Unmotivated & demoralised but the moneys great!

[SomethingWitty44]

What would you do?
I work 4 days a week for a great company but my role is ridiculously quiet & I have very little work to do to fill my time, leaving me stressed, bored & serious lack of motivation.
I've mentioned this to Team Head many times and they promise the world but do not deliver. I don't actually think there is enough work for a team of 4 as colleagues like to take what little work I have & "tread on my toes". The Team Head is supportive of me telling them to back off. This was great over lockdown as could pop a wash on or take the dog for a longer lunchtime walk.
I have just received a pretty decent payrise so know that I am a valued member of the company (although HR let slip after a glass of wine that peers within the company are receiving higher bonuses - although I am over the moon with mine). I am on very good money and as a household we could do with this money but my health is suffering. I suffer with a stress activated illness & this doesn't help. I lack confidence & self esteem & the thought of going to a new company is a scary one but what would you do?
Would you stay or would you go?
Thank you for reading x

What kind of work generally is it? Also your boss sounds supportive so that is a plus?Any projects you can take on? Also sounds like you have to go into office now which you do not like?

Personally I would leave as it would drive me crazy.

If you like the extra free time could you offer to reduce your hours and pay (4 day week maybe) so you could actually use the extra time to do something useful?

Sounds like the very opposite of my job!

Is there anything on the nice to do list that you can pick up? Or can you think of a collaborative project with another organisation or team that you could explore in your free time? If you don’t know enough about what other teams do, can you ask to shadow other areas and look for links? Is there anything you want to do developmentally? Any courses or chartership? Is there a database that you use that is a bit rusty and needs a refresh? Could you teach yourself (if needed) and try to improve that (obviously working on a copy or creating your own so you don’t destroy real data). Is your team one that other teams know about? If not, could you pull together a presentation and and visit other teams to tell them about what you do, raise awareness of something you deal with. If you have an internal newsletter could you write a series of things for that? Are there outreach projects you could get involved with? So if you’re working in STEM, could you explore working with a local high school and giving the students some knowledge of what you do? Are there any committees/task and finish groups/working groups on innovation/sustainability/diversity and inclusion/corporate social responsibility/IT/improving client relations/working with the community? Could you create one?

The company sounds great, it sounds like there is a great atmosphere and they value their employees (which seems quite rare at the moment, at least in my circle). You have good pay and a supportive manager. These are not things I would be overlooking. It would be a shame to leave a great company because there isn’t enough work to keep you motivated, so I would first look at how you can find other work and you might need to look for work rather than just asking for it.

Use the spare time to gain further qualifications and look for a new job asap.

Any job that quiet, you're vulnerable to being the easy target as and when there's cost cutting. And that will happen, you can guarantee that, it's just a matter of time, so do it to them before they do it to you. No such thing as a free lunch as they say.

I'll happily swap work with you.
On a serious note can you ask to get involved in a particular project? Or cut your hours down and take on another role

Can you work from home?

id work from home and crack on with other hobbies

Can you work from home so you can use your time to do other things? Or spend less time at the office (go in later/leave earlier).

Being bored and not motivated is horrible, but if stress is a problem I'd be wary of ending up somewhere with opposite problem.