Anyone took demotion and been happier?

[NotmySundaybest]

I am only on around £200 more a month than my staff. The pressure is ridiculous & I barely go a day off without being contacted from work, by staff, manager etc.

Has anyone took demotion for the best in the same authority or same team?

I suppose it's whether you think all that stress is worth £200 to you.

But also, in reality could you adapt to going from being the boss to a peer, and also having someone else being in charge? That feels like a strange dynamic but I'm sure you could get used to it.

I wouldn't go for a demotion in the same company/team.

I'd maybe be looking for a more junior job elsewhere in that case

Or have a think about if you’re likely to get better conditions at the same seniority level elsewhere.

Calling all days and crazy pressure aren’t givens- there are good companies who treat their staff with care.

I left the civil service after many years, I had enough of the bureaucracy and the department I was in turning into a factory with horrendous IT not fit for purpose. I moved to an admin role in a small family firm, took a slight pay cut and less annual leave and no flexi. However I am no longer stressed and snappy with family. Do miss the staff from my civil service office but definitely the right decision for me. I deliberately avoided working for a large organisation where you are just a number

Yeah I did. I went from working in a private practice as a dental nurse to a DN in a NHS hospital where the workload is so much less and it's just overall better. Took a 10K a year cut. Luckily I could afford to do it and I was SO much happier.

Yes, I did, but not with the same company.

I know earn slightly less money than before, I work from home, less stress, when I leave work I don't end up checking my phone or laptop, have lots of flexibility in my job and the most important thing is I no longer have to deal with arseholes and manage people. It's absolutely bliss and I wouldn't go back.

I can think of five people in my current company that have stepped down from Business Manager and back in to Sales in the last two years

They say the stress and pressure is too much

Yes with a different organisation. My role now doesn't have the decision making and responsibility as my old role. My current manager has all this and I'm happy to support him as much as I can but I'm glad the buck stops with him and he takes the strain and stress. The extra pay would not be worth it to me.

I had to "dumb down" my cv though to get a demoted role.

After years of desperately yearning to climb the ladder yet being passed over for promotion (maybe my superiors could tell it wasn't right for me) I finally got a manager role in a new company. It was one of the worst experiences of my life, I don't think it was just me as 75% of the managers left in the year I was there but the sinking feeling of not knowing what I was doing and having to put on a poker face with my team who I knew could tell, got to me in the end.

Now I'm doing a contract role supporting a project, whilst someone else leads and deals with all the politics, much happier plus my pay is the same as before!

I've taken a more junior role in another company and been happier for it. I just wasn't ready for the more senior role, so went back down to junior for another year to get more experience, now ready to take on the senior role again.
I've known people do this in the same company but different trams and been happy also.

I don't think I'd do it in the same team though. Feels like you'd end up being asked for advice and involvement from the new senior person anyway

currently going through the same feelings in regards to do I want to bother going upwards, or should I just plod for an easier life

As others have said, did this as a 'sideways' move to a different organisation, actually onto a lower grade, but it wasn't so obvious as kind of demoting myself in the original organisation.

This is interesting. I've requested one in my current team but am getting cold feet and wondering if I shouldn't have handed in my notice instead.

you may as well try because either way you'd likely leave eventually if you don't x

I did this but not in the same organisation. Was the right thing for me 100%.

Not me personally, but I know a good few in the NHS and other public sector roles who stepped away from management due to work pressures.

IMVHO the first tier of management in the public sector is only worth the additional stress, bearing in mind the minimal pay difference, if you are working hard on a five year plan to secure further promotions. Those that have pushed through it and climbed the ladder seem much less stressed than frontline management.

In the same boat at the moment

Me. Went from being a care manager to being a support worker once. Loved it. Now back to managing as our mortgage has recently almost doubled. It sucks.

I did. Took a 10% cut in order to take the more junior role (no management so can do school hours). I don't regret it but my salary had barely changed since then (10 years now)but the salary of the more senior job has risen a lot. There's probably a 25% or more difference now.

I try not to dwell on the money. And the lack of career. The reasons I changed are still valid. And I've sent far more time with the kids in the primary school years.

No, but I know someone who did, as there was too much management and not enough technical, there was too much stress overall, and all this meant that the job (which had itself been a promotion) wasn't great for their mental health. I am told this turned out to be the right thing for them. Fortunately they are in quite a highly paid profession, so they were still on a manageable salary afterwards. Since then, they have moved sideways a few times, taken on a little bit of management but not as much, for both variety and a bit of progression, but still probably not in the level of role that they left, and certainly not the dizzy heights that they could have reached seniority- and salary-wise, but didn't want to.

I did when our company closed.
Took a lesser role in another company, same industry.
I was 13 yrs off retirement and thought I'd ease myself into retirement without all the stress.
I've found they want to use my experience but don't want to pay me what my experience is worth.
They give me work based on my experience rather than my job description, it's causing a few issues tbh.
I'm as stressed and knackered as I was in my higher role but without the monetary compensation.

Not exactly the same but I was offered a promotion which I turned down as I knew it would make me miserable.