Leaving a corporate job

[purpleflowersfordays]

I’m so fed up with my corporate job despite being able to work from home full-time and it being extremely well paid for what I do.

Don’t get me wrong it’s handy when I have a doctors appt and to be at home for the dog but my god I’m so fed up with everything at work and often sit there in a state of paralysis or swearing at my screen. If I’m honest I think I’m verging on some kind of depression with it all as it’s soul destroying.

Everything is ‘urgent’ and needs dealing with now and I’m expected to just drop everything because the boss needs something as there’s been a sudden change in priorities.

My pension is amazing with a 27% employer contribution and if I’m honest it’s the only thing that’s kept me there so long. I’ve done it for 10 years and all I do recently is count down the days to the weekend and it feels like I’m wishing my life away.

I fantasise about doing something like working for Royal Mail and being outdoors a lot or even working with dogs.

AIBU if I leave and get a couple of easy going part-time jobs?

If you’ve left a corporate job, what did you do and how did you go about making it work?

I’d do it if you can afford to, OP. You only get one life.

I feel you, OP. I'm currently also looking for jobs that have office time as working 100% from home is destroying me. My firm used to pay for regular office visits but has now stopped, and my performance and motivation have basically fallen through the floor.

The jobs I'm applying for involve pay cuts but for me it's worth it to lose a bit of income and feel happier. I'm hoping if I'm successful that I'll be able to work back up again a bit in time.

If you're CS, is there no possibility of a new role with a more locally based set of colleagues? I do understand your issue - I live not far from an office I could go to daily but no one I work with is based there so it ends up feeling pointless. I miss the inconsequential chats between meetings so much, and dressing in a slightly different way because I'm leaving the house, and the mental separation of the journey to and from work. I've done some CS work recently and the team I worked alongside were all being made to go into the office 60% of the time but then doing all their work on Teams as they were all over the country, so it felt like no improvement at all.

This is amazing! Can I ask if you have a longer term goal? Curious because I have been seriously considering an Access to HE in Nursing, are you thinking of doing similar?

Thank you, this is completely correct.

We have some lovely customers but we also have quite a few who are extremely rude and entitled! You literally have to manage expectations and bite your lip.

I wanted to add to the comment about working for charities.

I have done that for quite while and I must say many are simply awful. Usually it is because of inefficient and bullying Boards and CEOs and that toxic culture then trickles down and affects everyone in the organisation.

I have seen so much time and money wasted on politics and vanity projects in that sector. Also dodgy fundraising tactics.

The current charity I work for is toxic and has the worst staff turnover I have ever seen. Pay is not good enough to attract and keep staff and the toxicity also means people don't stay very long.

I have had enough to the point where it is affecting my mental health and I am planning to leave by Christmas.

So if anyone considers working for charities you really need to carefully research the organisation and their impact.

I think some people are starry eyed about certain jobs. There are stressors and negatives in every job. Florists have to deal with bridezillas which must be awful.

The trick is finding the job that you can deal with the negatives and what that is is extremely subjective.

I love my job now as work for myself, I deal with people uses my skills and is lucrative. But the downsides are The Fear of making a mistake and being sued. There is always a fly in the ointment.

You and me both!

I left a senior corporate job last year (after 16 years) through voluntary redundancy and took over a coffee shop. No regrets although it's a marathon not a sprint and an initial pay cut but I'm hoping to get back to what I used to earn in another 12 months. I'm more present for my kids, and no longer tied to my laptop. It's hard work but the difference is that it is my business rather than just being a cog in a massive machine. The burnout in my last job was tough and my priorities had changed.

Could you look for a lateral move within the civil service, a different department maybe? My team are all over the country too, but the local office is what you make it - can you join or start a site based club there, or even just make a point of getting to know other folk not in your section who are also there to chat to between the endless Teams calls? If you need to be around folk to be happy, you may have to build that group yourself - certainly it's easier to do as a first step before leaving altogether.

My wife and I went from working for a bank and an insurance company respectively to being a cleaning and gardening partnership... mostly domestic. We were fortunate with timing in that we both took redundancy when offered. Wife in 2007 and me 2009.

I actually went part time first and used that to build the business/reputation. We knew we had a good target market in the town we live in. I ended up working 70+hours a week in the summer and my wife 40+....but the relief of not putting up with the bs, not having to bully others to their job, not worrying every time there was a restructure.

Financially you cut your cloth accordingly. We have always been savers (which meant I retired at 55 and my wife's just working for her nice customers as she's not ready to finish). You don't eat out as much, you don't buy clothes (not going to the office every day helped) and you budget.

The only thing that could have been an issue for me was social interaction as I was working alone. So I budgeted to be able to go to the pub a couple of times a week after work for one or two pints.

You'll know better than me but would either of the following fly?

1. Managing upwards. Dear Boss, absolutely I can do x, but that would mean dropping [previous urgent thing you dumped on me]. I'll prioritise x, but that will shift my delivery time for y.
2. Just not giving a fuck. You're stressed because you're expected to care about whether this, that or the other gets done on time or whatever other performance metric. Imagine it happening in a shoebox that you are looking into. Do what you can, leave the rest, sod it.

(Left corporate life, now run a small charity)

Are you me ? I have same job setting and I feel exactly the same and fantasise about being a postie or dog walker. I feel your pain !!!

I fantasise about being a postie too.
I just don't really know what i want to do but just emailing all day is sucking the life out of me.

Hi OP, I am in a very similar position. WFH mainly, and the days I go in the office are pointless as my direct colleagues are in other areas of the country. I’m well paid but the job bores me to tears and upward moves don’t take my fancy and the politics would be even worse.

The only real pulls wage aside as such keeping me there are the generous pension and if redundancy came around I’d receive a reasonable amount.

I have come to the realisation though that staying for those reasons is silly - life is too short to sit around counting down the days to the weekend.

I am going to take some qualifications (self funded) which will allow me to explore a customer facing role (specialism) which whilst an initial wage drop has decent long term prospects. More importantly though, I’ll be around people and not stuck at home.

I wish you well x

Believe me you will be thankful for your civil service pension

OP I found myself in the exact same situation as you. I can’t comment figures as you haven’t quoted exactly but I’ve just gone from a strategic management role within local government to an operational role as a local area coordinator, £8k per year pay drop. I’m a single mother of 3 and it was such a hard decision to make but I needed to be happy.

i need to be ‘boots on the ground’ helping people. I’ll make cuts where I can and just hope happiness will help my little family too.

Sounds like you are burnt out. Can you take a career break to consider your options carefully?