to ask if anyone else is half-arsing their job?

[Spacemannn]

I work full time with two pre-schoolers (due to my part-time working request being declined). I get paid well (although not mumsnet well) for a mid-senior job, with no line management, but the bulk of my salary goes on childcare.

Since having my second child, I just cba anymore. I used to be such a perfectionist and always go above and beyond, but I just don't care as much anymore. I work hybrid, and on my WFH days I'm trying to squeeze in as many chores/life admin as poss in between tasks.

Is anyone else like this? Does it matter? I switch between feeling guilty, and then feeling like as long as I'm getting the work done and doing an ok job, that's fine? I still get paid the same whether I put in 70% effort or 100% effort. There are no promotion opportunities on the horizon, and I don't think I'd want the extra responsibility at the moment anyway.

Any tips for working smarter not harder? I'm organised, responsive and quick, so I don't think it's a case of me not adding value to the company...

I think half arsing it means different things to different people.

I used to work long hours and go above and beyond, promised a promotion but then whole senior team was replaced and I was moved sideways in restructuring because they didn’t bother to find out what I did. i had similar in my previous job where I was made redundant by a consultancy firm that got rid of all local paper subeditors and centralised the work 2 hours away. Neither the restructure or redundancy has any reflection on the quality of my work as that was never reviewed. I still do my work but I go in at 8.50-9am and I finish between 5pm and 5.30pm with no unpaid overtime. I take my lunch break too. New organisation loves to have meetings so it looks like I’ll be becoming less efficient going forward but not by choice as 7 people meet on teams to discuss work I would previously have done and circulated for feedback. I can’t really be arsed but still do seem to do the work. Maybe after many years I don’t need to focus so hard because it comes naturally.

I have mixed feelings about this. In every job, I went above and beyond and never wanted to be seen as someone shit. As a result I was promoted relatively quickly. I started working at 18 and also went to university. My first “high” salary was earning £27k at 23 years old, and now at 26 I’m on £40k.

however I would say in my previous role, I did start doing the bare minimum because my hard work was never really recognised. I was always the fire fighter and the go to person for everything, but people at work who were unprofessional (everything from having sex at work to swearing/shouting at staff) ended being given all the development opportunities. It was such a toxic workplace that really knocked my happiness, so it was for the best for me to disengage and focus on securing my current job.

I do 40 hours a week on acute medicine with enhanced care beds (like a mini itu) in a fairly busy hospital, and would really love to half arse it. However seeing as only yesterday I did two patients observations early instead of putting them off until after lunch and quite possibly stopped them both arresting and dying (both needed to be on much higher oxygen than they were on), I can't really half arse it. If they'd died, and their obs hadn't been done on time because I wanted my break on time, a) i could never forgive myself and b) would probably be sacked and never work in medicine again.

Maybe i need to find myself an office job where I can wfh and throw a load of laundry on in the middle of the work day. Would certainly make life easier!

No. But half the people I work with do and I'm thinking I must be a mug so maybe I should start half arsing too?

I think it's important to try your best at work, I was raised with a good ethic.

So on that basis YABU. Everyone has a lazy day every now and then but it sounds like you're taking the piss a bit really.

I agree. Well done to all the nursery workers that give 100% to our children. X

I’m not really seeing the problem then?

It sounds like you’re doing enough to pass in your current gig

I used to give my absolute everything to my jobs. During Covid I was the sole safety professional for a university, and all eyes were on me. Meetings from 7:30am with the highest level of management and their council, weekend meetings with public health. Evenings spent reading the constant guidance changes so I could advise on them the following morning. While homeschooling. For 30k a year. I was exhausted, burnt out and giving it my everything to keep the students and staff safe as much as I could. When Covid finally subsided, they restructured and made me redundant. I was devastated and it wrecked my professional confidence. But it taught me a valuable lesson - companies don't give a shit.

I'm working again now, and do more than is expected of me, but not to the same level. It's not worth my health or my family seeing what they had to see me go through.

So if I want to put the laundry on during a screen break, I will. And not feel guilty about it.

If you asked to work part time and it was declined even though for good reason then its not surprising you're not giving 100%.

I do the job, I get what needs to be done, done. I do nothing over and above that unless I want to. I am very well paid and have great work life balance. After years of killing myself in the corporate grind, it is lovely 😊

That’s terrible @memoriesofamiga .

I decided a few years back that there needs to be some slack in my work life so I can cope with the stresses of my personal life (kids with SN). No-one seems to have noticed.

This. I could absolutely do more but I get excellent reviews and good payrises and work are perfectly happy. I’ve also got lots of demands on my time at home and small kids. If there is something urgent or really important workwise I’ll be more particular. If it’s just day to day stuff then I’ll do it well enough. I feel like at this stage work are paying for my expertise and my ability to quickly solve complex issues when they arise. They don’t need or expect me to put in a shedload of hours doing other stuff to fill the time because I’ve already delivered the value they need. No one is irreplaceable but lots of employees value lies in how efficiently they can do specific things that others struggle with 🤷🏼‍♀️

It's not that I don't try my best at specific tasks... if I'm asked to do something, I'll do it on time and to the required standard. I'm very good at the reactive stuff. But I just cba with all the proactive, non-urgent things I probably should be doing when I'm not responding to urgent requests.

So interesting to read all the responses. With mat leaves and covid, I haven't been in an office regularly for a few years, and I'm struggling with the fact I can't organise my day in the same way i can when I'm wfh.

A big lesson I learnt was if your face fits you can get away with doing nothing and all you misdemeanours are brushed under the carpet. I've seen people work hard and been thought no more of and because their faces don't fit been scapegoated for the wrongs of others . So now I just do enough to keep out of trouble . No more or less . No way am I busting my arse . All you are is a number and when you leave within a couple of days you're ghosted never talked about or thought of again unless you have done something so awful you become part of workplace folklore. Look after yourself always .

My husband and I have both had jobs like this. It eventually eroded our self-respect. We are much happier now (he's got another job he likes much better and I'm a sahm). We are both really motivated in our current roles.

I'd recommend looking for a job which allows you to work part-time if that's what you wanted.

Must concur. I think that it's pretty normal to have periods of great motivation followed by none and terrible productivity, this is regardless of your location. We are humans with varying abilities, very likely OP you can do in 3 days whats takes others 5. I WFH and will never go back.

Companies do everything in their power to give workers as little as they possibly can. Take the piss, and while you're at it, seize the means of production.

Great post - in your circumstances I think your attitude is fine - it’s not pushing but I don’t think it’s slacking - your not going out for a beach day(I’ve seen this) so it’s more filling time. I’d think like this now - this is a marathon not a sprint so it better for company if I’m rested. Last thing - as a manager toxic people and obnoxious people are a lot harder to manage than worrying about how much work WF-H. I give people benefit of doubt always !

Did it my entire career. I could feel my mind dropping down a gear as I entered the office each morning. Funny thing is, it did my career no harm. Also those who were giving it 100% weren't necessarily those who were promoted. All very odd.

Personally I put a lot less effort into my job on my forced presentee days on site, mostly due to the interruptions every 2 to 3 minutes, than I do on my WFH days, which represent the only time I can ever actually get anything done. My actual job, the one on my job description, requires a lot of sifting and synthesis of fairly technical information and with the best will in the world is tricky to do when you're being asked about the photocopier or training rooms every twenty seconds...

I am now actively looking and currently dream of finding another full time WFH post where I'd get to the end of the working week and feel like I'd actually achieved something rather than putting my master's degree and twenty years' specialist experience to such great use as a quasi receptionist... just to clarify I have a lot of respect for reception staff, it's much harder than it looks, but as I currently work for an entity that is too bloody mean to employ reception staff I do get a bit resentful at the amount of admin I and the other member of staff I work with end up with. Typically we end up sorting out things that shouldn't be any of our business due to the layout of the office and the fact we're often the only humans to be seen in the building...

I was fairly ambitious not that long ago. Now I'm counting down the time to retirement...

I think it depends on the quality of output. I could produce something better in an hour, than my colleagues would produce in a week. Anything, a report, a presentation etc. So I don't feel guilty if I skive off every now and then. I do find it quite a crappy environmental to work in though where everyone is half-assing it

I think you should work your pay level. If you aren’t on a huge wage don’t run yourself into the ground. But if you do this while working from home you will probably be forced back into the office. People caring for children and doing other stuff is why my husbands work has stopped letting anyone work from home. So think carefully how this will affect you long term.

I work from home. In my thinking breaks I out washing on. Occasionally I go into the office and discover that productivity is about 1/3 of what it is at home!

❤️❤️ thank you for all you do. I had a seriously ill sibling and the nurses and Doctors were amazing
i will never forget their kindness

I think you're working like a man. And they don't care or feel guilty

They also dont do life admin. Just faffing