Can I do 2 full time jobs ?

[Finetoday]

Sort of lighthearted but it has got me thinking !

I work ft in a remote/wfh post. Done it for years, very much within comfort zone as I aimed for work/life balance. However -
Today I’ve been offered a contract role, temp but again ft. Again fully wfh.
I like the thought of doing contract work due to lack of progression in current role so doing 1 would open doors.
I would do both jobs hours. I would delegate boring housework, shopping, life dross !

Am I ridiculous for thinking I could do both for the short term of 1 contract (6 mths min) ?

Go for it!

Probably best not to mention the fact to either employer.

Would your tax code changing alert your current employer to the extra job?

Short term go for it but I know someone doing similar for the last year or so and they’re a bit broken so just pace yourself and don’t get carried away- remember you need sleep and to live!!!

Would one or both of them find out through your tax code?

I mean probably not ideal but theoretically if you could do the hours whenever suited and split it over 7 days it would be about 11 hours a day so maybe doable for a short period (not for me but maybe super human types!)

Depends on the flexibility of each, what of they both wanted you in a meeting at the same time? But potentially yes it could work.

Do it. I do two contracts. There was a time I had three but it was too much.

How would you manage things like presence on Teams/availability for meetings?

14 hrs a day working. Every day?? 7am to 9pm! Not something which is doable every single (working) day for more than a few weeks before you'll burn out.

Delegating chores etc is all well and good, but you need time to eat, relax, socialise etc.
I don't think either employer would be very happy about it.

Freelance or employment contracts? If the latter, I doubt it's legal.

14 hours a day does sound like a helluva lot actually 😂

Fast track to burn out.

I would delegate boring housework, shopping, life dross !

Full time hours equal 35 plus hours p/w. So assuming you give yourself one day off a week, you need to be working for nearly twelve hours a day for six days a week. You’re going to be delegating everything!

My contract wouldn’t let me do this. Might be worth checking that. Than again, I am a complier and you might not be 😉

@FiveCows Im a rebel unfortunately 😂

It’s not for me but this has become more of a ‘thing’ since covid. There’s a Reddit sub if you want to see others experiences/questions/tips - I think it’s called OverworkedUK.

Check contracts in case they explicitly say you can’t have more than one job.. but if you aren’t bothered about either finding out then crack on!

Don’t worry about tax code changes, employees’ tax codes change for a variety of reasons, the employer won’t know you have two jobs as a result.

So like trying to do a degree full time whilst working full time? Only a slightly different genre of crazy?

I think you might break yourself.

Is it possible - yes. I have been known to work upto 109 hour weeks over 7 days. Did it for 3 months. Utter hell, but the money was very nice and handy.
Downside was I worked basically on autopilot and just survived day to day. Nearly two years on, and even the thought of a 48 hour week is enough to make me go nope.
On the other hand I do know someone who works two full time (48hour) jobs and manages it with compressed hours in each and generous holiday packages which means he rarely has to do both full time jobs in the same day iyswim, but they rarely get a day off to be with family. They thrive on it and have done the two for nearly 18 months now.

How would you manage your diary for meetings?

So would you put both roles on your CV? Presumably if you think the second one would help career progression you’d want to include it. I wonder if potential employers would be concerned about seeing two jobs at once. Though to be fair they needn’t necessarily know they were FT. Something to consider though.

It's possible. I know plenty of people who work 14 hour days or longer in law/banking type jobs for extended periods. They do burn out/ leave eventually and don't necessarily have the same issues you would have in balancing competing employer demands (but this isn't a given if they're working on matters for two or more clients, where it can very much be an issue). They cope but not many thrive.

I've considered similar, with a small flexible and variable contract, but the tax on the second job wouldn't have made it worth the effort.

Have a look at that Reddit board. There are some clever, practical strategies to help manage two full-time wfh roles. Not many people actually perform their specified job the full 8 hours a day. Some of the 'infill' is necessary to the work; a lot of it isn't. A few very clever and fortunate people have managed to automate one of their jobs, or parts of both, so they get two weeks' work done in one!

I have 2 jobs and the second job I just pay the higher rate mytax code for the first employer hasn't changed.

I did a degree while working two part time jobs that added up to a full time job. Doing three things was always different so it seemed less than one job (I do have ADHD though).

The only awful part was doing a night shift from Sunday noon to Monday noon (technically sleeping for some of it but often not) and going straight to university. That was quite the fun afternoon.

I lived through it.