To think I can get an enjoyable wfh job that pays 100k without working evenings and weekends?

[2kidsnewstart]

I am currently a civil servant earning 80k pro rata'd to my 4 day a week part-time hours. Lots of benefits (pension etc) but due to the kind of role I am in I am expected to return to the office more.

That is difficult for me as last year me and the kids' dad split up (6dd and 2dd) meaning I can't afford additional £65 daily train fares to London on top of nursery fees plus all the other bills. We are 50:50 which I have realised is a very expensive way of splitting up!

Plus I leave before 7am and get home around 8pm so would have to find someone to look after the kids on my days in the office (my ex and I coparent very well but he can't always do childcare around my work all the time and we have no family nearby).

The civil service is great but I am 38 and feel like I could have a whole other career ahead of me and I wonder if there's an absolutely dreamy role that would be challenging but satisfying, well-paid, allow me to wfh and not require evenings and weekends?

AIBNU: No there's definitely that kind of role out there if you open your eyes/ retrain! (and please specify what kind of role!)

AIBU: That unicorn does not exist you should stay where you are!

It seems most wfh jobs are in IT so if you're in IT great, if not you need to train up so that might take some time.

Most office jobs are hybrid, so maybe a location change would help if it's nearer home. Not sure if you'll get the same salary, but no harm in looking!

Good luck.

Yes, but plenty of CS roles involve that sort of experience. It’s very common for civil servants not to recognise transferable knowledge and skills.

@Oblomov24 sorry but you're the one talking drivel. No one knows exactly what will happen but accountants are on the top lists of jobs that are likely to be replaced by AI eg in this (admittedly not very expansive) article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-jobs-at-risk-replacement-artificial-intelligence-ai-labor-trends-2023-02%3famp

The more senior and specialised you are the less likely you are to be replaced, but AI will be coming for pretty much all our jobs in the next few decades. Have you not seen that all thr AI experts are saying so many people will be out of work we will need a universal basic income? What makes you think accountants have some magic shield? 😂

Very similar to this - tax quals were very difficult but I'm now in industry, part time and flexible role and about 100k once bonus factored in (also mainly WFH with odd day in office, northern office). I've been doing this for about 17 years though (about 14 post qual) and had built up my experience enabling me to get this role.

I work in tech in a non technical role..Fully WFH roles are hard to find nowadays. Especially with that salary. Maybe sales, but they want you to have experience

There are Accountants that can accurately tell your past, those who can reliably tell your future and those who can do neither.
The first two groups make up a small minority of the profession, the latter can be replaced by AI ... or a brick more cheaply.

I WFH almost entirely and earn about that, though some of it is performance related so not guaranteed.
I never work weekends and work a 34 hour week.
But the benefits aren’t guaranteed in the private sector- so my pension etc is private not what you would get in the Civil service, though I do have all the bells and whistles of corporate, like private health, shares etc

Also no expectation to work evenings and I don’t unless I have skipped a morning to go running or something and am catching up. I’m measured on performance not whether or not Inam sat at my laptop at certain times .

@xile
I disagree. As valuable as AI is, it has its limits when it comes to efficient accounting. Clients still appreciate the human touch to their interactions. Even as AI develops more, I still don't think that will disappear completely.

My experience is that a salary like this while WFH comes after gaining some experience, not on day 1. I’ve earned this much WFH (am now in 2 days a week) but that’s because I have proven abilities and experience. I don’t think there are many options for a salary like this WFH as a new joiner.

OP, in your shoes I’d look at your options within the CS. Talk to your manager about the issue and see what might be possible. Also consider other parts of the CS where they don’t expect you to be in so often.

Also- and this depends on where you live and what part of the CS you are in- look into whether there is an office you could work in that’s more convenient than London. My dept allows people to work in any office and in fact working outside London is positively encouraged.

It’s doable - my husband is in finance, contractor, chooses what days/hours he works at earns a decent 6 figure. I’m in marketing (us markets) and just shy of this - I work horrendous American hours tho - marginally better than the apac time zones I was on before!

I have put YABU, as your present role sounds pretty damn good to me! I would hang onto it and see what happens.

Also, I wouldn't underestimate quite how tricky it is out there in the jobs market at the moment. The ability to work from home has hugely increased the 'reach' for each role. Jobs that used to only appeal to people within a reasonable commuting distance are now equally open to those who live a long way away i.e. if only 2 days are required in the office then it is worth their while to stay overnight or do a longer journey.

I follow a WfH jobs page on Facebook and it now has 206K followers! I can't imagine the number of people who apply for each job that is posted...In fact, I applied for one myself and at interview was told that they had had a 'tremendous response!' 😂

Great for the employer - as they get a huge field of applicants - but the odds are then against each individual applicant. This also increases the tendency to only want an applicant who has done precisely 'that' job before, rather than seeing potential or transferrable skills.

These are only my observations, but I have been job-hunting for a while and it feels quite different now to when I did so before in 2020/21.

A few thoughts:

Can you start up a side-business or money-making initiative alongside your present job?
Does your present role translate into another sector?
Are there any higher-level Civil Service or public sector jobs that you might be eligible for in less popular areas or departments?

Absolutely @BadSkiingMum. We put out a job recently at about £25k. One day in the office and got about 100 applications and loads of interest.

Apologies if I'm a bit incredulous about your salary/grade and yet you don't seem to be aware of the various options the civil service makes available to help witi work/life balance.

Flexible working schemes such as compressed hours which PP have mentioned.

Carer's passport/reasonable adjustments relating to caring for a child with additional needs. This would be the glaringly obvious one to explore if your main concern is the jump from 40% to 60% office attendance.

To name but a couple.

It just seems odd that you don't appear to have explored any of these before considering the nuclear option of leaving the CS where such flexibility is far less likely.

I’d love a job like this too!!!

Not true.. prisons pribation all public sector long hours and tough huge responsibikity too

Speaking as a Civil Servant - This is incorrect.

Do you mind me asking what kind of role you have in cyber security? Is it technical? What training was required?

I disagree with this. Civil service roles can have huge budget and line management responsibility for a fraction of the salary you would receive in the private sector.

Yes, program management or digital marketing. But you will need a few yeara under your belt to get to this salary and level of flexibility. But yes, I earn this and more and dont work evenings or weekends, and pick my kids up every day as hours can be flexible and work is outcome based rather than number of hours. As long as my work is complete and i attend meetings that are scheduled then I can manage my time how I like, noone tracks me or looks at when I log in. It took me 10 years to get to this point though you can do it in less.

This!

I’m thinking of the teachers and doctors working horrendous hours and teachers in particular not earning a fraction of this salary! I’m astounded by you OP. Sorry, but I really am…

Also because the doctors code the patients. Or the nurse, professional or care coordinator. We all code as we go

Plus working for Big 4 saps your soul and you’d end up in therapy 😂. (Just my experience but nothing is worth that!)

So entitled and privileged. What you could do is downgrade to AO level and still wfh lol