Changing to a non-management role without taking a significant pay cut

[Fairislesweater]

I am competent, hardworking and good at what I do. However in my current role I have to manage a team and there’s always someone being difficult, off sick etc. I’m good at people management but I really don’t enjoy it. Has anyone managed to move into an equivalent role without this aspect? I realise it’s hard because the extra money comes with management so I would be looking at a better paid industry (currently public sector. I am qualified to level 4 in my role and also hold an MBA). I’m 45, and I would just like a job I can get on with! I’m not sure what I’m asking really. I suppose I would like to hear from people who’ve managed to shift roles in this way, losing the management aspect but without retraining into something new, although I’m open to that too. Any advice or tips would be welcome.

What do you earn now? I don't manage anyone but have niche technical skills. My last job was too people heavy so I switched it for an IC role, same money.

I’m on 48K. I took a pay drop to come into this role as I was new to it (same sector, different area), but I can’t afford to drop anymore. I’m in education but the behind the scenes side, so think data analysis, database management, finance, payroll. Lots of transferable skills. I’m realise I sound whiny when people are being made redundant btw, I think I’m just a bit burned out.

Just googled IC role and this is exactly what I mean. I would like to use my own skills and not worry about what others image doing. I quite like training people but can’t be doing with the day to day chasing, difficult conversations etc.

In IT this is pretty normal. Senior IC roles pay pretty much the same as mid management. I left my old job because they wanted me to go from IC to managing a team of 6 (difficult) men for a 2% pay rise. Could you move to a tech company?

Perhaps - I don’t really have IT skills as such - I’m highly computer literate, and data analysis is my specialty (by MBA specialism was data) but I’ve only ever done it in an educational setting. Might be worth a punt though

If you have useful and generic officey skills like regulated data processing and db management, then the thing to do is to find that role in a higher paid industry overall. So do the same job in tech, law, oil, etc. Even though SWE get paid more than admin in tech, admin in tech get paid more than admin in the public sector.

The other way to do it is to go to a micro business, run an office for a startup or very small local business so there's nobody else to manage anyway.

I am engineering side not office side, so this is just observation not experience. In engineering, IC moves are very normal, and sometimes people go back and forth.

I did it, I am a specialist so I managed to move into a role where I was advising as opposed to leading a delivery team, it was a higher grade so paid more. It was a breath of fresh air and the break I needed, however, as I had no one to delegate to it meant I ended up doing a lot of stuff that wasn’t really appropriate for my grade (probably easier with AI now).

Anyway the function has expanded so I now have a team again but the key difference is that I have recruited them all myself, I am VERY fussy as to who I will recruit. It’s amazing having a high performing team that you can trust, makes the job so enjoyable. I know it won’t last forever; nothing can!

Moved from a management role to a project role with no direct line management for more money.

But I miss the people management and will probably go back to it sooner than later.

Look for data as a keyword on Civil Service jobs. Some parts of the CS are starting to recognise the value of experienced specialists and also that not everyone wants to or is suited for a management role. Also some roles attract a market pay supplement because standard grading makes salaries look very poor compared with other sectors.

I'm a G7 in another specialism, which is the same grade as the middle managers but I don't manage a team, I have qualifications and a lot of experience in an in demand specialism. My salary is just under £75k.

Thanks all. Recruiting myself would have helped massively. I’ve come into a role where I have one staff member who is an absolute pita, and his role is very operational, ie if he isn’t here other people need to cover him. It can’t wait. I find it so draining, and it being public sector it’s very hard to dismiss someone (don’t get me wrong, I am a supportive manager, but some people don’t help themselves).

@Fairislesweater one bad egg can impact your whole job and team, it’s so frustrating. I left a job because I was managing someone horribly challenging but it was so hard to performance manage her as she leant very heavily on mental health and neurodiversity. I just gave up.

If you’re a data scientist you can easily earn that without people management

I'm not as high up as you but moved within the public sector from one team to another to get away from people management. It was hand down one of the best moves I have ever made. I still get to work with other people but i have a sub team of just 3 of us and we work so well together. We kind of have our own caseloads but always help each other out but without anyone making it into a big deal. My previous team always had to moan about everything or make things into a whole issue. I actually enjoy logging on to work now instead of dreading it.

Sorry, that contained no advice, but I just wanted to say I get it and it's possible. 😁 Good luck!

I wish I was! I’m skilled in data management and analysis and like I say this is quoted in my MBA but I’m not a qualified data scientist. Basically I’m don’t know how to code, although I suppose I could learn!

@bpch yes it’s frustrating. This person is struggling mentally and I feel sorry for them but they won’t get signed off, preferring to be ‘at work’ but then do nothing whilst here. I’m having to micromanage and deal with the associated complaints from everyone else when jobs aren’t done, deadlines missed etc.

@RumNotRun thank you, it’s good to hear. I’ve painted myself into a corner financially, but perhaps I need to start planning for a move once my credit card is paid off (big expense, zero interest but taking several months to clear). Currently I cannot afford to reduce income anymore although less stress is of course priceless

I realise that made me sound unsympathetic to my staff member - to be clear, I have supported in every way I know how, but short of doing his job for him (which in many ways I already am) I don’t know what else I can do!

Be honest with your team member. Ask him if he thinks this is the job for him. What would he rather do as life is too short to do a job he doesn't like and work with him in looking for something he actually wants to do. It's a win win for both of you, he feels supported in getting out and you manage him out without having to do it the official way.

But if this fails, then the official way it is.

Yes it may come to that. Unfortunately there are lots of issues - I suspect neurodivergence, poor executive function, personal life is a shitshow etc. I think he finds being in a ‘proper’ job a bit overwhelming (KPIs, monitoring of time, forms for time off etc) when he was previously doing cash in hand or agency work. He’s struggling with depression currently and is checked out - we have nothing from his GP, and he has failed to engage with OH. Fun!!

I am potentially facing a choice between your current post (as in people management, albeit functional) and a specialist post with no people management. Also public sector.

Having done the functional management previously (a large team including someone very like your tricky person) I have little desire to do it again, and the specialist job sounds right up my street. However, I really like my current team, I know the work really well (and enjoy it) and I would only be managing a small team this time.

For my tricky team member, the job was their life (also refused to get signed off) so @AMurderofMurderingCrows ‘s question wouldn’t have worked, plus they actually contributed a great deal to the team, but they made life so difficult for me and nobody in higher management would deal with it so it was me who gave in and moved teams. No regrets tbh but I am definitely wary of ending up in the same situation.

Yes.

Typically you get pay for responsibility and expertise.

The responsibility can be for people or for a subject area or a combination of the two. Look for lead / senior / advisor type roles rather than manager ones.

(and if you haven’t already, get HR input and a PIP going - the end point often isnt as far away as you’d think when manager and HR agree and roll their sleeves up).

Yes I’ve done it. I used to manage a team of 6 at the same grade (also public sector) but moved to a different team to work in a similar but more specialist role but with no line management. I enjoy it so much more. I hope you find something!

@ScaryM0nster Yes I think PIP is the next step tbh. I’m just wary as the health issues will come up and while we’ve made allowances, nothing official has happened to support him (other than letting things go) because we’ve not been able to get advice from OH as he hasn’t engaged. I am being supportive but keeping a professional distance, which is hard when you get a voice note at 10pm with yet another excuse for absence.

thanks everyone for understanding! I will start planning and looking for something else, hybrid maybe as I’m also
knackered from early starts (schools!!)

Developing niche skills got me out of line management. I found out everything I could about our customer facing systems and then worked my way through a series of temp roles to get more experience. I am now a SO in the Civil Service in a very small team of only 13 people with no line management responsibilities.

@MummyWillow1 thats encouraging. I would say I have both broad and niche skills, it’s just how to find roles and sell myself now

Quite a lot of companies promote top contributors into management. It doesn't always work out, and then they move them out back into contributor roles to mutual satisfaction. It might be worth having a look around your current organisation to see if you can spot when this might have happened and see if there are any routes there you could try to follow.

There seems to be a lot less creative opportunity in recruitment than there used to be with people being sought ready made. Unless you get a personal introduction it is very hard to get through screening unless you've done a very similar role before.

@Tryinghardertoo unfortunately this is not possible, I work in a school and there is no equivalent role for me there. Public sector, maybe. I have worked for a council before (left due moving away). But there’s a bit of me that wants something completely different!