To ask how much work you actually and honestly do if you’re highly paid? I am worrying!

[workworkbaby]

I’m on 58k. I know it’s not huuuge money, but it’s decent. Honestly, I do very little. I worry all the time about job security and have mentioned to managers I have capacity to do more etc. Sometimes more will land and other times not. As I work largely from home I often find myself just hanging around. I wonder if this is common? I have a toddler in nursery so I can collect them early sometimes which I love so I’m not complaining but I do worry… anyone else?

Oh, I wish….a big wage with some spare capacity…

No I work about 5 hours a week but am always 'on' if that makes sense

I earn slightly more. It’s not a big salary in my industry. I have periods where I’m crazy busy, but much of the time I’m not.

My husband earns a lot more, and his job is the same - busy sometimes but not all the time. But he works for a multinational company and can sometimes get calls in the middle of the night, so swings and roundabouts.

6 figures - fairly stressful, energy sector travel monthly. Know someone on 7 figures, works 10/12 hours a day travels a lot more.

£70k for 4 day week. Manically busy and stressed - mostly picking up after other teams as my team is the pointy end. I keep threatening to work to rule but can't bring myself to do that to the clients,

I worked in tech/creative industries in London on the salary had almost nothing to do everyday. I was kept employed and available for when my skillset was needed. Those few odd emails, phonecalls and meeting were important and I was the only person who contributed what I did. A head of tech once said he's employed for the one emergency per year.

Personally I found it soul-destroying and anxiety inducing even though I knew I was lucky. However I stuck with it avd eventually was headhunted into a role which pays double and where I am learning and being challenged each day.

Prior to that I was working my backside off to get there.

I'm on 65k but bit more when you add bonus - £70-75k. I was rammed in my previous role which was also at a lower level so it does feel a bit strange to have so much capacity and be paid more. I spend a lot of time in meetings though so I'm 'busy' but not productive. I do worry about it but I'd worry more if I was my boss who is earning huge money and isn't a good leader (hence me not working to capacity). When I'm feeling particularly worried I remind myself that I've been in my industry over 20 years and can turn my hand to most roles as I have a wide skill set.

£77k and most of the time very little, I am waiting for a new admin person in my team so currently quite busy while covering but more often than not I can leave my teams on and go back to bed for long periods with not much impact. I have a huge amount of experience in my field so I can come up with ideas and implement them quickly and efficiently and I really understand the role well so I justify that my salary is for my knowledge and expertise rather than my ability to run myself ragged every day. Though in all honesty I have never really found any job I've done has ever made me particularly busy

£100k and work hard with frequent trips away from home.

But get time back and have good annual leave.

Surely though your skill set must come into play. As long as you have tackled whatever you have that's fine. Only so many people can do the work. That's why the pay is good.another thread like this not long ago !

I’m finding this thread oddly reassuring. I’ve recently moved into a new role (50k + and more than I ever thought I would earn). It involved moving up a couple of levels and I’ve been a bit surprised by how relaxed I feel most of the time. When it’s busy it’s busy but a lot of my time is spent planning and making sure my team can do the actual work which is a lot less hectic than previous roles. There are many meetings and many emails to deal with but it’s a strange transition to planning and facilitating from actually doing. I’m paid to be available and to lead/be strategic but with less day to day.

For context it’s taken 20+ years of slogging my guts out in all sorts of ways. Was staring to think it was just me!

Not the point of the thread, but this was interesting. When I read “I am single” I thought “phew, she has no dependents, no big deal if she has to find a new job” - whereas you’re obviously saying “I have nobody to carry me if I lost my job”.

Single or not, you should always have a minimum of 3-6 months of normal expenditure in the bank for just this eventuality! (Or however many months you think it would take you to find a new job). You’re single and can presumably control your finances alone. Maybe this will help you feel less worried?

(Appreciate not everyone has this luxury, but a single woman with no dependents on over £50k should be able to manage this over time, ordinarily)

I've just left a job where I was paid well but had very little to do. It was wfh all the time and it was driving me mental feeling guilty for not having anything much to do, but yet unable to go out or do something else because the phone might ring and because I would have felt bad for not being at work. It began to affect my self esteem really badly as I felt like a fraud-despite having asked for extra work. The whole company was full of people the same-then talking themselves up during meetings-but when you really considered what they had said, the work didn't amount to much. So odd.
I'm going back to a job where I will be very busy indeed I think and back in an office. I may live to regret it!!

I work 80 hour weeks for £43 000. It kills me.

What have I just read from the OP post to this point!! Tbh I’m disgusted.

I work in the NHS, always over hours, always under paid for the hours worked, salary is shit, never get breaks, I don’t even go for a wee some days and end up with migraines because I haven’t had time for a drink. But do you know what I absolutely love it!!

Don’t get me wrong I would love a better salary and better work conditions. But I bloody love working hard. I feel like the NHS is so shit at the moment (from the inside and using it as a patient) but I’m surrounded by people getting stuck in, stretching themselves WELL over capacity, and giving it their best.

There is something so satisfying about going to work, working your arse off with other people also working their arses off, and getting the job done. Moral is shit. But we are in that shit together.

I wouldn't swap that for OPs job. Isn’t it dull?

If I was still working I’d be on similar to the OP in higher education. I managed a department of around 28 people, supposedly 40 hours per week. I never did less than 60, was never off duty, and continually told I should be doing better. I rarely took a lunch break, and was often covering for two or three staff on long term sick leave. I was responsible for official returns on which depended the financial future of the institution. Finally, I was forced out by the stress and my poor health. It is so unfair that some people feel so under employed, when my and my family’s lives were ruined by the demands put upon me and my colleagues.

@Raincloudsonasunnyday i have a toddler

Just shy of 30k and work my ass off. 45 hours aswell. Just reading all your comments and thinking what the hell am I doing wrong? Guess it's my line work . Admin. Sounds simple but it is a heavy workload, high pressured, quick paced. I don't think many other admin jobs would pay much more though? New career path for me if I had the time to learn a new skill set.

@CalMeKate i get where you are coming from. I used to work in a job like that (also nhs) and I loved it. I wouldn’t swap it for that now because of the money, though.

18k and I do not stop. I left a teaching job for my sanity but found it very hard to find a job that wants a teachers skill set.

I am currently in bed feeling unwell from overwork.

The world is backwards.

Do they pay you for what you know (expertise) rather than what you do?"

oh gosh, I'm embarrassed 😳 Sorry for being presumptuous!

@Raincloudsonasunnyday it’s ok, you make a good point about savings though, currently have 2k to my name! Something else I need to address

Rather than saying you have capacity - maybe try something like… I would be interested to get involved in a project/ stretch myself a bit/ learn something new
that way you are not pointing out that they don’t really need you, but might also get the chance to broaden your knowledge base, which might help if there are redundancies or new job opportunities.
do some diary surfing and find out what is going on, then try to get involved.
continuous improvement - tick
curious and agile - tick
pro-active - tick

60k and currently at 150% capacity which is why I’m hiring 2 x juniors (although I don’t think 40k is “junior”) once they are trained I’m mail be busy but will be doing high level work which is a lot of talking and delegating.