Another work day with nothing to do

[wastedofworld]

I bloody hate my job. Had 20 mins of work yesterday and 10 mins today. I'm paid for 7.5 hours a day. This is not unusual. There are busy periods but I have had very little to do for months now. I'm sick of emailing managers and colleagues to ask if there is anything they need me to do as I have capacity.

We never went back to the office, so it does mean I can get stuff done at home, but having so little to do is, well, soul and confidence destroying.

I'm looking for other jobs, in fact that is how I spent yesterday and today, but I'm painfully aware I have nothing to sell from my current job to a prospective employer.

Just ranting really.

I need to know this too!

Those of you in this position, if it's not too outing can you say which broad sectors you work in?

I had a job like this once (I.T.), had to stick it out for 3 years due to needing employment to get a new mortgage when I had found somewhere decent to buy - it did eventually lead to depression so my advice is don’t stay doing this too long - I would have coped better if it was work from home though.

I did not know this either, I normally just poke my pc every few minutes. Googled "mouse jiggler thingemybob" and you cannot move for them on amazon www.amazon.co.uk/mouse-jiggler/s?k=mouse+jiggler

You're getting paid to do nothing. You have the internet. Is there nothing you ever wanted to learn about, read, write, or do?

If you had no job would go into some kind of rest state until someone booted you up or what?

You could be doing freelance work on their time and earning double?

I'd be blasting through any online courses you can get access too.

I go to the gym in work time and just set up a call with myself and don't invite anyone, just click start meeting, and my status shows I am "in a call" to colleagues.

Use the time to apply for a new job?

I had one of these jobs.
I was well paid and it made me depressed and withdrawn not having much to do. Being well paid made it worse as I felt like a fraud.
I'm good at coming up with my own projects, but I couldnt sufficiently fill the time.
I would book out a meeting room in the office and sit and browse the internet and call DH for huge swathes of time. Then my appraisal would come along and I'd get wall to wall praise.
I couldnt take it any more and left for a new role and I'm LOVING how busy I am, with deadlines amd pressure - it's invigorating and I know that I'm needed.
However, I currently have someone under me who has very little to do, so I'm desperately trying to find research projects and so on for him so that he's busier, as I know how it feels.

You’re aceing that!

Acing even.

It sounds great, doesn’t it?

But the reality is that being employed yet not feeling like that employer needs you and you have nothing meaningful to do eats away at you.

Yes, anyone can fill the time, but it erodes your self worth.

If they found out you’d be in trouble.

I had a job like this. The commute meant to had to get in 30 minutes early, so most days I'd done my work before the work day had even started.

Worst thing was it was in the office, with my screen visible from the CEOs office. My boss would send me messages telling me to 'look busy'.

I put in a flexible working request to either shorten my days or drop to 4 days a week, and it was rejected because 'the role requires someone full time'.

My boss basically wanted to look like the team was super busy in order to push for big bonuses and pay rises each year. They kept giving her extra staff for this imaginary high work load, and in reality she could have done all the work herself without any team.

It was soul destroying, so I left. I felt so so sorry for the poor guy that replaced me.

I have self-worth regardless of how I make money though,

How would they find out?

Design.

Lots of down time waiting for things to be built or people to feedback on stuff.

I'd say I'd get 1-2 day every 2 weeks of full work. Then the rest was 15-30minutes work max in a day.

I had a job like this and left after 5 months it was soul destroying. The managers micro-managed because they had nothing to do but wanted to seem busy, but when asked directly what there was to work on she got flustered and upset and went to her boss to moan about me. Small company and it was truly a complete waste of time!
I would say just keep looking for a new position.

Start your own business on the side?

I wonder if it's the same company I work for. I was employed because they were snowed under , I could do my job in a day and still not be busy.

I would feel the same in your position. I have been there. You lose your own self worth and are flaccid with boredom as all your enthusiasm and drive ebb away. Must be worse WFH without colleagues for social interaction. Being “present” all the time on the PC in case someone needs you and justify yourself is exhausting.

I think you have to pull on your positive pants and make it work for you. On the upside, you have the luxury of a salary and bills being covered while you look for something else or retrain on company time. There’s a lot in the press about “quiet quitting”. I’d view any action you take as something similar and stay in employment, but do on-line training courses and look to get a second job and earn double salary (at least for a time). You can use the money to pay off mortgage, plough into a pension or save it.

I've got one of these jobs and for all the 'do courses!' or 'do freelance work on the side!' comments its actually really hard to break the ennui. It just seeps into your brain, you start doubting your skills and value and from there its a short trip to depression. There's plenty of days when Ive cried out of the sheer waste and frustration of the situation. Nobody cares what I do, I find little projects here and there, but for the most part what I've built my career on has never been valued at this organisation. I have work friends but its very lonely to never have someone to talk to in person or on a voice chat.

I'm applying to jobs to get out, but its difficult to find a new position in this market as I am also shifting my experience over to an adjacent field and trying to drum up some sort of proof from this job is almost impossible. My line manager is very supportive and is helping me find some projects that suit that direction, even though its a hard sell for the most part internally. He knows I want to leave and Im frustrated, but we all have to pay the bills.

Download MoveMouse if your IT department allows it - that will automatically jiggle the mouse every 45 seconds or so.

I was in a job like this for a while, it was a manager that didn’t delegate for whatever reason. It is well paid, and WFH so stayed for the flexibility and after a few months the manager left anyway, sounds idyllic but I hated it..soul destroying and depressing. Luckily I’m in a new role now (same company) after coming back from Mat leave and it’s much busier!