To ask what high earners do all day?

[WearyCat]

I genuinely don’t know what CEOs, that type of role, people earning over 150K pa actually do. How do they spend their time?

Not whether they are worth the salary. But what do those jobs involve on a day to day basis? All I have is an idea based on films and guesswork. Is it golf? Lunches? Meetings? What sort of decisions are they making? What pressures are they facing?

I’m interested, curious, and I don’t see how I would ever find out in real life because I don’t move in circles where people have that sort of job.

No golf or lunches. Lots and lots of meetings. Lots of pressure.

The higher up you go, the more you have to deal with difficult people. That's pretty stressful.

Meetings, more meetings, planning, budgets, making decisions, interacting with people throughout the organisation, directing. Travelling.

I earn more than the figure you’ve quoted.

Do you really think I spend my day golfing? Seriously. I spend it working- like most working people.

The higher up you go, you spend less time ‘doing’ and more time dealing with problems, in my experience. There’s a lot more responsibility that demands the extra pay.

City lawyer. In house. Not a law firm partner so not earning mega bucks. But enough to be in the ‘you must be rich’ category

my job is like going into work every day and not knowing if you’ll be expected to do a load of boring admin, deal with multiple personnel issues or be expected to basically do the equivalent of multiple exams in one day with zero notice, some of which involve explaining said legal points orally, again in zero notice. Currently dealing with an audit from one of the biggest financial regulators in the world. If I fuck up it could cost us €5bn (yes you read that right) a year in costs. That is a lot of pressure. There is some socialisation of that decision making process. But not as much as you might expect.

My ex Husband was a professor.. he earned £145k Pa. He worked and worked and worked.
Didn't play golf or have long lunches.

Yes but what does the work involve? I’m a teacher. I know what my work involves and I’ve done other jobs like cleaning, admin, bar work, i can see other jobs so I have an idea of what their day looks like. I’ve never been I close proximity to someone earning that sort of money. Even head teachers, I don’t know what they do all day long. I’m not saying high earners are not busy, nor that they’re not worth their salary. But what exactly are they doing?

Many many meetings. Making challenging decisions where there is a lot at stake and the right decision isn't always easy/obvious. Weighing up different opinions and info to reach best conclusion - the highest paid people often aren't the ones with the best technical knowledge or skill, but the ones who know where to find this info quickly, are good under pressure, good with people.

Making decisions. People bring information and options, then you have to make the decision and bear responsibility for the decision . Which sounds really easy. But they’re often big decisions that carry risks, and it’s not about choosing the “right” option, because there are strengths and weaknesses to all the choices. So you’re leaning on your experience, trying to ensure you’ve got all the right info, and trying to read between the lines.

DH is in meetings all day and all weekend - sorting out problems, discussing new strategies, trying to sort out departments that aren’t performing as they should, looking at data to see how the business is doing and where the strength and weaknesses are, working out what new deals etc will work, remuneration discussions and benefits. The list is pretty endless tbh

your headteacher is dealing with budgets, staffing, strategy, governors, parents, local council, etc etc

CEOs will be making large strategic decisions about the direction of the company and will be responsible for keeping the whole thing afloat. Making new deals, bringing in new business.

Professionals in finance, law etc will be saving clients hundreds of thousands and more in tax or damages or divorce, they will be making clients millions in clever investments, ensuring funds are managed correctly etc.

I don't earn £150k (I wish!), but even at my much more junior level I help to save clients significant sums of money and advise on very hefty transactions. My salary is chickenfeed compared to the figures I work with on a regular basis.

Meetings. Meetings. Meetings. Power point briefings, taking decisions. Public speaking, networking (via meetings, meetings, meetings).

Somebody I know is in the charity sector on £100k plus housing and massive pension. They do fuck all. Host a few meetings and clap other people’s achievements.

My DH goes to a lot of meetings. He has to explain complicated and technical issues to people who are 1. Senior(eg ceo/cfo) and 2. Don’t really understand the issue as it’s v technical. DH has to explain it in a way that they will understand them and will make a good decision. And also won’t make the wrong decision which DH would then be blamed for.
If he makes certain errors he could go to prison due to ethics/legal rules.
He invests large sums of company money in different markets and the outcome of these investments will have a direct effect on people’s pensions.
Multiple calls, persuading other employees of a particular course of action.
Managing a small team.
At one point he was also studying for a financial qualification that basically meant I was doing all the parenting for 6 months at a time. For about 3 years.
Sometimes in excess of his usual 9-18:00 working weekends too and working 9:00 - 22:00 in the week.
Being on the teams fir mergers and aquisitions which means long hours, very tight deadlines and a lot of pressure to get it right/do it on time - often while also having to do his regular work as well.
Being strategic about the size of his team - not too big and not too small so that he doesn’t get restructured
Occasionally sacking ppl/making them redundant when there is restructuring.
3-5 times a year trips to offices in other countries. Usually the hotels are a bit crap or in a dodgy area because his company reduced the budget for travel. These days are particularly full on 8am to 9pm
He usually has lunch at his desk.
He is very good at his job and works really hard but it’s a lot and mentally full on.

Meetings
international travel and conferences
writing strategies and proposals
managing staff and consultants
lots of stress, out of hours work and tight deadlines

Jealousy is not a good look

if it’s that easy, everyone would do it

Lots of meetings, lots of providing guidance and advice. A CSuite level you also spend a lot of time trying to ensure the company remains profitable and can withstand whatever is coming your way. Hours are long and you never really switch off, and in my role if something happens at anytime of day or night I have to be there to lead it all.

In the last 5 years (Covid, post covid and the economic mess that has followed) I’ve had to spend a lot of time trying to ensure we are making decisions that mean we can continue to grow, pay wages and for people not to lose jobs. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and it is in no way a physical job nor is it as hard as being say on the front line of the NHS but it’s not all lunches and dinners. I’m sure there are v high paying roles that are an easy ride though.

pp makes a good point - it’s about responsibility resting on your shoulders. That’s a lot of pressure. If you mess up you can end up having to make people redundant, shareholders lose their money etc etc

Managing a multi million dollar budget, and a team of hundreds who operate complex equipment which is literally 30 seconds away from exploding all the time. Reporting to senior management. Out of the house for 12 hours a day and either on his phone or laptop, frequently, for the other 12 hours. Often woken from his sleep if there is an emergency.

But what does salary have to do with anything?

I have no idea what a “minimum wage worker” does all day, but surely it depends massively on what their role is?

For high earners, a CEO vs a Head of Finance vs a Cybersecurity Consultant vs a well-selling author will all have different things they do all day.

Same as minimum wage workers- a shop worker vs a childcare employee vs a call centre employee who all happen to earn NMW will all have different things to do each day.

I’m guessing this a a good ol’ “I can’t image that high earners work any harder than anyone else” MN thread.

For me, it’s 12 hours a day either building/using complicated spreadsheets to ensure the deals I offer to clients are cheaper than other banks (thus winning us the business), but not bankrupt my bank by using up our precious capital too cheaply. Or I’m meeting clients trying to convince them that my bank’s offering is better than the other bank. I also have to keep a close eye on the financial markets and keep clients informed of any big movements. Plus endless compliance paperwork.

No golf or lunches.
A lot of meetings. A lot of my role consists if saying “no” to upper management and defending decisions, making sure we don’t overpromise, make sure we don’t get pressured into promising things we can’t deliver.
Otherwise quickly finding solutions for problems, aligning with all teams, making sure everything gets communicated.

My salary (if I was full time) would be more than that. I fly long haul passenger jets. TBH it does involve a lot of time sitting down doing nothing, and there does seem to be a lot of golf among the blokes. But if I told you some of the stuff we manage and handle on a regular basis you would be quite happy we earn our keep. Weather, security, sick/disruptive/late passengers, broken aircraft, and the knowledge that if we stuff up that’s it for all of us on board. Doing most of this overnight in a different time zone. Dodging thunderstorms whilst dealing with your GPS being blocked by countries at war and trying to make it feel for the passengers like it’s all a perfectly normal flight - I do roll my eyes though when you get told ‘the autopilot/computer does it all/I play Microsoft Flight Sim and it’s not that hard.’ Yeah right - if it was easy you’d be flying to the Caribbean instead of flying round your spare room! 🙄

I think high earners have to make decisions and the buck stops with them. Having said that, I don’t think wages always reflect responsibility. I have a multi million pound budget and if I make a mistake, 60000 people won’t be able to work. I earn £50k

I earn over £150k and what I do all day is: have meetings, write letters, have more meetings, discuss case strategy and delegate tasks or draft litigation documents myself. Lawyer.

Most of my CEO clients earn multiples of what I do and they tend to: have meetings, a lot of meetings, speak to their key clients, attend events at which they can promote their company’s services, have extra-marital affairs and worry about money.