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 work with a good few senior managers in the council who are distressed, overworked and on the verge of burnout.

I'd love to know what sector and what role this is, blooming heck I always chose health and pastoral care roles long hours, often outside of official times and sometimes 6 days a week if needed for little pay (even though rewarding work in many other ways). I'll be looking to return properly to full time work or study when my youngest goes to school I might pick up something in this industry 😂 are you civil service by any chance?

Whilst everyone knows the song,
"There's only one Cornetto"
it doesn't apply to LizTruss,
there's a whole bucket of us.

Stem degree, phd, academia then move across to the corporate world, bit of time in tech startups, management, then reversing out of that sharpish to strategy.

I make high six figures, I have days / weeks where I’m flat out and others where there is hardly anything to do.
I work in financial services in a COO type role and have 20 years experience. It’s mostly that experience that means I can get my job done efficiently.
I am responsible for legal / compliance / finance functions so the pay compensates for the responsibility.
I sacrificed a lot in the start, always worked evenings and weekends and didn't always take my holiday allowance. Had short maternity leave.
I work from home 4 days a week, am able to do school runs, exercise, etc.
I feel incredibly guilty and I’m often really bored and feel I’m underutilised and could be doing more.
BUT I’ve had a very stressful personal life, poor health and I’m a single parent, so mostly I think fuck it, I’m going to enjoy the freedom and the money.
I think I’ve mostly been very lucky and found a great company that’s always been progressive with flexibility etc.

What's your job??

In my role, I’m like OP but - I manage my own work, I have no-one reporting to me, and am measured in revenue.
I’m paid because there’s not a single issue or problem that come up with our clients that I either haven’t experienced before or I can’t solve. My job is easy because of experience, and I run my part so smoothly that I bring in new clients All the time.

there are just lots of jobs in the private sector like this! It’s like the difference between a newly qualified teacher who has to do every lesson plan from scratch and a seasoned lecturer who has everything at their finger tips, knows how to manage a class and can adapt quickly.

I’d say I ‘work’
2-3 hours per day tops.

I used to say, its easy when things are going well, its straightforward when things are going badly, the skill, for which you are paying me, is seeing when things could go wrong and preventing it.

All the ppl muttering darkly about being 'found out' and sacked dont get the idea of being paid for your skills rather than hours, and they wont GET a job like this until they do.

Last job I had, I hit 100% of my annual target within months and delivered a further 75% on top. Theyre not going to sack their biggest cash cow 🤣 job before that I delivered record breaking sales for the company, smashing every singke target given easy peasy. no way was i getting sacked!

I've now just got a £12k pay rise to deliver technical advice rather than sales; its bliss.

This is what my job is like too. Sometimes I’m mad busy but I think it’s only about 25% of the time. More often than not I have plenty time to shop, cook, clean, do laundry and run the kids around. I have a lot of experience & expertise in my niche technical field and I always make sure I’m available if there’s a crisis so I guess that’s partly what I get paid for!

This makes sense

people keep posting without explaining why they are paid a lot and it confuses me.

that said, my sister doesn't have specialist skills and she complains of having nothing to do and reckons I picked the wrong career (solid, visible, frequent deliverables).

I would love a job like that 🙂, though I have no idea how secure it is.
I've only recently been able to manage my workload in a normal 9-5 day as the size of the team was doubled. Before that I had to work evenings/weekends -unpaid - just to get everything done & for £27k. I'm so much looking forward to retirement next year lol.

But I've got 12 years of skills & experience.. just happens to be in caring for people which is where I went wrong clearly. & I did have a better paid job for a few years before a long psychotic episode cost me my career.
Now I just keep getting ill if I work too long hours & mix with too many people which I need to do to earn more.

So seriously what kind of roles / qualifications do I need to do that are low stress & higher income than 20k pa?? I'm mid 40s. So got to work for another 23 ish years.

Whereas I earn under 30k even after a significant increase and work my arse off for every hour of my contracted time in horticulture

Must be nice to be given money for having a bath.

My job sounds similar. I don’t worry about it.

I also want one of these jobs 😄.

I'm reasonably well paid, but I have to work my hours+, and I also have a lot of responsibility.

My job is same OP. Same salary and very little to do. I have same joy/panic going on but if it doesn’t pan out then i’ll just get something else!

Interesting... I'm a freelancer earning next to nothing, but my DH is on about 90k, plus a bonus every year, as a software developer, and he is flat out with work. He even gets called on at night to deal with urgent incidents on the website. He has to work late most evenings and often gets only one very short break during the day. I didn't really know it was normal to do less work the more you earn, it's certainly not our experience.

This. DH worked himself to the bone ( I don't think he's very good at stopping working or doing ' just enough' or saying ' sorry I have to go, I have kids/ family stuff to do) similar salary. He worked really hard to set up a project single handedly that got an award for the business, and was still made redundant. So you don't owe these people anything. If they want you to do more, it's up to them to say so.

Hi OP, I’m in a similar position. On low 6 figure salary and do not work particularly hard. On some occasions work can be VERY stressful (client deadlines and difficult clients), but only 2-3 times (couple of weeks max) in the last 10 years. On paper, work a 35-hour week, from home every day. But usually it’s less than that.

Ad long as you’re as busy as everyone else, then I wouldn’t worry. About 5 years ago there was a team not working hard at all (no work to do, so not their fault) but a few got made redundant. So as long as the business is viable, and you’re adding value, I would t worry.

I'm NHS, don't recognise any of this 😖.
Ward sister level. Working myself to an early grave, literally couldn't give any more, work on average 1.5hours a day unpaid, burned out 2 years ago and close to that again, for £43k.

My DC are mainly in tech (Thank goodness, 2 of them are early 20s and already on over £50k)

I earn 63k, public sector and very busy!

I’d be bored, I’ve had jobs where its quiet and the time drags and I have zero job satisfaction

But that IS a lot of responsibility so enjoy your salary
Same for everyone else in this thread in a similar position (Lucky ducks!)