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?

I earn similar and do all my work within 1-3 days per week (am employed full time). It's skilled work that few people can do, and I'm fast at it. My work comes from external clients so I can't simply create more to fill an arbitrary number of hours.

I do worry about losing my job but that's because I'm the sole earner, not because I don't work myself to the bone. I've taken on extra responsibilities outside my role so nobody can say the company doesn't get value from me.

I was once made redundant (not becaue of my performance) and I had another job within 3 days.

I'm similar but I earn much more. I look at it that on the days that the pressure is really on that I am earning the company for which I work very significantly more than my annual salary. The main thing is that you keep yourself marketable and if it did blow up in your face, you move.

You’re not being paid for the 8 hours you might expect to work on paper. You’re being paid for the decade + of experience you have that means they can trust you to deliver at crunch time.

it’s a strange thing to shift, in any industry, away from justifying the cost-benefit of every hour of work to having enough expertise + confidende that you can steady the ship for other people - it feels like less work to you - but you’d be much harder to replace than people lower down the rungs who are still getting their 10,000 hours.

My salary is also £70k and it's by far the easiest job I've ever had. I spend a lot of time in the office pretending to work and at home doing nothing at all. I don't like it.

I'm paid for the responsibilit, not the workload though.

I’m on half that (training salary at present, so it will go up a bit in a couple of months) and feel dreadfully stressed that I’m not flat out. I have to find busy work constantly! Today I had to come and ‘work from home’ at lunchtime because I was literally sat in the office looking at my phone. We are going through an unusually quiet period though.

50K, my workload peaks and troughs. Some weeks I am sweating from stress, and then I have weeks where i do bugger all. My employer knows this though, which is why we have a output based approach to our working hours. When its quiet I drop DD off at nursery, go swimming and to the shops before logging on at 11, hour lunch break nap then finish at 4 LOL.
I am paid for my experience, not to work hourly.

Bloody hell my partner is on NMW and every minute is monitored. One rule for the plebs.

Yes that's exactly it. I actually enjoy the days where the pressure is full on much more than the workaday days so I guess in a way I could be saying that my employer is selling me short as I get a bit bored. But on balance it works for both of us.

I’m similar. The last few months have been absolutely horrific though. So now I’m taking the calm and enjoying it before it all kicks off again! We work on a flexi time basis and so we are actively encouraged to take the time back in the quieter times.

Except industries can not fill many lower paid jobs.

Do any of you mind sharing what you do? I am a teacher and while I love the job itself I have massive regrets when reading what some of you are getting paid for so little work.

No criticism of anyone who has managed to luck out in this way, but when I'm running a private tutoring business evenings and weekends and marking exams papers every spare second for a bit of extra cash on top of my job it makes me feel sick at my choices.

And it will.still be teachers getting called.lazy money grabbers in the press if we dare to ask for more.

Again, not having a pop at anyone else - fair play to you!

Thank you for replying to me and providing those examples. I thought it must be in the corporate world. Maybe it should be part of my 5 year plan to change sectors 😂 it starts with knowing what's out there though so thanks as I couldn't actually imagine what pp were on about, due to lack of knowledge.

I find the more i earn the less i do day to day, BUT i'm being paid for years of experience and specialist knowledge, not hours of fingers attached to a keyboard.

I had a job like that - it didn't last for me. 😭

What are these jobs please and how do I get one?!?!?!

IME its more the industry than the type of job, plus your experience!

FWIW I am an EA in a creative industry. No qualifications but 20 years experience. My workday would look very different if I worked in a different industry though!

Perhaps OP is having a bath or a nap?! 😉 This is alien to me. I work flat out all day for a charity for relatively low pay despite long experience and high qualifications. I'd find it very uncomfortable and would be asking for more work!

I’m in a similar position & same salary. I’m watching a lot of Wimbledon this week 😂. Just make the most of it. I certainly do & never get bored. I have plenty at home to keep me busy anyway. My role is very secure, but obviously this will be different depending on your sector.

I'm in Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions. I sacrificed a lot earlier in my career. I spent all of my twenties and most of my thirties working like mad, often 18 hour days and not knowing what continent I would be on from week to week. Now I am in more of an advisory role although at key points in projects, it is still sleeves up to make it happen. The stakes are very high if it doesn't happen and it's a lot of pressure. I didn't enjoy the pressure when I was younger but I am much more confident now and find that I take it all in my stride and actually enjoy it.

@maxelly mine is a corporate role, one I was headhunted for over 10 years ago. I was originally hired full time but took a step back to raise my children. I've done the long hours and London commute, earned my place and now have a good amount of flexibility, completely remote part time. There's an element of trust, I get the job done and things wouldn't tick along if I didn't. Every now and then the sh*t hits the fan and I'll pull an all nighter .. I enjoy what I do and that's what matters most.

I realise no one will want to say exactly what the roles are, but some clues might be helpful for the overworked among us… 😂

I want a job like this but am sadly not clever enough 😂

I'm a consultant sales director covering a few countries in Europe
I earn around £100k and average around 15-20 hours a week, remote work

Some weeks can be much busier - product launches twice a year and times when I'm travelling (although I love travel)

20+ years experience in the sector gave me the contacts & reputation which means I can manage numerous distributors/retailers and millions of $/£ by working smarter, not harder

In balance, tbf during some of the early years I was working my arse off for 60 hours a week and had a couple of horrible redundancies, so no - I don't feel remotely guilty that I am reaping the benefits now!

Oh - and I have no A Levels or degrees. Started work at 15, moved into this sector (Beauty) when almost 30 and got headhunted a few times

Enjoy it OP

I worry the same, but tbh my job is split into two parts:

1. Dealing swiftly and certainly whilst working very hard to deal with significant compliance issues - which would cost ££££/day to be outsourced, and could cost ££££££££ if handled incorrectly. It would take an external person longer to get up to speed. Once a month or less.
2. Pootling along doing my own long term compliance work that nobody is interested in until I point out it's essential/cost saving. 75% of the working day.
3. Showing up to long meetings to say yes/no/maybe, let me check about compliance.

They need me around at the drop of a hat, and I add a lot of value.

I also get to bum around the house, do training courses I'm interested in and generally make my life a bit easier.

I honestly didn’t realise this was a thing! Enjoy it while you can definitely.