For staying in easy, low stress job and not working the hours I’m paid for

[BleedinEck]

I’ve been with my company 5 years. I can do my job with my eyes closed and although I’m paid for a 40 hour week, I reckon I’m genuinely fully. productive for 25 max 30 hours each week. I’ll always take on extra projects or work that’s offered, but the role is what it is and when I’m focused, I work quickly and efficiently. I’m usually logged on for most of the day bar a slightly extended lunch or earlier finish occasionally, just not always working and rarely flat out. No concerns about my performance.

Is it really bad that I continue like this? I Absolutely love the flexibility I’m afforded- I can walk the dog when I want, keep on top of the house, meet a friend for a coffee, flex my hours to suit and have zero stress. It can be boring stretching out the work so I’m doing a PT course and have added a side hustle recently to supplement my income as pay isn’t great. And there’s my dilemma - shit pay and no chance of career progression. I’m 52 so feel I'm at crossroads and need to decide.

YABU: move on. you’re stagnating & taking the piss.
YANBU: you are doing the job asked of you and are lucky to have so much flexibility. You’d be mad to give it up.

It sounds absolutely ideal. Enjoy it.

Use your 'free time' to learn new skills and get new qualifications. Once you're armed with those (i.e. have more CV fodder with which to apply for new roles), revisit the decision.

Thanks for your honesty. So many people 'wfh' & do this in varying degrees but don't admit it.
It's irrelevant that you work hard /complete and take on extra projects etc

You get no extra pay for years of experience so may as well take the time it affords you. If you’re still ambitious though I’d move on

It’s fine. Plenty of ‘full time’ jobs have a lot of downtime tbh, you’re just not supposed to admit it.

You rarely get brownie points for being efficient - just rewarded with more work. When I used to work in an office, I would be the same. I could get the whole working week’s tasks done in a few days! I used the rest of my time doing admin tasks like comparing mortgages/insurance/utilities, doing an online shop, etc. I’d often just leave early too!

Its a time V outcome question

I am more inclined to be focused on the fact that you do the tasks quickly to a high quality in the role you are being paid for rather than time it takes for you to do it.

If you are getting the work done and taking on extra tasks the organisation is getting what it pays for.

Once you are not hiding your downtime or claiming to be rushed off your feet when you are not its up to your manager to come up with the extra work to fill in the extra time. Sometimes the management have allowed redundancy into roles to cover busy periods or there was an expansion plan which did not work out.

So work away

For me the answer to this depends on are you single or in a relationship and if you're in a relationship how you divide fiances. If you're single -crack on. If you're in a relationship I think it only really works of you both put the same effort into supporting the family as the other (whether it's career effort or housework). If your partner is working their socks off to support the family and you are coasting I think that's a bit rum.

I'm a bit similar except that I'm more or less happy with my salary. I do my work to a high standard and never keep people waiting or let them down. I'm rarely 'flat out' busy at work and never ever start early or finish late. I keep my head down but happily help others or provide cover when needed. I don't moan about workload.

I WFH a lot and am so grateful for the chance to put a wash on or nip out to the pharmacy / shop if I need to. It's hard to put a price on that flexibility. Difficult though if you're on a low salary and struggling with that. I think it's one of those situations where no one can tell you the 'right' thing to do - it's down to your own priorities

Personally, id have to work the hours paid for. That's the deal, id be keeping part of tbe deal. To do otherwise is dishonest in my view.

Thanks interesting to hear that it's not that rare after all as everyone I speak to IRL seems to be madly busy or super stressed.

I'm in a relationship and DH is self-employed. He works hard but certainly isn't killing himself and will take an afternoon off to play golf or meet a friend for lunch so has some flexibility too which I'm very happy he has. He knows I have a cushy/easy job and that's why I pick up more of the house/children load but it works well. He's the one who said just be aware quite how easy you have it and don't underestimate the freedom you have when I was pondering about it being time to move on.
He would (& has in the past) happily step up if I wanted to go for it in terms of career but also knows right now we have a pretty good work life balance and the only thing missing is a need/desire for a bit more money in the pot for those nice extras. All bills are covered but we don't have much in the way of savings, pensions are minimal and something major like a new boiler would have to go on the credit card.

But I simply don't have sufficient work for the hours. I'm not the only one - pretty sure my boss is the same as she's rarely around when I message! I do generally logon for the hours I'm paid (give or take the odd half hour) there's just finite amount of work to be done so rest of the time I'm at work ie at my desk but on mumsnet, meal planning/food shops, holiday searching, on SM doing my course etc

In a lot of knowledge jobs, they are paying for your output, skills and quality, not your hours as such. Although obviously it would be taking the piss to finish your work in three days and just not turn up for the other two, as long as you are available, do the expected work to a good standard and step up when needed then you're fine.

It also depends on the ages of any dependants. I have alot of flexibility in my role, so whilst I could probably find a job with a higher salary, I dont because my children still need me to be around when needed. A time will come in the next 10 years when this will no longer be the case and I will absolutely need to move on (or up) hopefully

It's more than most that WFH, I reckon. Make the most of it!

As a business owner, this is why IMO working from home is a complete no, long term. Without horribly micro-managing, it isn't always clear when someone isn't being challenged and to me as a boss it seems a real waste if someone who has some talent is coasting in a job. It is so much less likely to happen in an office (I know I'll get people disagreeing, but this is my experience) as having people together means they talk, they share ideas, they look for collaboration and people move around more and take more on.

You are not being unreasonable to do what you're asked to do. But I hope your employer is aware of the risk of his staff being so unmotivated.

I'll add that as an employer someone staying in a job that doesn't change for five years is a huge red flag for me, unless there's a strong reason why they want that low level of challenge, such as an illness or caring responsibities.

I'm the same - when I really crack on I can produce excellent work in about 1/3 of the time it would take someone else. There are periods where I've taken more on and am working flat out, and other times (like today) when I've done what I need to do by mid afternoon and spend the rest of the time sorting out personal admin or just getting a bit of down time. I don't get paid very much either, although I do love my job (not just because it's sometimes a doss).

This is vaguely what I do. Happiness is not to be found in a more challenging job. Read a book do Your PT course meet friends. Sounds bliss

Sounds like you are sailing close to the wind if a new boiler would send you into debt.
I’d be focused, at your age, of getting some money in the bank whilst I can. All you need is a bout of ill health and you could both be in trouble.

When I've been coasting in a job and flying high and finding it easy, I find that managers are quite happy to give me more work, but never more salary or job title....amazing how the pain in the arse of going back to the office allows me to be rewarded by given more to do for no more money.

Do you need to earn more money? Can you grow your side hustle in your spare time?

As long as you are are well aware that you might lose the job, because if a full-time employee is not needed, the full time employee might be replaced eventually.

Apart from that, what's the problem? I don't really believe in being paid for your hours, more for your actual role. You are paid to do certain tasks, you do them well, you are not doing anything wrong.

Keep up with your part-time course for now, so you are not wasting your own time.

something major like a new boiler would have to go on the credit card.
you are obviously not earning that much, so it sounds fair for the level of work.

I think the onus is on the manager to have regular personal development conversations to mitigate this. It’s not the environment that’s causing this. Also, I’m not sure OP is necessarily unmotivated they’re just saying their job is easy and they’re able to complete their work in less time than the company accounted for. It will never be an exact science anyway as some people will always take longer than others to do certain tasks and vice versa. But as said, a good manager should be aware of this anyway.

Also working in the office is only a benefit if there is collaborative work to be done. The majority I’ve worked in pre Covid, none of that ever happened anyway! Just everyone working on individual tasks but since wfh companies don’t half love to push the ‘we want you to be in a collaborative environment where you can have better development opportunities also’. Like PP said, any increase in work isn’t rewarded proportionately with a wage increase either!

I would question more your management skill than anything else.

I can see what my team is up to from home, and people are, often, putting more effort at home than in the office. Or they don't last.

having people together means they talk, they share ideas
not really, the weak ones drag the others down usually. Interruptions, noise, unrelated work nonsense.. waste of time and productivity.

Encouragement happens just as well online.

Without horribly micro-managing, it isn't always clear when someone isn't being challenged
horribly micro-managing send people running to a better company treating them like professional adults in my own experience!

Nothing prevents WFH workers to have to spend a day in the office a month, or every couple of weeks either. Its' not either or. Even if business needs only allow people to have 1 day at home a week, which is nothing, it's better than nothing. Doesn't mean they are slacking, quite the opposite!

Well the powers that be must have been looking down on me as a rare 9 month internal secondment opportunity has been shared just this morning & I'm going for it! I know the role and whilst it's quite a jump up, it's familiar so not entirely out of my comfort zone. God this feels scary and I just hope it's not a mistake and I'm potentially giving up something I'll regret.