AIBU to look for a new job? I do nothing at work..

[Vanillalattee]

I work in HR but I seem to cover a very quiet area where not much is happening compared to my coworkers. I have days where I have nothing to do but send an email or 2 and then another week where I’m jam packed. But it is mainly very quiet!

I hate to complain as it gives me time to get stuff done at home. But I’d rather be busy and not just waiting for my day to end.

I get paid well but my weeks and days are just dragged out.

AIBU to start looking? Or am I mad? DH seems to think I should be grateful I’m not busy all the time.

Is there any process improvement? Ask to do a qualification related to your role?

Just take phone with you?

If it’s Teams calls, isn’t there anything nice you can do from home? Yoga, crafting, whatever floats your boat?

I want a job like this. How do I get a job like this?

Do you work from home? Can you take on any more work to do in whey dyas

I’m in the same situation, moved from a job where I was on the go for my whole shift to one where I often am sitting for an hour or two doing absolutely nothing. It’s awful and mind numbing so I’m looking for something else after only 2 months. At least you can work from home though and keep yourself busy around the house which is a small positive.

To stay active on Teams etc whilst WFH just use a mouse jiggler!
(If you use a laptop, get a USB mouse and position it over an analogue watch so it's activated by the second hand going round. No need to install special software that might be detected)

Volunteer - join the pta or scouts and you can get all the admin done in the working day?

I recently changed jobs because I had nothing to do. At the moment I regret it. It's probably just because it's early days and I'm still finding my feet in my new role. I've also moved from home working to office based which I'm finding very tough. I think we always want what we can't have...you might miss your low pressure job when you get something more demanding.

That said if you're not fulfilled it's always worth a risk. I hope mine pays off eventually but right now I kind of miss being bored at home instead of out of my depth in an office full of strangers.

Think strategically. The money might be good for now, but it sounds like a bit of a trap - if you aren't doing much, you won't be building skills, so it will make getting your next job harder.

I like PP's suggestions of looking for project opportunities that are relevant to your role. You may even be able to do a course that helps you with doing this

Gosh OP I could have written this! New to HR, spending hours each day twiddling my thumbs. I work in an office next to my boss so I can't even do the online food shopping. Its mind numbing. I've asked to do a course, still waiting on a decision a week later but I'll be leaving if they say no.

How free are you actually during the day? Could you, for example, decorate your house? Go for a run? Read challenging books? Cook elaborate meals ? Clean the house? Write your memoirs?

if so then I would really like your job.

I had a job like this in an office once though and that was like torture because I couldn’t read a book or anything but had nothing to do…. No work to do…

My new job (been there nearly a year) was incredibly busy for months, then mind-numbingly quiet for nearly 3 months. It's in the busy period again, thank god Did the same job in a different place before and it was always busy apart from a few weeks. Having nothing to do is soul-destroying.

God I'm so jealous. I would kill for a paid work from home role that's quiet enough for me to get on with other projects. Honestly. Can anyone share how to get one of these roles? And what's the pay like? I want in!

Move to Further education HR, I'm never bored and if case work is quiet then there's load of operational stuff and admin to do

My job is like this, although my pay is avg. It's very rare I have a whole day's work to do. My company are OK with flexible work as long as the work is done promptly.
I used to be bored when at the office all day with nothing to do. Now I make the most of being at home and as a result have no chores on the weekend.

what course are you doing? I’m desperate to leave but sticking it out as long as I can.

Hello is that me ? 🤣

I also work in HR, recently moved from a faced paced position ( 100% overworked) but my days were always full.

This position I have been in for around 3 months and in the first month I thought what the hell have I done and was frantically applying for different jobs but I decided to do my cipd level 5 and use my spare time to study. It's not ideal as I would've loved the experience but I have only been in HR around 2 years and this gave me the ( job title) and pay that I needed to hopefully progress.
I should finish this course in around 8 months but I've also looked into AIHR courses which I'm keen to do once I've done my level 5 and if I am still in the position I'm in now.
There's small courses that you could do to enhance your development
Equality and diversity
Understanding data protection
Excel
Business etc

What I suggest you do is get proactive and get in touch with the senior managers in your area. There will be things keeping them awake at night and you have the perfect opportunity to go from being a reactive HR bod to a strategic HR person. If you are already a chartered member of the CIPD you can look for projects to get yourself upgraded to FCIPD and get yourself promoted.

I don’t suppose we work together 🤣🤣

Im not even sure I want to stay in HR to be honest, I don’t think I’m a sit round a desk type of woman anymore. I need to find my calling!

I'm with Razorcroft here, use the time to upskill, there are so many online courses and qualifications I'd love to do if I wasn't such a dam fool, stuck in teaching.

Same here! I can’t remember the last time I had time for lunch in my job - but there are jobs where you can literally sit at home being paid to do almost nothing? How do you get into them?!

Reading this thread open-mouthed as I've already racked up 50 hrs this week and I'm paid for 32.5...it's a good job I like teaching isn't it!

Clearly every builder (definitely in East Yorkshire ) should work in HR instead. They're excellent at taking money for doing nothing.

And me. I also need one of these jobs. I always have extra-curricular projects on the go that could fill days, weeks and months of those idle moments.

I had this. I had a job which was fast paced, interesting & I was involved in something worthwhile.

Went on mat leave and they restructured. I did NOTHING once back. There was no work in what they gave me to do. The entire dept was the same. We were doing 'busy work' and professional development courses. Morning tea, lunches & chatting became stretched out affairs. Anything to fill the time.

I stuck it out for two years until I took a second lot of mat leave (very generous paid provisions & well paid job). They announced another restructure just before my 2nd mat leave. I took a redundancy. Luckily, they fluffed around so long I got my entire mat leave.

It destroyed my confidence and I lost a lot of skills in that time. Couldn't do it again.