Page 5 | To ask if you’re in a highly paid job but do very little…

Workbutba · 2023-12-01T12:07:01+00:00

Do you feel uncomfortable or worried? I earn over 60k. I know this isn’t loads but it’s obviously decent. Some days I do very little. That said there are times I will work a whole weekend or very late night so perhaps it evens out. But on Wednesday for example, I sent two emails and had two calls and then had a bath and tidied the house. I used to feel anxious about it/job security and was always asking my manager for more work etc but they are relaxed and say it ebbs and flows, which it does I suppose. The company makes big profits generally. Is this common? I now have a dc so I worry even more about job security. I have a friend in a different industry who earns similar in management and she has days she can be on the phone to me for 3 hours and it doesn’t matter. I wonder how common this really is?!

Sheerheight · 01/12/2023 20:07

Fairymother · 01/12/2023 19:03

Not me but DH earns over 100k. Sometimes he comes home and says hes been stuck on a problem at work all day. Couldnt solve it in the end. So basically didnt do anything actually productive. He then sometimes figures it out the next day or asks a colleague who looks at it for 2mins and figures it out 😅 This also happens the other way around. New pair of eyes and all that 🤷🏻‍♀️
He doesnt feel bad. Also never had complaints. Its just how it is in IT, he says.

If he's thinking about a work problem he's still working. I've had periods of thinking things through, often a good idea will present itself the next day.

Suspect what Autumnleaves says is true, there's not going to be many ppl who are truly in this situation. Certainly most ppl I know have to work hard in whatever job they do.

OnceUponAPileOFWashing · 01/12/2023 20:11

@EatMyHead sorry. Are you asking why it's better that people are in work rather than not working and on universal credit?

Nowherenew · 01/12/2023 20:17

@Chaitales
Do you mind if I ask what you do and how much you get paid?

The areas you’ve mentioned are ones that I’m really interested in but all of the jobs I’ve seen in those areas are a lot of work and rubbish money.

randomfemthinker · 01/12/2023 20:45

I don't think people who are paid a lot to do very little should feel guilty about it/their luck UNLESS they're the same people who judge others for being out of work on benefits/working less hours paid in a harder job or expecting people in low wage jobs who are already working hard, to "just work harder" or "Get a higher paid job, then" as obviously there aren't enough decent jobs to go around and it's a fact of life that not everyone has the same levels of intellectual ability, regardless of how hard you work. I overall think it's better when people "work smart" though over the often culture of "being busy and make work".

Chaitales · 01/12/2023 20:48

Nowherenew · 01/12/2023 20:17

@Chaitales
Do you mind if I ask what you do and how much you get paid?

The areas you’ve mentioned are ones that I’m really interested in but all of the jobs I’ve seen in those areas are a lot of work and rubbish money.

Sure, DM me!

Dancingonaslice · 01/12/2023 20:59

Totalwarbanner · 01/12/2023 15:34

Well I’ve been looking for the sign to finally quit (nursing) and retrain into something else. I guess this thread is it.

It’s actually made me cry in frustration.

Fuck looking after everyone else’s sick relatives for a pittance. No time to eat, to think, so stressed I don’t sleep.

It’s hard isn’t it?
Im retired now but I was a GP and I never ever had a quiet day. The demand was relentless and the risk management and decision making was constant. I only ever ate at my desk whilst reviewing blood results and often couldn’t even have a wee as getting to the toilet meant going through the waiting room and patients would tut in annoyance if I was running late and was then seen outside my room supposedly not working.

And yet apparently GPs are lazy and sit around doing nothing all day whilst patients are kept waiting.

I don’t blame anyone on this thread for reeping the rewards of their experience and expertise but all the years I spent training, doing exams that I had to pay for and endless reviews and hoops to jump through to pass each stage of training plus all the risk I carried managing up to 50+ undifferentiated sick patients every day seemed to never be good enough for the press or the general public to view my profession in a positive light.

LoveSkaMusic · 01/12/2023 21:01

The higher up you are, the higher the risk of you making a decision that could wreck the company. Therefore, you get paid more in line with that. This is because someone has to make these decisions and the people who are willing and able to make an educated decision, have the most experience.

Don't forget, some senior roles carry legal penalties for doing a bad job.

feralunderclass · 01/12/2023 21:03

YAallBVU not to tell us what these very undemanding jobs are and how we can get them!

Summerscoming23 · 01/12/2023 21:09

How do I get one of these jobs? Health service here,Northern Ireland so no pay rise and no childcare bonus. I'm on 40,000 a year which works out just over 2000 a month home. My mortgage and childcare take the bulk of this money. Would love a wfh/hybrid job with a higher wage

ComtesseDeSpair · 01/12/2023 21:38

feralunderclass · 01/12/2023 21:03

YAallBVU not to tell us what these very undemanding jobs are and how we can get them!

I’m a Co Sec with a global reinsurance business. I’m a chartered accountant, have a law conversion, and gave my pound of flesh over and over when I was forging my way up to where I am now. I didn’t suddenly land a six figure salary with cushy hours based on no qualifications and no experience.

But equally, I come from an average working class background, had an average state education, was not much more than average academically. There’s not much about my career which many nurses or teachers couldn’t have built instead, had they not chosen to be nurses and teachers. There’s no big secret to it, except our respective choices and our differing reasons for them. Yes, it sucks that teachers and nurses are underpaid and undervalued; but being underpaid and undervalued is nothing to do with the salaries or working hours of people in entirely different industries in the private sector.

Don't forget, some senior roles carry legal penalties for doing a bad job.

And absolutely this. I may have only worked ten hours this week, but a wrong decision made in one of those hours could ultimately put me in prison. I am the entity’s legal truth. Rare, but a definite possibility.

ABCXYZ17 · 01/12/2023 21:47

I earn 80K and in 2 weeks will have literally nothing to do for 3 weeks, no one will care and I’m not taking any time of at Christmas as I’ve got so little to do that I don’t need to take holiday. Some days I work 14+ hours, I travel most weeks and there’s a general understanding that we work whatever hours are needed when busy but when it’s quiet we keep a low profile until it picks up again.

Chaitales · 01/12/2023 21:50

ComtesseDeSpair · 01/12/2023 21:38

I’m a Co Sec with a global reinsurance business. I’m a chartered accountant, have a law conversion, and gave my pound of flesh over and over when I was forging my way up to where I am now. I didn’t suddenly land a six figure salary with cushy hours based on no qualifications and no experience.

But equally, I come from an average working class background, had an average state education, was not much more than average academically. There’s not much about my career which many nurses or teachers couldn’t have built instead, had they not chosen to be nurses and teachers. There’s no big secret to it, except our respective choices and our differing reasons for them. Yes, it sucks that teachers and nurses are underpaid and undervalued; but being underpaid and undervalued is nothing to do with the salaries or working hours of people in entirely different industries in the private sector.

Don't forget, some senior roles carry legal penalties for doing a bad job.

And absolutely this. I may have only worked ten hours this week, but a wrong decision made in one of those hours could ultimately put me in prison. I am the entity’s legal truth. Rare, but a definite possibility.

Edited

Show quote history

I may have only worked ten hours this week, but a wrong decision made in one of those hours could ultimately put me in prison. I am the entity’s legal truth. Rare, but a definite possibility.

So true. In one of my local/central govt roles, a small error made in rush by a colleague put us at legal challenge by a citizen, took 3 years and a hell lot of money.

Happilyobtuse · 01/12/2023 21:51

I think it depends on the industry, when I worked in Oil & gas I got paid similar to you and had a very chilled job most of the time. But post maternity I joined telecom and while pay was overall similar it was full on busy all the time! Definitely didn’t enjoy that. I should have been more grateful initially. Hindsight is a wonderful thing! 🤣

annoyedatlandlord · 01/12/2023 21:55

What jobs are you all doing? Sounds like the dream.

OutlandInland · 01/12/2023 21:56

I'm very much in that position. I earn nearly £90k a year and would say that most weeks I work about 20 hours. My boss knows this and accepts it provided everything that is needed is done. I am aware I work at a quicker pace than most which is part of it. I do actually hate spells with nothing much to do but I know that if I moved I would hate being overworked. Plus I'm getting on a bit now!

Duvetdayforme · 01/12/2023 22:04

My job is creative and it’s hard for others to quantify how long it should take me to come up with a final product from inception to completion.

As I have been doing it for a long time, it really doesn’t take me even half as long to create something of the required quality as it would take someone who had been doing my job fewer than around ten years.

I probably work about 40% of the hours I am paid for, but I produce the goods and am very highly thought of in my company/sector.

oddgirl · 01/12/2023 22:07

I absolutely agree I chose my career and accepted the salary. However I think if salary is equating to responsibility I can assure you that any error in an intensive care unit can be life threatening and catastrophic …..

MarryingMrDarcy · 01/12/2023 22:09

LoveSkaMusic · 01/12/2023 21:01

The higher up you are, the higher the risk of you making a decision that could wreck the company. Therefore, you get paid more in line with that. This is because someone has to make these decisions and the people who are willing and able to make an educated decision, have the most experience.

Don't forget, some senior roles carry legal penalties for doing a bad job.

Really? How about all those CE’s who screw their companies and walk away with golden handshakes? Nurses and doctors make decisions every day that are actually life and death; not just about making someone else a load of money. Some people on this thread are like the walking embodiment of knowing the price of everything and value of nothing.

MarryingMrDarcy · 01/12/2023 22:12

ComtesseDeSpair · 01/12/2023 21:38

I’m a Co Sec with a global reinsurance business. I’m a chartered accountant, have a law conversion, and gave my pound of flesh over and over when I was forging my way up to where I am now. I didn’t suddenly land a six figure salary with cushy hours based on no qualifications and no experience.

But equally, I come from an average working class background, had an average state education, was not much more than average academically. There’s not much about my career which many nurses or teachers couldn’t have built instead, had they not chosen to be nurses and teachers. There’s no big secret to it, except our respective choices and our differing reasons for them. Yes, it sucks that teachers and nurses are underpaid and undervalued; but being underpaid and undervalued is nothing to do with the salaries or working hours of people in entirely different industries in the private sector.

Don't forget, some senior roles carry legal penalties for doing a bad job.

And absolutely this. I may have only worked ten hours this week, but a wrong decision made in one of those hours could ultimately put me in prison. I am the entity’s legal truth. Rare, but a definite possibility.

Edited

Show quote history

Hm. Let’s hope all the teachers and nurses don’t decide to retrain in whatever lucrative but probably ultimately unimportant work it is you do. We’d really be screwed then, wouldn’t we?

DGPP · 01/12/2023 22:13

It makes me so sad that nursing, NHS and teaching is not far better paid. Some of these stories are so sad

alpenguin · 01/12/2023 22:17

The biggest earners that I know (6 figures types) seem to have not very busy days but they do have a lot of responsibility. So while they may not be slaving away fro 10 hours a day, they are making very important decisions and carrying the responsibility and weight for making those decisions.

Wish I could get a job like that.

TheLocust · 01/12/2023 22:21

DGPP · 01/12/2023 22:13

It makes me so sad that nursing, NHS and teaching is not far better paid. Some of these stories are so sad

I agree. It's because those jobs (and similar) don't make money for anyone. So they're not valued enough. If you make money for an organisation, or save money for an organisation, you'll generally be better paid.

MarryingMrDarcy · 01/12/2023 22:23

alpenguin · 01/12/2023 22:17

The biggest earners that I know (6 figures types) seem to have not very busy days but they do have a lot of responsibility. So while they may not be slaving away fro 10 hours a day, they are making very important decisions and carrying the responsibility and weight for making those decisions.

Wish I could get a job like that.

We’ve already established that the ‘making important decisions’ argument for earning loads is bollocks because the average ward nurse is probably making hundreds of decisions a day which involve keeping other people alive. It’s capitalism, not some special magical skill these people have that ordinary plebs don’t. It’s a system which values making money over human life.

coxesorangepippin · 01/12/2023 22:23

I earn a bit less than the op

I don't feel guilty, I just think I'm good at my job and get my tasks done quickly

I am over 40 and have been working for over twenty years, so to be fair, it's been earned

wherethewildtbingsgo · 01/12/2023 22:25

I'm the same...on 70k ish and some days I really do very little. When we are busy though I am definitely busy but even then I tend to always be able to preserve my evenings.