, I've been here and it's horrid. Awful for self esteem. I moved jobs.

Good luck

Op I may have missed it but have you directly asked for more work?

Don’t feel bad for loathing this, anyone who has been there gets it

@Whichjobnow What job do you do?

googles data science roles near me

Ah bless you OP, you sound so discouraged, and I completely understand why. Is this your first job or had you worked before doing your Masters? I'd say this is a pretty common experience for early career staff in a range of professions - though that doesn't excuse it. Maybe think about making your next job somewhere smaller, where you will definitely be given more to do. The possible trade-off is pay and job security, but early in your career the experience is probably more important.

Also - as an LSE alum you still have access to the Careers Service info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/careers/alumni/home. Give them a shout and see whether they can help you think through the situation you've found yourself in and what you might want to look for in your next job.

I used to work in grad recruitment for a global firm. I managed the intake of quite a large client base. One of my grads came to me in floods one day with exactly the same issue. She was one of the anointed… the ‘high potential’ grads. And she was twiddling her thumbs. There really just wasn’t that much on when she joined. I told her to be patient, and be proactive. Look for problems to solve. Make work for herself and make sure others knew about it. Eavesdrop on conversations and chip in with ideas. Notice inefficiencies outside her scope and come up with solutions.

Stick your oar in where it doesn’t necessarily belong. Behave like a mediocre bloke 😀

They loved her in the end. Though she quit 2 years later to be a teacher as it was her calling. She was a sweetheart. I hope teaching hasn’t ruined her!

Op I may have missed it but have you directly asked for more work?

Yes, both formally and informally

I'm in your situation and I love it. I wouldn't have accepted the massive paycut from my previous insanely intense career otherwise. Be careful what you wish for!

Thought I would be ripped to shreds for not being grateful during this cost of living crisis.

Not at all! Anyone who rips you to shreds has never experienced this sort of job.

It is truly soul destroying. Nobody applies for a job thinking they’ll have nothing to do all day.

In theory, earning £50k for doing fuck all would be amazing. In reality it really strips your confidence. Especially at the stage you’re at in your career, you need to be gaining skills and experience.

Not really anywhere near the salary but yes. It contributed to a period of depression. Eventually I told the manager he was paying me to look out the window and he reported me to HR 😂

Do you have a mentor in the organisation? What’s your delelopment plan like? Linkedin profile? If your profile is good you will be inundated with offers. 😉

Been in the situation a few times. Use the time to apply for other jobs, start a blog or a novel, take some classes to improve skills, take up drawing, musical instrument, learn to knit.
Lots of things you can do with that spare time.