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

[Workbutba]

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?!

The problem here is: what if they ALL decide to retrain (or indeed just go and work in Aldi for an easier, though financially less well compensated life)? What will our society look like then? This Tory argument of ‘well if you don’t like working in the NHS then go and do something else!’ is so intensely stupid because we already have people leaving these professions in record numbers and pretty soon we’ll have none. I’m sure looking forward to seeing the Army drafted in to empty bedpans in the near future.

It’s wonderful some people get the perk of earning lots of money (for them), but don’t fool yourself it’s because of some special quality these people have. It’s not, it’s capitalism.

Oh sorry, you’re right. Those people don’t matter.

I earn a little less than you but similar. Earlier in the year I was complaining about lack of work and got 'oh you'll be busy soon enough' and I was. It's been a mad six months up until now. However what I find difficult is I have time sheets and I have to justify my time so when it's not busy I find it difficult to justify my time.

Ha! I’m angry at all those groups too, but equally angry at the greedy braggers on this thread taking huge salaries and doing sweet FA for the most part to earn it. Those people should be ashamed of themselves.

Always baffled by those posts... What do you do? As a part time teacher paid as a part time teacher but actually working full time (as in working at home to plan/ mark and all the rest on my days "off" because there's simply not enough time ), I'd love to know how people earn three times what I earn doing much less.

As someone else said upthread, I got into my current role after 25 years experience in the organisation. My direct colleagues have a similar number of years experience. It was a pre requisite of the job. It was also never advertised externally. So it’s not something where someone could quit their current job and walk straight into it.

I was most definitely not privileged in any way. I had a terrible upbringing and left school without a single qualification. I was a single mum by 20. But that gave me the impetus to get qualifications, work hard and get to where I am now. I made damn sure I built a good reputation and was seen as valuable. The one thing I did have that was out of my control was luck. There were a few “right place, right time” moments in my career.

Absolutely nurses, teachers, carers etc etc should be paid more. I don’t disagree with that at all. They’re not valued like they should be. I’m well aware that what I do makes very little difference to anyone.

As someone who feels physically broken when I get home, on a very low wage, this is a complete eye opener for me.

This thread has been an eye opener! Nurse of 20 years here, salary £34,500. Can't ever remember having a quiet day. Think I need to re-train.

@EmpressSoleil could I ask what job do you do?

I earn double what I did a year ago and I'm expecting a decent wage rise next year.

I don't do the day to day admin I used to do but I oversee and implement change to be more efficient and get teams working together. I've carved this role out myself and (modestly) I'm really making a difference.

The 'work' is different, I have my own deadlines and so can manage my own time. So I can have 'down' days but on the 'up' days I definitely more than earn my keep!

Sadly no. Teach full time. Struggle to eat my dinner and go to.loo. Usually out house 12 hours a dsy and regularly work in evening. Mske the most of it OP

Please name change and tell us what you do! Any advice for young women?

I’m a band 9 (just under £100k) in the NHS doing service transformation projects and I have days where I’m not busy and days where I am. My entire job is a joke and not really needed and I’d like to leave for something more meaningful but for now I’m enjoying a great work life balance, zero stress but a touch of boredom.

Well they certainly didn’t hire you for your modesty 🤣🤣🤣

Why should anyone be ashamed of themselves for training in something niche / valued to the point of being in this position? If you’re fortunate enough to be in that position why wouldn’t you?

lots of professions should be paid more highly, as a separate point

My whole department traditionally has its quietest period in Winter, when work changes from reactive to proactive

At the moment my 2 days wfh are more 'on call' days , I do very little but I'm around if needed. I'm supposed to work on projects or self guided learning, but there's a nod and a wink all the way up the chain that no questions are asked and no-one rocks the boat.

I tend to save what I do have to do for the office where is less easy to cover up your lack of work , but I still see people working short days with spurious excuses, and a lot of chatting and 'meetings ' happen.

I don't earn as much as some posters up-thread, but I reckon I still do 2 full days of work for 5 days pay.

They should only be ashamed of not telling us plebs which niche areas have a pay/work life balance like this.

Lots of teachers and nurses who seem to be sick of the disparity. Only fair to tell them where these holy grail jobs are so they can put their feet up for a change and stop needing food banks.

I've been a PA for 30 years in the private sector so am very familiar with how a lot of high-earning people work, as I look after their diaries. The posts in this thread are really NOT usual. I'm rolling my eyes at the 'I work 1 hour a day but I'm paid for what I know not my hours'. The management I have worked with do both the hours and the decision making, they are not mutually exclusive.

That’s not the point, and not the point that was made.

As I said before my DSis is a nurse. They system isn’t morally correct, but rain makers v’s drains, rain makers get the harvest.

@PallyRoe i agree teachers etc should be paid way more, but it’s not a case of just quit and then tomorrow walk into a WFH job £60k+…I worked for 15-20 years in lower paid very busy jobs before getting onto my current salary band. Better to educate people at 20-21 the careers to go into if they want lots of money - tech is an example. Or just pay teachers more!!!!

That’s exactly the point that was made. The people that medical professionals care for don’t make money (young/old/sick), ergo we don’t need to pay the workers more because their caring doesn’t generate any profit. Money = value. Right? Well, no actually: wrong in the extreme. Surprised you don’t see that truly disgusting viewpoint for what it is.

How about they put their talents to good use and improve society instead of just making loads of money for people who don’t need it? Just a thought, mind

I guess that's partly the point teachers and nurses HAVE worked incredibly hard for 20 years to get where they are... but it's blatantly not a fair race.

It's not a case of walking into a cushy job but wondering if it is possible to change after 20 years of developing skills and hard work - but in a far less well paid profession.

It's obviously isnt that one side has put the work in and the other hasn't.

It may be the case that its too late for an experienced professional to change to something that is less intense. (Usually a drop down than an increase!)

I am so envious of those working with so much slack in their week. No amount of hard work in my world will ever get to that point.

It would be helpful in advising my kids though. So many on this thread did well without the qualifications I have - did they know which professions would pay well as the ones I'm mostly aware of don't pay this kind of money (nhs/education!). And my girls aren't coders and at this rate doomed to be like me. Super academic but not sure how to turn that into well paid work!

It’s not my viewpoint, it’s how the western world works. If you want to change it, start an uprising. Seriously, political systems forge change, not getting upset on the internet.

People that create value, take it. Resources that are costs, get squeezed. How do you propose to change that?

I’m voting Lib Dem due to local candidate being excellent, never voted conservative, previously voted labour. Never started an uprising, but would listen.

@PallyRoe and others you’ve asked what jobs. Probably people don’t want to say as they will out themselves but here are some that would earn £60k+ and can WFH, using the tech industry as an example - product manager, product owner, project manager, programme manager, marketing manager, propositions manager, business analyst, data analyst. Go on glassdoor website and you can see the salaries…like I say though you’d need experience in the field to go in above entry level.