Work and career progression apathy.. Is it much more prevalent now?

[413x]

I was in a senior management roll in the 40% tax bracket. It was a nightmare towards the end. When I first started working in the industry it was always my goal to get there as the job seemed quite good and I always liked the challenge but over the 15 years things got progressively worse. 14 hour days, not being able to sleep at night because you are trying to work out how holidays are going to be covered due to absences and where you are going to find recruits to come in to ever decreasing wages. People above who simply have their head in the sand pushing more and more work onto your hands. At the beginning I was purely a manager then towards the end I was training, HR, councillor, development etc. I also had absolute zero job satisfaction that towards the end it was just a pure grind as it was a constant two steps back, 1 step forward. I would interview, employ and get 3-4 new people trained to get a bit of breathing space only for another 6 to leave because my superiors would totally ignore the issues I presented in the working environment.

I ended up just handing in my 3 month notice and it was such a huge relief but I had no idea what I was going to do. I just had savings that would last me about a year or two at the most. I have always been a massive petrolhead and love driving so decided to do my HGV Licence and have been doing that for the past 3 years.

I get paid less than I used too and only work 3.5 days a week average but the sense of job satisfaction I get is something I never got from my previous job. I absolutely love what I do and never dread going to work. Yes it is a massive responsibility for the money and the stress levels when driving around central London can be horrid but it is enjoyable stress because it is a challenge that you can effect and overcome. Something I could never do in my old job. Even three years down the line I still get giddy connecting my trailer up for the day with my Spotify playlist ready and my flask of tea in the dash. I have started doing vlogging over the past month so will see where that leads as trucking content seems to be quite popular.

I know I will not have the most massive pension in the world but I know I will be quite happy do add hoc work a couple of days a week to top up my pension.

I'd definitely consider this job.
Being on the road is quite therapeutic.
Definitely something I'd consider if, let's say, I ld have had enough of my sector.

 

[413x]

I think because everyone now is just generally taking the mickey for the shareholder with little thought to the middle.

Take my old job as an example. I would need to hold a welfare meeting, performance review or disciplinary hearing. I would ring to my lovely H/R lady in the office who would pretty much prepare everything. All I would have to do is hand out a notice to organise the hearing time. Go to the hearing then we would discuss the evidence in front of us and go from there. I would also have H/R with me to explain any queries regarding employment law so I wouldn't do anything stupid.

Roll on a few years the company I work for gets rid of 90% of HR and makes it all remote and online which basically shifts all the work load onto me whilst the company is saving hundreds of thousands if not millions a year by getting rid of most HR from the sites across the country. All the workload is shoved on my lap as a result and I get zero pay increase for that.

Multiply that across training and development departments and your job just becomes untenable for the money you are getting paid. I am sure you can copy and paste this across all other forms of industry whether it be teaching, NHS etc.

The only time I could see myself putting in the real effort would be a small business where I know the CEO on a personal level and he can see what I bring to the game.

Yeah I don't really know what it was like 30 years ago.
But it does seem that if shareholders aren't seeing constant growth.. Its not good enough.

Maybe the average Joe has just had enough.

"what's point working my butt off for a few hundred more a month when shareholders are getting millions"

 

[413x]

It's perhaps not worth progressing to get to the next rung in isolation, but several rungs later it's worth it. There's only so much stress you can feel and you learn to cope/switch off gradually.
I think there is a certain point in companies where you 'made it' and you start getting very well taken care of.

This really. I'm my current role I don't think there's much above the level above me.
And the level above is (I think) not a good work:remuneration balance.

So there's nothing really to aim for.

As someone else said, the path to 50-60 was quite rapid.

But after that you have the double whammy in my area of slowing pay increases and 40pc tax

Not a great motivator when you know you'll never beach 100k

 

[413x]

Women working vs women needing to work is chicken vs egg.

If you double the supply of labour then naturally the price of labour goes down. No longer can a family survive on one person's salary. But it's worse than that for the family because of childcare costs on top.

If you're big business you're laughing because you have twice as many workers for roughly the same cost. Essentially the women are working for free, basically enslaved themselves in the name of feminism.

I guess another issue is that this extra household income has just inflated house prices. As that seems to be what people who have more spend on.

You don't need a huge 5 bed house for 3 people.
But many people don't really know what else to do with extra cash.

 

[413x]

I think it all depends on the mentality of the worker.
some people are really vocal, always shouting how good they are, asking for more money where ever they can.

others are more introverted and just get the job done.

Sadly it is usually the squeeky wheel which gets the grease. You could say that employee does not deserve a promotion (as you just did) but at the same time a good manager, part of their job should be to identify those people as well imo.

Short term you could argue screw it, if someone does the job without asking more money then great........ but long term eventually that person will say sod it and stop trying so hard.

funnily enough it is where i am at now........... i used to go above and beyond, even took my computer away and ruined a 5* all inclusive holiday planning for a work conference abroad.... but after years of it i have decided screw it enough is enough, if the powers that be want me to stay in my lane, i will stay in my lane. my role profile is so much simpler than what i had been doing, however i have definitely dialled it back somewhat now. brilliant for my work life balance.

Covid was the final straw really. I was at home working my ass off being an almost single parent whilst my wife who was only meant to be part time worked almost full time in a covid lab.

then when she came home i then had to start my actual job. All the while in stupid heat, whilst my neighbours sat drinking booze in the garden on furlough and the majority of the work campus where i was got an even better deal on full pay doing nothing (because they were unable to WFH unlike me)

Although covid did me great salary wise + WFH.. It was difficult seeing others being paid and not having anything to do

But overall I'd still take what I got as in the long run covid done me many favours.

I don't push to exceed though. I just try to do my job. As seems to be common now.

Honestly? On this forum I expected more "I try my hardest" than this thread has produced