What's the lowest stress / easiest minimum wage job?

[MegBusset]

If you were going to step down from a stressful professional career and could afford it, what would be an easy / low stress min wage role to fill a few years until retirement?

I've worked low pay jobs before and they've been tedious and / or hard work. Obviously there are many shockingly underpaid jobs that are really hard and stressful (carer, TA etc). But are there ones out there that are straightforward and don't take up much mental effort?

I love warehouse order picking/packing. It's pretty much my dream job haha. Spent about 5 years doing it pre-university/career. Headphones in, totally zoned out into my own little world. Plus getting fit! I lost my job in the pandemic and it took me a while to get a new one so I got an order picking job for a few weeks again and god, I loved it. Going back to being a lawyer was so depressing 😆

I am.following this with interest. I have reduced my hours to 80% and on my day 'off'plan my lessons for the following week so I can have weekends free- ridiculous. Going to consider dome of these suggestions.

My husband has also had jobs as a steward at our local football stadium and as a 'meals on wheels' delivery driver for the elderly/vulnerable - both very satisfying roles for very different reasons!

That would be my ideal job!!

I'm just commenting to save this thread for one day in the future when I finally quit teaching! It's my dream to work a standard 8 hours in an office. Or even in a factory where it's repetitive and don't need to think. Or a charity shop organising the donations and tidying the displays. Or a dog walker would be fun! As you can tell I think about this a lot...

I'm a library assistant on 21500k fte. I think it's quite well paid for the role.

I worked in the local cinema as a student. Best job ever- see people to their seats and then sit down and watch a film. Open the doors at the end and clean the cinema. Amounted to about an hours work per shift 🤣

Depends on the sort of person you are. I loathed retail, hated every minute of it. I did not enjoy waitressing (although it was better than retail). I had a day counting cars which was fun. Can’t imagine I would like bar work, although my middle son loved it. I would love TA in a special school. I have done support work with people with learning disabilities and think it’s the best job in the world for the right people. Others may feel very differently about all these jobs.

I’ve also done professional jobs I hated & some that I really enjoyed & find quite relaxing. So I don’t think it’s about the amount you are paid that makes it taxing or not. It’s much more about you.

Had to take on an extra job on a supermarket check out and love it. I do like talking to people though. When I was younger I loved bar work .

I regularly daydream about winding down my career and becoming a part-time tour guide for a lovely National Trust (or similar) property.

I was a metering engineer in the oil and gas, I am now a dinner lady at local school

Way less stressful and enjoyable.

I'm a lifeguard. I get free membership of the chain of leisure centres I work in and as many cappuccinos/hot chocolates as I want. All I have to do is make sure people don't drown.

DS enjoyed working in Waitrose as it was quite varied.

Maybe something like archiving, I used to do this as part of my job when I worked in a laboratory, it was quite relaxing.

I found working in a bookshop really stressful and unpleasant indeed. I handed in my notice for that reason.
Books are dust magnets and so my eczema and asthma got really bad. Lifting piles of books all day long does nothing for your back and knees. And you get a lot of crazy people demanding coming into bookshops, particularly authors.

Libraries are nice but paid library jobs are very hard to find. Almost all the staff will be volunteers. I work in one (as a volunteer, hoping one day to get a paid role) and we can either be twiddling our thumbs or rushed off our feet, rarely anything in between.

I recommend admin jobs. Pleasant and you just go it and go home, or might even be able to wfh.

This is exactly what I intend to do after Christmas.
A friend has done it and thinks it will suit me when I take early retirement early next year. Early shifts and then have the rest of the day free. Sainsbury discount card as well!

Not all care roles are underpaid. I know carers are paid £15 per hour including travel time. If you work for the right care company it can be a very rewarding role.

I left a stressful teaching job and set up as a self employed cleaner.

If you're fit enough I highly recommend it. I find it rewarding, stressfree, therapeutic and it keeps me very fit
£15 per hour so quite easy to earn £60 a day for 4 hours work.

Same (apart from I wasn’t a teacher)! I specialise in old houses, although I do have several elderly clients in new houses, and I love it. Hard work physically but it keeps me fit. Some houses it’s headphones and podcasts, some it’s chatting to clients while I work. The money isn’t amazing but if you put the hours in it’s enough to live on (I live alone so only myself to worry about) and the sense of satisfaction and the idea that you’re appreciated is worth its weight in gold!

I used to love working in a shop when I was younger. If I could afford a lower wage job I'd do this

I retired and got bored, worked checkout at a well known DIY store for 5 years, never worked a F2F role before, loved it.

Working in a bookshop or library seems very peaceful to me.
I've worked in a bar and it was my idea of hell! Have also been a waitress in bars and cafes and I can't say I enjoyed that either.

If anyone is thinking of seasonal, try invigilating pays well but obviosulsy only 4+ weeks in the summer and one or two in December/January. Also electoral canvessing, poll clerking, vote counting, contact local council electoral dept and get added to the list, again well paid not hard but very infrequent.

Hi five LMBoston*
I love being a self employed cleaner too. Now I'm established, I can choose my clients and have a great rapport with all of them. I agree, it's great job satisfaction and stress free.

I work in a tourist attraction.

Generally nice as people are happy to be there.