to think professional jobs are a bit of a joke

[dontgetmewrongiloveit]

Knocked off at lunchtime today. Probably did 20-30h of work this week. Don't think my manager/clients cared. Sometimes I just log off and go lie in the park in the sunshine for a few hours

I make about 120k a year

I have professional qualifications which took a bit of effort to get but not talking medicine or anything like that

AIBU to think this is a bit of a joke

My colleagues claim they all work until midnight every night. But half the work they're doing is pointless busywork and doesn't affect the decisions our clients are going to make

If our client tells us they'll do xyz if it makes them at least £30m, and by 5pm we work out it will make them £70-80m. What's the point of staying up til midnight to find out it's going to be £72.3m and not £76.8m

Would I get more morality points if I pretended that was necessary?

Nope. Private grants from foundations, for which we apply. We are given this money because we can demonstrate that we meet our objectives. Like I said above, output focussed.

If you hear ‘grant’ and immediately think ‘local council’ and ‘taxpayer’s money’, you know very little about the third sector. Which is why I have my career and you don’t, I suppose.

@dontgetmewrongiloveit

Oh I have colleagues who do pointless “busywork” that doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to the outcome.

If you can get it done under your contracted hours it’s called efficiency. Society is brainwashed thinking you have to work, work, work to earn a certain amount.

There was a thread on this recently, and another a while ago. It’s not unusual for people to be paid for far fewer hours than they work, at a whole range of salary levels. It’s just poor management. Most managers are not promoted for their people management skills and many organizations don’t really assess managers on their people management skills.

The more senior you are, the more you delegate to other people. You might the decision maker, involved in strategy and planning and have the ultimate responsibility, but you delegate to others to do the long hours. I did the long hours for many years to get here and don’t feel an ounce of guilt. I am a really good manager too. People apply to work for me. Partly I think because I give them lots of flexibility and don’t expect long hours. Long hours is a red herring. You have to work effectively.

@Dalaidramailama

Transforming lives in the charity sector? Lol 😂. Good luck with that.

I left… it was fun taking money for nothing for a while but I’ve since moved on. I couldn’t simply just take money for nothing long term, which sounds different from the OP as the OP does do some work.

Oh and you can all have all the ideas in the world heading into the charity sector doesn’t mean anyone will want to act upon them. Infact national MH charities rely on stigma…. Keeps them all in a job whereby they don’t need to do very much.

no idea why I just tagged myself.

@Dalaidramailama Yup!

People also seem a bit confused as to what charities actually are. Every membership body, most museums and galleries, the DofE…when you say you work for a charity, most people seem to think of Oxfam and chuggers. Nobody thinks, ‘Global Comms Director of a Royal College of Physicians’ or ‘Head of Finance for the V&A’.

Neither of those is what I do, by the way. But, just saying, those are professional jobs in the charity sector.

The higher up you get you're paid to be inventive, creative, help improve finances, re-model, think - not to be the new blue collar manual labour which is now white collar admin, sectary etc type jobs.
Sometimes you're hired to wipe out having 20 people in an accounts department - transactional jobs are the joke.
At some point you won't be needed when your seniors decide to be efficient.
Sometimes people like you are needed for a couple of years only.
Every finance department I've touched I've wiped out the admin, transactional roles and middle management with technology.
Only low levellers in business that are needed in this era are IT support staff.

I'm like you - I had 6 months to do something - I figured it in 3 days - spent most of that time in meetings convincing people - spent 7 days actually doing said thing - made £1 million pounds this June.
I'm sure all the low levellers thought I do nothing but sit in meetings and do nothing and think - true, I even went to the park most days and only logged on for an hour to email cleanse most days.
However, those people can't make the company money in a few days like me.
So, I deserve the leisurely time being paid for whilst I think / dream / relax with my plans in my mind. Not sweating over a keyboard.
This was for a charity too - most charities can do with a million pound injections through cost savings and reclaiming.

@TSIFT Would you be working in 'digital transformation' by any chance?

I did not know it was so easy to do.

You are doing it wrong op, you need to live off your high earning dh like me and spend all day in the sun.

This is simply not true! I’ve worked in public sector/ third sector roles earning between 16k to 40k and have hardly ever had enough to do. Met plenty in the same position too! It’s shit management. Plus a culture of having staff equals status/ salary incentivizing managers to collect staff they don’t need.

@TSIFT

Deserve is an interesting word

Nah, I'd rather OP's style. Higher risk of restructuring and redundancy
in your sector.

@blueshoes I have life time contract.

@blueshoes

It's easy if you have all management on board.
Already have the product and the team in place.
However, the £1 million I mentioned was to do with VAT not Financial Systems which is my main earner.
Financial Systems transformation has been about before I left university in the naughties.
It's much easier now.
The only delays I see is stupid management that don't understand, people insisting replicating what Barbara has done manually for the last 20 years!
Also, it helps if you have an accountancy background.
I get paid well because I have a accountancy, software engineering and Mathematics degrees in that order.
Plus, actual work experience of both accountancy and technologies.
Most companies make a meal out of this and don't understand what is best for them - that's what the endless meetings are about!

We all do until it is broken by the other side.

But you do you. It is great, isn't it, to live off someone else's labour.

@blueshoes umm you do get sarcasm yes? Maybe reread the op and the general theme of the thread again. Or advance search and see not only do I work - self employed I also home educate and raise children who I am also a carer too.

Ah sarcasm. Hilarious. You do know that there is no tone in posts. I am commenting on your stated views on this thread. You could have come out earlier but you did not. Well done.

It was clear the op was taking the piss!

Actually I don't think the OP was taking the piss. I see why you posted now.

I know of such professional jobs. I was in 2 or 3 of them myself (it wasn't cushy all the time) and even in certain super busy jobs, there are down times because the work is cyclical. The more senior you are, the easier it is to get away with dossing during the day if there is nothing on.

I have heard a few people in jobs like this and actually respect the op for telling it how it is. I would love to earn that money and not have to actually slog my guts out. I currently work in admin and retail and earn 20k a year and feel like I'm going to die some days from boredom and tiredness from it all. I absolutely need to find a great job after maternity leave.

WHAT IS YOUR JOB?????

He sells dishcloths and squeegees door to door.

At the end of the day you’re being paid a salary not an hourly rate; youre being paid for your expertise. So as long as you get all your work done to a high standard, on time etc, then I’m honestly over the days of stretching a work day out for the sake of the well out of out date 8/9 hour days !

so good for you! As long as you are happy and performing well, I’d be doing exactly the same ! (And sometimes do!)