Doing very little for this salary? Panic

[Greenwip]

I’m earning close to 70k. I do have times where I am worked to the bone and very stressed (maybe 7 days since start of the year so averaging one day a month). The rest of the time I work 90% of the time from home and have naps, a bath, food shop etc in between a few emails and remote meetings. It sounds great and sometimes it is but I am constantly worried about job security. I wonder if this is more common than I think?

Make the most of it for sure!!

My neighbour earns a similar amount. He works from home and he's in his garden all day mowing the lawn, planting flowers, running etc.

He definitely isn't earning his wage, but I would do the same if I could

Similar here. My value is in my experience and management of others. I can deal with something in 15 minutes that might take others in the firm a couple of hours.

I know a woman working from home who balances two very well paid jobs with young kids and a house renovation. So no, you’re not alone.
She worked really hard to get where she is, but now even she admits she abuses both positions. If you had to be in an office this would never happen.

Same. 6 years working FT whilst studying for my degree and been in job 20 years, worked to the bone every day, public sector, no thanks, crap environment, (school) + its run down, council doesn’t look after building, staff room closed due to mice infestation, rarely take a lunch break and shit salary. If I make it to retirement apparently I must be grateful for my final salary pension.

When AI kicks in a lot of people are in for a shock.

I think its only common on here, most people i know work for less and have heavy work load and those that have a higher salary have an even bigger work load , with the odd exceptions.is it the same for all in your organisation or just some.

I don’t work any more (and dh is a high earner but works hard) so I can’t talk really but I think threads like this can really affect people’s mental health and to feel like failures when actually I don’t think it is ‘normal’. It’s not the average experience to get a high salary for doing very little. Young people reading this shouldn’t think that will happen! Who knows who is just lying and some replies just read like humble brags. Most are saying ‘oh yes me too’ - really?? With so many struggling for money it seems a tad tone deaf. I’ll wait to be slammed 😂.

this is the problem with posts like this - it feels like everyone has it easy, earning high sales for little work but in reality there are more in your position, they just aren’t replying to this thread (don’t have time 😂). You are in a difficult but incredibly important job and yes it’s unfair in comparison but please don’t see this thread as being representative of the majority.

@dontcryformeargentina I think it’s much more likely in the private sector having worked in both!

@CalmMintReader I'm not young sadly, career changer

i suspect I have colleagues with your work ethic, OP and it doesn’t go unnoticed. To succeed in my work environment you need to be self-motivated but there’s a small group who just wait to be asked or told what to do. We mainly work from home and some people clearly take the piss. I personally work very hard, but I might have the odd off day when things are quiet. I have napped at work but only in the very late stages of pregnancy when I was still working full time on high pressured projects. I take flexibility to attend appointments etc but within reason and without leaving others to pick up the slack. When my work felt a bit quiet, I volunteered and took on some CV boosting projects in the charity sector, and did courses to improve my skill base. I didn’t start bathing in the middle of the day.

I'm glad its working for you, not all people who Wfh have such a cushy time, and I'm more productive at home as I don't want to lose the massive benefit of wfh.

So enjoy it, but don't take the proverbial p...

More likely, something in IT. A friend works from home, on a six-figure salary and seems to manage to take the kids to and from school, dentist appointments etc and still seems relaxed about timekeeping during the working day, even popping round to me for a cuppa carrying the work laptop “just in case something urgent pops up”.

Its not about what you DO its about what you KNOW.

Ah, the older gen complaining about the work ethic of younger gen’s… some things don’t change!!!
30 years ago someone in my role would have been expected to come and sit at a desk 9-5pm regardless of how productive they actually were at that desk. And to spend a day or two a week travelling to clients face to face all over Europe.
I can’t BEGIN to tell you how much more productive I am now that I don’t have to spend a day or 2 travelling to Paris or Stockholm for an hour long client meeting - when instead Everyone is happy to do a video call.
Or going into an office even 2-3 days a week to be dragged into to endless meetings just because I am there…

I have a job like this but for more money. Sometimes i feel bad about it but then I ask myself if the people below me in the organisation could do my job. They couldn't. I have one person who I would recommend succeed me but even she doesn't have the depth or breadth of knowledge that I have. Ultimately, it's supply and demand. I am remote, and again that's because my employer couldn't find anyone for the role in the area they are based. To get a job like mine, you need to get yourself into the projects where you're learning. However, I think a lot of it is also behavioural. I know how to play the politics. When to make a noise, when to keep quiet. When to raise an alarm, when to bury the shit. I don't get worked up or perturbed. Even when its bullshit, i'll say once that this is bullshit then I'll move forward. I give my bosses what they want. I know when not to do something even when given an explicit instruction to do that thing. I am unrelentingly positive but also as truthful as possible. I manage my team well so they perform and have a good reputation. I keep everything moving basically. I'm not sure how many people have that ability? Certainly in the managers I mange, it's rare to have one who 'gets it'.

Also that poster doesn't seem to have understood that the ones getting paid well for roles like OPs are not likely to be the people the general public have the phone numbers of and can't get through to when they ring. Those will be customer service staff.

How Does one go about getting a job like this? Asking for a friend

I’m not. I deal with people and the kind of subtleties that AI won’t replace for a very long time. I actually work with AI.

Ironically the people who need to worry are the ones who are working like dogs right now, drowning in admin, in calls, in meetings… in report writing, or analysing reports, in comms, writing strategy while trying to manage their team’s development and personal stuff like holidays, cover etc

One gets a lot of experience in an area that people can be very snobby about - like sales, account management ( that’s across industries BTW) -
I’ve yet to find a profession where people don’t, for whatever reason, look down on the people who actually bring in the revenue.
Do that - whether it’s in IT, Tech, Education, Charity, Publishing, Hospitality etc and you will find yourself on a decent salary PLUS performance related pay which is what can really boost salaries.

Of course I understand that but those above them - however many tiers above - are not doing their job and ensuring those lower down are doing their job if they are too busy doing non-job related stuff. There would be no point in having their number, they will be in the bath!

No - many of the younger generation work hard and do a brilliant job. The messages on here though suggest that some think it is ok to do very little for their wages. It is great that you are more productive, as was I when I WFH but I did do my full hours. With the time I saved, I did all the things that I never had time for when in the office. The one thing I did not do was have a bath/school run/nails etc.

Well, no.

For one thing, there's nothing to suggest OP or people with the sort of work patterns mentioned have any responsibility at all for the management of customer service staff. It's an assumption with no basis to it at all. Let's say OP is in eg IT or compliance. There may not be any staff of the type you mention in her organisation, and even if there are, she may have literally nothing to do with them.

Then secondly, customer service recruitment is tough at the moment. Some managers are incompetent, no doubt. But part of the problem is that the labour market is tight and these jobs aren't very attractive. It's harder to recruit people than it used to be. Some managers will know they don't have a lot of levers to pull if staff take the piss. It gets a lot harder to manage people if both you and they know you don't have better options.

OP clearly knows that they are not pulling their weight as far as their job is concerned - hence the post. I was a manger of staff before I retired - yes sometimes it was difficult to recruit staff so I and others filled the gap. I was well paid sometimes to do fairly low-level stuff but it was my responsibility to ensure everything that needed to be done was done. I asked the question before but did not get an answer - how would you feel if this post was written my someone in the public sector - your taxes pay their wages?

Am assuming this was to me and the quote messed up. If not, as you were.

The fact that you were paid to fill in various gaps tells us nothing about OPs role. In particular, it doesn't tell us that she has anything whatsoever to do with management of customer service staff. It's a really odd assumption. You can't possibly think your role managing staff is the default for all well paid people?

I don't care whether OP is in the public sector or not. If she is, it still doesn't mean she manages customer service staff.