Do all well paid professionals work really hard long hours

[CheshireSplat]

Just feeling a bit battered. Took a step-up to a senior role 4 years ago and am well respected. Have been promoted a couple of times and salary has increased by about 50%. Which is great, but isn't what I planned!!! My responsibilities and workload have also increased significantly.

My DC are 9 and 6 and I'd like to spend more time with them. I'd also like to spend some time doing normal things, like doing more than 1000 steps a day and getting off my chair. I don't have time to tidy the house, which gets me down. I didn't sign up for a Big Job. And it's getting a bit much. I'm managing to resist doing much work at weekends but Monday morning to Friday night it is absolutely full on and I'm working at full pelt, from early til late.

Is this normal? There certainly seems to be an epidemic of busyness, or do people feel they have to say they are busy? I'm 44 and feel my life is passing me by.

I have an interview for a job in the NFP sector, similar role, big pay cut but we can cope, don't have extravagant lifestyle. Am I kidding myself if I think it would be different there?

I'm just rambling. Would love to see what others think..... Thank you. Problem is work is important to me, and I like a challenge.

Yes, a lot do. And a lot of badly paid,non-professionals have a rubbish work life balance as well. I have a well paid, interesting but less demanding job now, i.e. I can do my job without it making me ill with stress and actually get satisfaction from it a lot of the time. But it took me until I was 43 to find it. Such jobs are like gold dust, IME.

Why on earth are you working that much in-house. The reason people do it is to get better work life balance (in exchange for much lower earning potential). Are you GC or head of legal? Even so it really should be 9-5. Have you thought hard about why you do longer hours - do you control work flows, control access and put in place measures to avoid issues before they arise, is your team staffed adequately? I would just get a better in house job (and one that is better paid)

@SpuduIika

If you’re taking home £103k/year, you’re likely grossing around £190k. Surely that gives you some leeway to look at dropping some hours, or taking a step back?

Those jobs don't exist "part-time " You can't just drop some hours

Looking again at your OP there is definitely something wrong - you should be working less not more when you become senior. They seem to be taking advantage. Definitely don’t go NFP - there will be no boundaries and if you do get incrementally lesser workload you will take a massive hit. Look for pro bono rype opportunities/projects with an employer who will pay you for your skills. It sounds like you are yet to make transition to / feel uncomfortable recognising yourself as senior. Get a new job and never work past 5pm again.

@ Grellbunt yes you can, very common

I wish I knew how, I'm serious

I think you’re lucky to be getting away with the hours you currently work. In house lawyers do need to work longer hours just because of all the advisory work that goes on in the background.

But having said that you could probably go into an american bank and earn a similar salary for a more flexible role. I have close friends who work a 4 days a week & love their work life balance

The comment I almost exploded over in a discussion paper about salaries in our tribunal sector was that they did not need to pay us as much as private sector professionals with similar education and experience because there was an element of "giving back" in our work.

No there isn't. Giving back what to who? We needed to pay our mortgages and support our families just like everyone else.

We went 8 years without a salary increase at one point.

I would consider my DH to be well paid. he earns in the top 5% and we live in a relatively cheap part of the UK with low wages. He also has a generous bonus scheme, which really helps.

He works hard and has a lot of responsibility but he would rarely go above 40hrs per week, never above 45.
His job is flexible so he can do school drop offs and pick ups and move meetings about to suit.

Job opportunities have came along that have offered significantly more money, but require extensive travel, or for companies that expect your job to be your life. That just isn't for him/for us, so he has turned them down. Our kids are young and we want time be around to enjoy them and not be absent or stressed to the hilt 24/7.

It sounds like you have a lot of wiggle room financially, could you not go part time or drop into something less high pressure?

Those jobs don't exist "part-time "
You can't just drop some hours

I know plenty of people in that bracket who work four days a week, some as few as three.

I’ve posted my salary elsewhere on this thread and I could reduce my hours/days if I wished.

So these jobs do exist, despite your sweeping claim otherwise.

My package is above what you make.
My job requires flex and no way do i work 9-5 but i generally work 45 hours per week.

I'm pregnant and was discussing whether postbabty i should move back to somthing in the 70-80k bracket and stopped midsentance as those jobs were as stressy if not more so and had less flex not more.

What i have found is successful people have great boundaries. I startedblocking an hour for lunch which when i blocked it seemed insane due to workload. I now take the full hour 9 days in 10. If i give it up i block another 30 else where. I take voice calls only on walks. I generally decline meetings if they dont work for me (either i can be briefed after or i am key. If i am key my avail should be prioritised).
If i work late on tue and cant take a hour or two out on wed am, ill block thu Am or finish early on friday.

High performers in my company who are all total type As have strong boundaries and are constantly looking for balance. They recognise physical and mental heath are key and treat it as part of the job. They view Going for a jog/doing yoga/eating healthy/time w family as being needed to perform therefore, you make time as its not optional.
I have seen burnout. It real its ugly and its unnecessary.

I think that salary has nothing to do with stress or the need to work long hours, you can be equally stressed and working unpaid long hours even if you are in minimum salary.

Before you leave your good salary for a lower paid job that can be as stressful and requiring as many long hours, think about you:

• are you the kind of person who always goes the extra mile?
• the one that volunteers to save the day when something has gone wrong or late regardless of how full your plate already is?
• Do you care a lot about how people above you perceives you and want to prove you are good and efficient constantly?

If so, the problem may not be the jobs you are doing but that you are not putting boundaries on yourself to keep your workload at a manageable level.

There is a book called Essentialism. I confess I have not read it in full but just reading the first chapter was enough for me to realise it was actually me who was causing the problem. I am now taking a “consultant approach” (do what I am supposed to do and only volunteer for other stuff if I have the capacity to take it on without neglecting my own projects or working such long hours.

Forgot to add - whatever you do... Do not go NFP!! Worklife balance is dire and i know 2 very capable women who were lawyers who did this and both ended up total exhausted as hours were crazy and relentless

Not me OP. I’m a management-level scientist in big pharma in Switzerland. I make a low-mid 6 figure salary (not more than £250,000). I work 8-5 most days, sometimes a bit later for meetings with the USA. Often go out for a run in the day. Rarely work weekends.

I do have to travel a fair bit though, nationally and internationally. The latter will start to ramp up again early next year and I know I’ll have to go to the USA & South Korea in Q1 next year. I like training though so it’s ok in the main.

I have a couple of friends back home in the UK who are lawyers and they work crazy hours for less than half my salary. Law seems to be a slog.

Another vote against moving into NFP. You could feel exploited and under appreciated coping with high demands with a very limited budget even before we consider the smaller salaries.

I don't earn anywhere near what you do but compared to the majority its considered a good income (public sector). With it comes a heavy workload and responsibility. I started off taking only a 30 minutes lunch but now I take a full hour. I use this to try and get some exercise in and sort food put for the evening. I've also become quite brutal with clocking off. If there is stuff outstanding it goes on as a priority for the next day. You can't pour from an empty cup.

*travelling not training

I think the 'well paid" bit is derailing actually. I think unfortunately it's largely dependant on your industry or workplace. What the workload is and what the culture is.

My husband earns double what I earn, and largely stops work about 6pm. I'm a teacher and most days work 12 hour days - but I'm fine with this as I have a large number of holidays to compensate. As you don't I understand your frustration.

We've recently decided to get a cleaner as Mon - Fri there's no time to clean, and I'm fed up of wasting the weekend on it. Do you have a cleaner? Do you delegate effectively? Are everyone else doing similar hours? I think these questions are important to consider before moving jobs.

Echo what others say about NFP jobs.

You need to set boundaries and start being strict about carving out time during the day..

Hire help - cleaners, gardeners, food deliveries etc. So that your evenings and weekends are not taken up by chores.

Agree work stress and pay are just not linear. Ive worked stupid hours since my promotion and I'm on only 34K in the southeast with 10 years experience in the industry.

I should quit, really.

I am on a very well paid wage, not nessasarily the highest role in my company but above other roles.

I also work very long hours, I could probably work less hours, but if I did, I wouldn't be able to execute my tasks to the best of my advantage 😕

You sound somewhat naive for someone in a senior position. Why wouldn’t you expect to work long hours for £££?

I work in the poorly paid care sector. My experience is that upper management expect extreme availability of middle management, then 10 or 20 hours in addition to contracted hours to cope with endless work load, your soul sold to the devil and all for a few thousand more per annum then carers working on the ground (who are also poorly paid). The issue is that those at the top have no meaningful understanding of the work of others lower down so just keep piling tasks on.

Cleaners, gardeners yes