Work/life balance rethink. A shift in general attitude?

[platinum87]

I think its a defeatist attitude to say, i will be working forever anyway, so let me take action, to ensure this will be the case.

Most people do not really think about this, but they do essentially live to it, the majority are apathetic which is the reason they will need to work forever and why they are poor.

 

[m4rmite]

In short,
furloughed, came back and treated with contempt.
Put up with it but then caught covid.
A stint in hospital and 3 weeks on oxygen.
Lying in the hospital bed, receiving texts asking about work thing from manager.
Switch flicked and i decided there and then to quit on my return.
Handed in notice without even a job lined up.
Got a new job with a loss of 12k a year, just me and the wife so no kids to support.

I love the no aggro/ stress of new job and the guys i work with are cracking.
They actually work as a team without the need to be asked as they have pride in their work.
My salary has increased to within 6k of my old job as my manager is over the moon with me.
The wife has dropped a day at her job as she wants to help look after the grandkids while their parents work.

I'm never going to be wealthy but at least I'll die happier than before.

 

[Rai200]

I think its a defeatist attitude to say, i will be working forever anyway, so let me take action, to ensure this will be the case.

Most people do not really think about this, but they do essentially live to it, the majority are apathetic which is the reason they will need to work forever and why they are poor.

Oh look, it's platinum87 with another dumb take. Quelle surprise.

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

I thoroughly recommend retirement at the earliest possible opportunity. It's great.

Tried that at 40, after taking redundancy and deciding not to look for work, but only lasted two years before I had to get back in to work for my own sanity.

Retiring might be easy if you've got a family and stuff to do but when you live on your own and all of your friends are still working, it eventually gets boring.

 

[Quartz]

Retiring might be easy if you've got a family and stuff to do but when you live on your own and all of your friends are still working, it eventually gets boring.

I retired rather later than you but I'm alone and managing just fine. Of course, I'm very much an introvert so being on my own isn't a problem.

 

[Nevakonaza]

I was recently offered a "promotion" to be Team Supervisor where i work and i turned it down,Although i am currently a relief Supervisor i felt (from my relief supervisor experience there) that been the actual Team supervisor would be too much not only in terms of stress,But having so much more of a workload,Including been responsible for a ton more of stuff & people and including paperwork,Answering to the manager when things go down the crapper etc really wasn't worth the extra £1.50 an hour that im currently on as it is.

Anyone else declined a promotion?

 

[Mr^B]

I've never really cared about a "career", I've never declined a promotion - but never sought one either. I just sort of bumble along being mildly competent at a fairly wide range of technical, business and soft/people skills - which seems to do the trick.

I once took a sideways/down internal job move to do something a bit more interesting in terms of subject matter and technology, but gave up running a fairly high-profile team to do so (and didn't regret it, even though I'm back running both that team, and another two teams as well).

COVID has been interesting in terms of work/life balance - and I'm currently 2-3 days a week in the office, but it's hard to do my job really effectively remotely, as it's mainly face to face contact/meetings, etc - and I get a bit of WebEx burnout after a few hours of it. And ironically I now work longer hours when working from home than I do when commuting to the office. I had a pretty comfortable job when my kids were younger and needed my time - but they're all pretty much self sufficient these days (eldest has left home now), so it's not so much of a problem any more.

I'm not going to retire any time soon, I enjoy my job too much for one thing - and for another I'd just get bored witless. I've just had 3 weeks out of a 4 week long-tenure leave, and I'm going up the wall and not looking forward to another week of sitting about doing nothing.

 

[ivrytwr3]

I was recently offered a "promotion" to be Team Supervisor where i work and i turned it down,Although i am currently a relief Supervisor i felt (from my relief supervisor experience there) that been the actual Team supervisor would be too much not only in terms of stress,But having so much more of a workload,Including been responsible for a ton more of stuff & people and including paperwork,Answering to the manager when things go down the crapper etc really wasn't worth the extra £1.50 an hour that im currently on as it is.

Anyone else declined a promotion?

Turned down 2 promotions in 2 years, took it the 3rd time!

The first 2 times would have meant a physical move and different type of role, 3rd time measures were put in place that allowed me to stay and continue managing the team i was already managing!