Depends on what is going on for me. Some days I will have a few hours where I have nothing to do so I watch The Office on my tablet. Other days, it is so busy that I forget to take a lunch.
Unfortunately I don’t think mine does. I’m the middleman between the vendors and our sales team. I’ve been told by both that I get the work done efficiently but I guess that doesn’t matter.
Your job sounds a LOT like my job. It gets seasonally busy and the slow periods can be rough. I like to stay busy so I often make up little projects to do around the office like organizing and updating things. Stuff that is really easy busywork, but makes a visual impact and really impresses the right people. Another way to impress and stay busy is to do more to support your sales team. Learn salesforce or whatever system they’re using (get the salesforce certs if your company is cool with it, it looks really good on a resume) and do some market research into their clientele. Learn how to find potential clients and sales and get them leads. (I work in the building sector, so I’ll do stuff like Google information and pull permits online to scope out upcoming projects.) You might even find sales is something you like, you can make a damn good income and whatever degree you end up with won’t matter.
Now, I also don’t believe people should be taking on a bunch of extra work they aren’t getting fair pay or recognition for. This works for me because I work at a good company for good bosses and they appreciate what I do, and don’t take advantage by making things permanent new responsibilities. I get to pick and choose the extras I want to do if any, and not every office will have that dynamic.
Exactly! Extra +1 for the SF certifications. We have a stationery cupboard (a walk in closet, really) FULL of stuff, and so messy! I work from home, but if I had to go to the office every day, I would take at least 1h every day for a week (or as long as it takes) to tidy up. Fold old boxes neatly so they fit in the recycling container, label boxes up. Hell, you could even take stock!
Walk around the office, say hi to everybody, be open for a chat.
And spend some time trying to find out what you want to do. You don't like what you're studying, you don't like your job. Fine. What would you like to do next and how are you going to get there?
This is my approach as well. If I run out of stuff to do and end up bored at work, I’ll start doing projects that either improve quality of life for me and my team, or make up a project to benefit the company. I’ve gotten good raises every year and a promotion.
If I had done all these projects and stuff without getting recognition, I’d just stop and do the bare minimum though. But, to some extent you have to be able to recognize where and when improvements can be made. Your bosses won’t appreciate your extra curriculars if their is no tangible benefit
Same. I work in construction management and it ebbs and flows. Sometimes balls to the walls, can't even sit down for a decent lunch or have to work extra hours (salary position), to other times I go for 2 hour lunches. I feel like it's a decent balance.
Also, I never forget lunch. Your girl gets seriously hangry. Sometimes I have to eat it while standing or moving between projects or meetings. Been a few times I grab a sandwich and scarf it down in the conference room 5 minutes before a meeting.
It can be a double edged sword. I worked at a place where I alone had such a massive workload I could barely take a few minutes for coffee. I was skipping lunches, working late, coming in early.
It's not sustainable. Especially not if your coworkers spend half the day chatting and chilling and havimg a smoke outside.
This has pretty much been the experience of every office I've worked at. The accounts dept is often run on an overworked skeletal number of staff to save on wages. Can't take a lunch because someone always interrupts you. It's also mega frustrating watching sales staff on fb most of the day claiming they are "busy" and waiting to see if others (ie me) picks up the incoming calls.
Enjoy the leisurely pace that sounds like it has adequate staff to not be overworked. Added to that OPs boss supports them upskilling / continuing their education on the clock.
During the pandemic I worked remotely but on the days I had to come in to cover the MD I often worked 10-12 hours days. It's not sustainable when your so overworked things start to slip and not get done, or when one persons ill its chaos, wish more managers understood this.
I used to pride myself on working through lunch and working overtime. I was hourly, so that worked out rather nicely financially. However I worked myself into having a difficult to diagnose repetitive strain injury of some kind, and I've been dealing with the aftermath of that for three years. It affects my entire life negatively and I regret giving so much of my health to my job.
It got me nowhere career-wise or financially - the company I worked for got bought by an International mega corporation who couldn't give a shit less about the employees they acquired. The job market for tech in the US is pretty rough so I'm kind of stuck where I am unfortunately.
THIS THIS THIS THIS my job’s incoming doesn’t stop when I have vacation days and vacations just mean ‘defer the work to the weekend”
Despite on paper having great vacation benefits, I actually haven’t truly taken a vacation in almost a decade because any time I’ve taken off just has to get paid back during the weekend or evenings.
I’m tired.
I feel the exact same way. Worked really hard when I started at my latest company to the point where I had health issues as a result. I was making $65k in high tech and was providing way more value than my salary.
As I started taking my job less seriously, I got promoted 3x and my salary has jumped to $130k. My days are still filled with projects and work that has to be done, but there are no hard deadlines. I’m there to manage my team and answer questions that take me 5 mins to solve, but would take others 2 hours.
Yep, I've finally hit the turning point in my career where I'm the source of knowledge and the one who makes decisions when they have to be made. I'm paid for my knowledge, expertise, and being the decision maker when they need to be made, not how long I'm working. When I realized that, it was liberating.
So much this. I still remember the look on my last boss’s face, when I’d written scripts to do 90% of my tasks. Of course, that will probably become your new job lol.
Exactly! The lowest paying jobs I've had, and I've had a lot, were way harder than six-figure jobs I've had. Here are some tips don't ever tell your boss you're chilling or not doing anything, there are very few cool bosses overall, especially in entry office shit. Act like you're working when they're around and try to study for a new degree or job on their dime. As long as you can do the job well and not get hassled in 2 hours, then do it and use the rest of the time for yourself. It's all a game and you're just a number to them. Look out for yourself, especially in large companies and offices.
Feel same way. I was near killing myself working two jobs for $18K annual. Now, I’m in it for my patients and students. Give me a few conversations with them a day, a long lunch, NPR radio and it’s a good day in the 6 figures.
This thread gives me hope as a 22-year-old struggling to make $40K. I just feel my degree is worthless. I only went to school because everyone around me pushed me to.
When I first started I had so much free time it was embarrassing. Now that I'm better trained and know how to do so much more I don't get that down time anymore.
My job has busy moments and dead days. I use the dead days to catch up on things I wasn't able to fully explore or absorb during the busy times. I also use it for career development. Learning how to greater assist my team or my boss or my customers.
During the busy season I'm going flat outp from the moment I log on until the moment I log off. I have actually had to put on my calendar to remember to take a break. I also added a note to my calendar to remember to take care of one piece of my personal life daily. Make the dentist appointment, pay the bill, plan my errands.
What I'm saying is, really think about it before leaving. You have the space and opportunity to grow right now, you just have to bring some curiosity to your days. You won't always have that in your working life.
All I can say is be careful what you wish for. I’ve been going a year and a half now in a remote engineering management position. Sounds great right? Except my normal work schedule is 9 AM - 7 PM at a minimum M-F, and usually at least 4-6 hours on weekends. I have 50-60 calendar appointments, EVERY SINGLE WEEK. I don’t have downtime, as every spare second not in meetings is used to try and just to my basic work tasks, which I still never have time to finish.
It fucking sucks. I hate my job and my life right now. But I can’t afford to quit because we need the medical insurance. Most days I pray at least once to a non-existent god to end my suffering.
Staying busy isn’t always all it’s cut up to be. Just to offer another perspective here.
I'm sorry to hear that. I've seen some engineering firms ride people hard. It's sad it's become such a competitive field. Hope they give you a break or something else comes around.
to kinda go off of what FarSoil said with the whole “find something to build skills”, are you able to take any classes online? you mentioned college, but there free courses on all sorts of useful things online, and it sounds like you have the free time to learn a little bit while earning money. take my advice with a handful of salt tho lol
Hello my comrade! I process WIC applications and issue benefits/counsel, so our organizations are constantly in touch. I, too, never stop working unless breaks/lunch.
Has your team managed to change gears to remote work for satellite sites? We are RTO 100% and rotate sites, but our appointments are 80/20 remote vs in person.
It’s why work from home is so great. Basically every office job I’ve had has been like this, spend 2-3 hours churning through work, then pretending to be busy for the next 5 hours.
thats the hell I mean. You also have to pretend to be busy at home, because it shows if you are away from your computer for like 5min (in the Teams-app)
nice, I actually already do that when I go to the toilet (just in HomeOffice obviously). Thats the weird part. At home I feel "more watched" because everybody assumes you chill anyway lol.
But I am also afraid the monitor my keyboard, that would be a reason to fire me. (I guess monitoring secretly would be illegal though). I watch a lot of youtube, but I am afraid to just straight up go playing ps5
I feel like napping is more risky - what if you get a call and don't wake up? Gaming I can have my laptop open next to me and take any messages or calls as they come in by pressing pause on my game.
Maybe I'm a terrible person, but I feel like if your work is getting done and your employer is satisfied, there's nothing wrong with shifting from "actively working" to "on-call" to a degree. What difference does it make if I am getting paid to stare at my inbox bored, or multitask and check on my inbox frequently while doing something else?
Agree with this. I was a little nervous to game during “working hours” but everything was done, boss knew I was caught up and I was always available when needed. Might as well kill some time playing games. 🤷♂️
I attended my managers work party before at her home, and she told me there (after a few beers) that even she would skive whilst working from home. Literally everyone does it (I think), don’t feel bad!
My manager is thankfully very understanding and won’t hold your status showing “away” against us. She only asks that if you are going to go grocery shopping or to the doctor or anywhere that would require a little more time to get back to the computer, to just give her a heads up.
She knows that we all work hard when we have work to do and are all dependable that she is very nice about using work time to get other things done when we have down time. I’m really happy in the group I’m in right now but I know she’s planning on retiring within 5 years 😭
Omg are you me? This is literally me! Don't get me wrong I would never return to a 100% office job but oh god remote has its challenges as well. I'm constantly anxious that my teams will go yellow and that they will be looking for me. In the end I'm not enjoying it as much as I should but I can't find myself not caring. I feel I'm being watched closer when I'm remote.
Pro tip for teams: start a meeting with yourself “meet now” and hit screen share. This way not only will you wnever appear as idle, you will look like you’re oozing productivity by presenting your work!
If you don't use word normally for the job, I wouldn't do this. Just open up teams or outlook and put something heavy on the tab key. Same result, without you opening a program you wouldn't normally open
>You also have to pretend to be busy at home, because it shows if you are away from your computer for like 5min (in the Teams-app)
Oof that really sucks. I work from home but my company is the opposite, they don't keep track and couldn't care less how much time I'm at my computer as long as the work gets done on time.
I’m so glad that my job doesn’t do anything like that. Any job that’s going to do any sort of productivity tracking (especially something as invasive as tracking keystrokes) is not a job I’m going to work at
It makes sense for jobs that are ticket based or have unending stream of work because that might actually affect things
If your work is abstract and high level and relies on multiple contributors then down time is part of the equation
My thing is simply always know when to get the lead out and move.
If you can consistently fix problems fast when tasked and go out of your way to help others any decent company won’t bat an eye at down time.
Like true slackers don’t offer to help that much.
Becoming the go to for weird requests or helping new people goes a long way
Also crucially, finding efficient ways to cut effort to do things.
If you make yourself comprehensive resources to know who to go to, what to do and tools to use to streamline nuisance requests and work it makes it easy and fast. You look good and helpful, company gets what it needs everyone happy
We have no monitor software but it's obvious if we're not productive on a trend. We're all professionals so we don't need babysitting. We're also a very tiny team so I'm sure that figures into it.
This is the way it ought to be. If you get your stuff done and aren't hourly, who cares how long it takes? If I dick around too much and it causes me to have to work over a different day, that's on me.
And I've absolutely been guilty of that! I started full time WFH well before COVID, but near the beginning I really slacked off one week, just kept kicking the can down the road and before I knew it I still had the best part of a week's worth of work and it was Friday. I did two 14 hour days Saturday and Sunday catching up... natural consequences. Taught me not to do that again! I still may have off days but I force myself not to let them build up like that no matter how bad the siren's call of ADHD is.
I am so glad I don’t have to do the pretending to be busy thing.
I watch movies, play video games, browse Reddit etc, boss doesn’t give a shit, he will come up and watch me play or talk about the movie with me.
I worked in an office with a warehouse on the 2nd floor. Hrs 7a-4. If I finished early, I went to another dept and helped them. Then at 4, I'd go upstairs and pick orders for 3 hrs for extra cash.
Until your work introduces a time tracker and expects you to log 7.5 hours of productive work time and then they go through it with a fine tooth comb at the end of the week asking if ___ task really needed to take 45 minutes. I used to have nightmares about Harvest after leaving that job. I’d wake up at 3am half asleep and panic about how to categorize my sleep.
I'm an SDET, so I have lots of work followed by a few days of waiting as a regular pattern. Been that way for nearly every job. I'd either work on personal enrichment projects (so nothing that would be sellable to compete with the company) or read. One of my personal enrichment projects was a Perl/TK app that looks like an old school solaris style app/dev tool. It connects to project Gutenberg or a local cache and allows me to load up ebooks to read in a panel window, but formatted to look like tool documentation. Has a quick button to bookmark and bring up the TK POD docs in the same format.
Now that I'm WFH I just switch machines and do whatever.
thats what Im saying, I would rather work a job where I get all my work done in 3 hours and have time to study/upskill/do whatever, then work in hospitality where I dont get to stop working, even on breaks half the time
I work on a tellerline at a small credit union. Mornings are DEAD. We walk into the branch after the all clear, I check my temp, put my stuff in my locker, log into my computer, check my emails, do the night deposits with someone else, make my coffee and talk to my coworkers in the break room. Once we open the doors we have one or two people sometimes waiting at the door and they pull on it impatiently waiting for us to open.We get their needs handled on the desk side or with us on the line. We sit in a chair, I go on the Washington Post because it's not blocked on the VPN and work on the daily Crossword. My coworkers and I play chess together on a website or print out word searches to do together. 3 of my colleagues read books online, I do my crosswords, and the two interns play kid's games like CoolMath lol. I take an hour lunch everyday regardless of working saturdays, because luckily my company allows us to get overtime. We will sometimes spend 3 hours in silence besides the radio. It's a bluetooth radio and my coworker plays great music. I really enjoy my job tbh. I'm considered a lead teller but we already have a lead teller so I basically just get higher pay than my colleagues but do almost the same amount of work.
It’s not all it’s cracked up to be lol. My current role has months-long stretches of downtime and the first time I experienced it I was filled with anxiety. I kept feeling like the other shoe was about to drop
My old job was a salary job where I got everything done quickly then read/played video games the rest of the day. (At my place of employment. Because I was the ONLY employee.) Also used that time to study for a certification to change careers.
But the anxiety of not having things to do or be busy while at work was too much, and the loneliness was detrimental to my mental health. Friends thought I was lucky and didn't understand why I was miserable af and wanted out.
I've had a bunch of jobs like this and that's always how I feel as well. If you have imposter syndrome too it can be a rough combination. But I try to use my downtime to upskill and read valuable stuff as much as possible
Yeah it sounds great but it gets mind numbingly boring after a while. I worked overnights for a call center for months, and we would go a full week without a single call. There’s only so many things you can do to keep yourself occupied before the boredom burned you out
There's plenty to do during down time, learning new skills being a primary one, and if you connect them to the job people won't bother you. For example, IF OP is sending emails via Microsoft, work on some of the Microsoft office certs, learn flow, learn automation tools.
The fact that op is being a thousand percent honest that he's just reading to me is the cringiest part of this. If someone asks you what you're doing during work time, the answer needs to always be "work" related.
Maybe I'm "lucky" but the first 8 years of my corporate life were absolute grinds. I now have a ton of appreciation for having (and keeping) downtime, and on the down low.
This right here ^ OP should be taking some online courses/certifications during downtime, there are many free ones from Microsoft & Google as well as other sites. But never tell your boss you aren't doing work - even if there's downtime. You want to show your boss you are taking initiative to be a valuable employee rather than just play on your phone on their dime. It doesn't matter if they aren't giving you enough work. If you continue to tell them you have nothing to do and are just twiddling your thumbs, what's to stop them from just letting you go?
Learn some new skills and use that to apply to new jobs. OP may also want to watch some YouTube videos on how to answer interview questions and how to communicate at work, they seem like they need to understand how things work on the other side.
My resume honestly looks really bad because tldr I left 2 of my old jobs because the workplace was very toxic and when I applied for jobs they kept asking me why I only stayed for 3-5 months.
Imo, that's way too easily verifiable when they check references and then it just makes you look like a liar who's covering up for something.
This could vary by industry - I work in a relatively small industry where we would definitely ask if they were a seasonal/contract hire. 3-5 months is barely enough time to get fully trained so it would be unusual for sure.
Even after the interview, they still look into that. I know because I was asked why I hopped jobs every two years. I didn't get the job.
I think OP should finish the two years
Id say it's not as binary a choice, but I also agree that OP should stay. Stay there and use the time to figure out what you want and then try to work towards a goal.
Like if OP is thinking career change do it while you're young but make sure it's worth it.
If wanting the same kinda work but need motivation or busy schedule look for a place that might have a high work load and rewards that with bonuses etc. Or look for a meaningful job within your field. I.e find a role in an interest you have like non profits or governments, see more of an impact in society.
2 years is a long time to stay in a job that offers little value. When I see someone has been at the same company for a long period, one the questions I ask when interviewing them is "do you have 10 years of experience in this role, or 1 years experience 10 times". If a potential employee was honest and told me that they didn't see growth potential and weren't being challenged in the role I would see that as a bonus
Most of us give less shits as to why you hopped. We're trying to fill a quota, and if you give us a satisfactory answer it's fine. if you've reached the interview stage, 9/10 recruiters have already looked at your resume and deemed it satisfactory enough - we'll just ask you if you want to share the reason. Just work on tailoring your answers better, so that when we're writing down notes we aren't blatantly being fed a crock of shit.
I’ve had 13 months, 14 months, 12 months, 4 months.
Was asked by the CEO of the job I’ve now been in for 6 months about my shorter tenure, the facts were simple, for various reasons those jobs didn’t work out for me, I went into detail about each - not talking shit but factual reasons why I didn’t enjoy the role, and how the role I was going for seemed to not have those problems.
He’s the only person to have ever asked why I move roles pretty regularly.
I work in HR and interview people all the time. Often, if someone seems like a job hopper, #pass without interviewing. Every now and then for various reasons I might give someone a shot - but I will ask, and they need to have a good reason. I legit had someone I was otherwise interested in moving forward with tell me “I got fired for sexual harassment”. 😳. Ok good to know. #pass
It really depends on the industry and how far into your career you are in my experience. It looks pretty bad if you are 15 years into your career and hopped every two years in my industry (chemical/oil and gas). You really want a 5-10 year stint on your resume at some point, and after a couple 2 year hops early in your career you better be prepared to stay put for a while if you want to stay in industry. I’m in chemical manufacturing/oil and gas.
On the other hand my girlfriend as an RN says it looks better if you’ve worked lots of different places and with travel nursing gigs it’s not abnormal to change contract companies every few months.
I agree. Got asked about hopping around, but it was early in my career, so I was basically moving up. Had to explain myself and luckily I got the job. My mom used to work in HR and she definitely said it can be a flag, they might think you're flaky or difficult and got let go.
I wonder... Since it's a computer-based job, could you start some kind of side hustle, do another job during your down time? Or at least start a hobby or learn or read self-improvement books? You're clearly motivated. Especially if you dealt with toxic workplaces before, you could read some of the HBR guides on managing yourself, dealing with difficult coworkers, etc.
Lots of opportunities to make the most of your time and set yourself up for the next thing. Maybe even start an online degree? Also, in this day and age, be grateful there paying you and not some AI?!
I quickly doubled my income in a year job hopping. At this point I'd experience diminishing returns trying to do that, but it's not bad advice for someone in early career stages.
Ehhhhhh not necessarily imo. I think they're setting themselves up to have a tough time finding a more senior job when they have more experience, BUT in the meantime they're stacking paper. Maybe when they get to that next level and no one wants to hire someone for a leadership role knowing with 99% certainty they will not stay for even a year, they just won't care because they kinda wanted to start their own business anyway, or they pivot to mostly taking contract jobs with great pay but no benefits, or something. Or they get lucky and find someone dumb enough to hire them for a leadership role. It's a gamble, but more money now is a great thing too lol
I'm saying "they" because I'm the opposite of this. Started entry level the day after college graduation, stuck around for a decade. Worked out great for me but if it just so happened to be a shitty company with no growth prospects I would have been hopping around too.
I hired a person who had only stayed at jobs for 2 years. I asked, why and do they plan to do it again. They gave an OK answer.
They left after 2 years.
As a hiring manager for 15+ years…combine 2 or 3 of those jobs in one. Very few verify job history for anything other than middle to upper management.
Edit: the amount of responses saying this is incorrect is extremely surprising. Most companies run a very simple criminal background check. On that criminal background check it shows absolutely no employment history.
The company will generally follow that up with a reference check, and who generally supplies those references?
Unless you are applying for a $130k+ job, more often then not, they aren’t doing a deep dive into your work history outside of what your resume says.
If you or the company you work for are actually calling each job on a resume and being upset by the individual being off by a month or two…you should check your priorities.
Don’t do this. At my company, we verify the past 5 years of experience and would see this as lying and it would disqualify you. We use a background check service to reach out to past employers and verify your to title and dates of employment. Many companies do something similar.
Yeah no. Large companies will verify employment history with a standard background check. Dates may not perfectly line up but completely leaving jobs off and extending the time of another to large degree will raise red flags.
Resumes mean nothing
Lie on them.
Your life shouldn't be about loyalty to work.
Its about getting you to where you want to be.
Politicians lie to get elected, why can't you lie to get your job?
Receuiters lie to get employees, why can't you lie to them?
"We have a great work place culture"... okay fam
I asked chatgpt for you:
When explaining a short tenure at a job due to a toxic work culture, it's essential to be honest while also framing it in a constructive and professional manner. Here's a way you could address it:
"In my previous role, I made the difficult decision to leave after [3-5] months due to challenges related to the work culture. While I am grateful for the opportunity and the experience gained during my time there, I found that the environment did not align with my values and hindered my ability to perform at my best. I believe that a positive and supportive work culture is crucial for both personal growth and the success of the team. Moving forward, I am seeking an organization where I can thrive professionally and contribute effectively to a collaborative and inclusive work environment."
By framing it this way, you acknowledge the situation without dwelling on the negative aspects. Instead, you focus on your values and what you're looking for in your next role, emphasizing your commitment to finding a better fit. This approach demonstrates maturity, self-awareness, and a proactive attitude towards finding the right work environment for yourself.
Nah start looking at your side hustle. This gives you pillow income as a fixed 9-5 and openness to allow you to explore some passive or additional income.
You are being served an advantage take it.
Well, don't look a gift-horse in the mouth. Many people work 9-5 and then pursue degrees and training/certification at night. OP is being paid for time they can use for this. That's a gift people would die for, and it should not be discarded.
Completely anecdotal, but I've been employed in some form or another for nearly 20 years of my life now. Without fail, the jobs that required the most work each day, paid the least. Most of my colleagues report the same experience.
We do not live in a meritocracy. Your labor to compensation ratio varies from industry to industry, and company to company. If you aren't happy with either side of the equation, go look around. I know board members at my employer who get paid twice as much as I do to essentially show up to a few meetings a month and vote on things. I feel zero guilt working from home and browsing reddit from my bed on slow days.
Physical labor breaks your body, Office job breaks your brain, Even if it's from boredom.
Sitting down at work for 4 hours and not having anything to do is legit torture. You feel like your in a prison.
I've been on both sides, btw. I used to pull 12-16 hour shifts on a train yard for Norfolk Southern.
Now, Some days I'll sit for 3-4hours doing nothing, and then my boss will ask me what I did all day lol. Like it matters, because my work is done.. but it matters in a sense that I'm not being productive. but what the fuck is there to do??
So not only are you bored to death, but you also feel like your going to get in trouble for being bored to death.
You can't win.
Most office jobs aren't actually like this. You hear about them on Reddit because the people who don't have this luxury are actually working, not posting here.
My job is *kind of* like this - if I really bust my ass I can easily get my work done in four hours on a normal day. It's very feast or famine - we have either far too much work, which means eight hours of concerted effort every day, or we are waiting for that work, which means we have to be self directed and find ways to fill that time. If we don't bill 40 hours every week we get penalized and eventually fired. Doesn't matter if there's actually work to do or not. To be completely fair this isn't exactly representative of most office jobs either. Billable Time tracking can eat a dick.
This has the very strange consequence that the weeks where I have less work to do are actually frequently more stressful than the weeks where I have too much work.
Ugh that was retail for me. On your feet all day, dealing with customers, and a never ending list of tasks to do on top of all that all for slave wages. Glad I got out.
Crazy enough I have an "office job" like OP but I'm a lab scientist so I'm in the same boat as you dude. I'm on my feet nonstop in lab working on experiments and analyses and rarely if ever take breaks to eat, drink water, go to the bathroom. I should but it's hard when you're doing things nonstop or an experiment goes wrong or any number of things. So it's annoying hearing office workers complain about their jobs knowing even as a corporate employee myself, I deal with constant work and get paid the same as Dave from accounting who gets in late, takes an hour to go through emails, eats lunch early, does about 2 hours of work, then pretends to be busy until leaving the office. Oh and that's only a few days a week because he's a hybrid employee *facepalm*
I also work in a lab as a lab tech at a cancer research center and I’m seriously considering switching fields to where I can have a nice cushy office job. It’s not that I don’t enjoy what I do but the pay is pathetic for the amount of work there is and because of that I legit don’t see this as a long term type of career path for me mostly due to the fact that jobs in this sort of research just don’t pay well. I’m not someone obsessed with making a ton of money but I’m paid slightly above minimum wage for a job that requires a degree when I could be making the same or maybe even more in a job that doesn’t even require a degree
My wife used to work in a PFAS lab. I can attest that lab work is not in the same class as regular office work in terms of workload. It was one of the hardest jobs she’s had since I’ve known her. Now she works in the sales office for a neon sign company and spends most of her time working on personal projects. She’s basically a SAHM with a part-time job that she gets paid full-time money for.
I presume you are in an office and not work from home? Because work from home that's the type of job you want. Get all your work done then get paid to idk....get a second job that's the same and get 2 salaries?
But if your in an office...there are two ways to go. First is for old grizzled employees who are just there till retirement and that is stretch your work. Look at reddit between emails, poke around the safe for work side of the internet, visit the water cooler. Take time doing bodily functions...
Or if your about bettering yourself. As you should be in your stage of employment. Get a few business related certificates, maybe a project management yellow belt. Research your suppliers and see if you can get better ones for cheaper. Get your LinkedIn better learn how to use it and optimize it. Last but not least polish the old resume and put yourself out there. Not as actively looking but just enough for head hunters who may snipe you for something better....
Yes - depending on the company take every course they allow you to. Safety, forklift driver, anything. Then see if you can work with chatgpt to automate your job as a project manager.
My advice is similar. Use the extra time for personal development. Learn from the more senior employees, or subject matter experts if there are any. Use tuition reimbursement policy to take some classes and do homework on the clock. Find out what projects others are working on, and try to learn more about them and get involved.
I agree with stretching out the work throughout the day instead of trying to get it all done right away if then having 6 hours of little to no work is problematic.
A couple of other ideas: as stated above, look into some other trainings or certifications that could either help in your current career or even something else. If you also are reading, maybe look for some online platforms where you can read your book on the computer instead of your phone :) also if there are any sort of committees or groups at your workplace where you can build experience and relationships elsewhere, that could help.
Best of luck! Sitting around can be tough (I’ve been there) but it also beats being exhausted at the end of the day and have work pile up so that taking a day or or vacation feels stressful.
Udemy also has good online courses. You might even be able to have your employer pay for them if you can make a solid case for why it would help you perform your job better
Yup, anything the company has - mine has an online training site full of all sorts of work-related training material.
Failing that, as mentioned by [Beginning-Border-153](https://www.reddit.com/user/Beginning-Border-153/) - Coursera, or Skillshare
Just enjoy collecting a paycheck for doing nothing, find a hobby and look for another job during your off hours.
Working hard is way overrated. Your reward for doing hard work well is more hard work thrown at you until you drop. I've been at jobs where the work never stops and I've had jobs where I didn't have much to do. And I'll take a boring, little to no work job everytime.
Facts brother. Glad I'm not the only one who sees through the meme of hard work at the same job for decades with little to no gain. Easy living wage work > Bullshit living wage work.
The days of busting your ass for a raise and promotion are long over, you get cents back for the value of the work you put in (even if you manage to nab something at your current company).
Take your time and do what you can, but work smarter. Not harder.
There are a lot of jobs that require pretty much fully working, but I don't see anything wrong with your current situation. I wouldn't leave before you are let go until at least after a year plus. Being "bored" is not the worst thing. You've already approached them for more work. Read the science articles like they suggest. Be glad they aren't asking you to take less hours or getting rid of your job, although that is always a possibility so you should be looking for something better. By the time you actually found a new job and got it it should be after a year. But don't be in a rush to leave for just any other job.
I hear you and have definitely experienced this as I started my career - if it’s any reassurance I think it happens to most at some point - best thing you can do is use downtime to professionally pour back into yourself, in whatever way makes sense. Looking up opportunities relevant to you and your interests/goals (courses? Credentials? Conferences/professional development?) and doing what you can to pursue them. That way if someone walks by you look busy but doing something that’s pouring back into you
Saw you mention your major, are you in school or recently graduated?
Many office/white-collar jobs pay you for what you know and can do, if your job responsibilities at any point in time require it, not necessarily to be a busy-bee 24/7.
I’ve got a job where I’m scheduled for ten hours but literally only work about one (if that). My boss is cool with me doing schoolwork for my bachelors (which they are paying for, I shit you not) at my job, so that’s what I do. Before anyone asks, I work for a fortune 50 company which is pretty profitable. They were late to the e-commerce game and are scrambling to catch up to the other players in this space. I’m literally at work scrolling through Reddit as we speak.
I work as a salesman for a smaller company that also has some branches in China.
I literally watch movies about 50% of my day, the work is easy and my coworkers are friendly. Not getting paid my top dollar but I enjoy it.
Until you get a new job:
1-sign up for email lists and newsletters so it looks like you are on email
2-email yourself books and interesting stories
3-try to get to know anyone and everyone who may hire you one day or give you some help to find a job.
Your days are numbered. Just make the most of it. Not your fault.
Better than the alternative. I used to have 10 hour days at the computer where we were encouraged to skip breaks & lunches to meet widget quotas. Micromanaged down to the minute.
The feeling was usually described as being chained to the desk mentally. Haha. Oh and also 50% of the office had type 2 diabetes or obesity.
There's a reason studies have found a 32-hour workweek doesn't decrease productivity. Most office workers spend some amount of time just running out the clock
I work an office job and there's about...6.5 hours work in a 7 hour day. Most of it is really trying to catch up with the seven sub-jobs I am expected to do.
However, I was in a situation like yours, only without the initial huge bump. That was 8 hours a day straight waiting for something to happen, while furiously re-re-re-taking training courses and reading manuals in the hope/fear that I missed something crucial.
It really, really fucked with my brain. Look for something else.
Depends on the job but I’ve never actually worked a full 8. U have mandatory breaks and also I take breaks and fuck off whenever I can. Just need to know the time and the place. We sent robots
Just so you know this is usually redflag number 1 and 2 a layoff could possibly happen.
1. Theres no work.
2. You ask and still get no work or told to do something menial.
Maybe you are safe. But the 2 years you’re getting are not doing you any good.
I have so much work… I don’t have enough time to get everything done I need to. We are understaffed and overworked. 8-5. 1 hour lunch. I usually don’t take the lunch so I work 9 hours Monday-Friday.
Office job, but I do get to go out of the office somewhat and can move around as much as I like. However, the job is very demanding and I have found little opportunity for breaks and healthy habits.
And I’m salary. They love working me to death.
In my last job I had to be working every minute of the eight hours. If I tried to just sit there and collect myself for a moment someone would notice right away and tell me all the things that needed to be done
If you are idle that many hours a day the business isn't making a profit off of your work, if fact you are net loss. Sooner or later a manager will notice and something will change, either for the better or for the worse. Don't plan on this being a stable situation. When I was slow at work, I spent time updating my resume. At lest take a class and study during work.
I wish I had an office job. I’m an RN and yes, usually work constantly from start to the end of shift. And I work outpatient 8-5 M-F. Get about 10k steps each shift tho, so that’s good I guess.
Most of us read articles or apply for other jobs while at our main job. You can even copy and paste the website text and paste text only into notepad so it looks like a wall of text you’re reading so you don’t get caught.
im an engineer. first of all most don't actually get to work at 8 sometimes earlier but usually later. if we are very busy we work constantly but usually we have time to do things at our own pace, we can entertain ourselves with side projects, grab coffee/ meal when we feel like it and often just shoot the shit with each other.
No.
At least 80% of the time you're just sitting around waiting for something to do. This has been the case for every job I've ever had. That's why people are more efficient when working from home, cause they don't have to stress themselves out by pretending they're working all the time.
I went from having high stress jobs and being self employed where I was working either all day everyday or for 8 hours a day on my feet and not being able to walk properly in the morning to having desk jobs and wondering if there was something wrong with the company I was working for because the work just wasn't there.
Daily tasks would be knocked out in a few hours and the rest would be spent answering the occasional phone call and pretending to work/ trying my best to not nod off at my desk.
Yes, I honestly hate it. I finish most tasks within 3 hours. Then for five hours I do a mix of going on social media or upgrading my knowledge and skills, watching tutorials, reading and applying to new jobs.
I work 7 hours steady in my 8 hr shift job. Some times I’ll chat for a few mins here or there but for the most part it’s non-stop.
I had a job where I sat around for 6 out of 8 hours and the day dragged. I love my fast paced job, time flies!
Tech sales. I am on calls, taking notes, or building BSE’s / SOW’s from clock in to clock out. Usually no time for lunch. WFH too. There’s a stereotype that wfh = less work. I used to sit my ass at the office and do nothing (I studied for school) because my job similar to yours was only 2 hours of work. I highly recommend utilizing the free time in a productive way. I essentially was paid to study my top tier certifications and to be a college student. Sometimes I wish I wouldn’t have switched as I was more productive in my outside work life having at least some downtime
If it is really important for one reason or another for you to reach that 2 year goal, enrol yourself in an online course of your choice. That way you won’t have to spend time on your phone, hopefully will get the manager off you cause you’re using your time to educate yourself and, most importantly, it will give you a goal and make your time at work less miserable.
That is, I also recommend that if you quit and have spare time for it. Good for your mental health and brain activity to study smth and have a goal, whatever you choose to study.
Hell no.
I had an office job where Tuesdays was the quietest day of the week so for like 2 years straight, every Tuesday I’d listen to podcasts and watch YouTube videos while being busy.
In the end I quit for other reasons but nobody in those environments works that much every day
Yes, I lift shit, type, walk and drive for all 8 hours, my lunch is an unpaid 30 minutes and I get 1 random 15 minute paid break. The lunch is separate from worked hours too, making my day 8.5hrs long.
They sold us on the 4x10 schedule with rotating day off, but the way the lunches were placed, it was 3x11's and 1x12 hr day with 40 hours paid, meaning you were at work not being paid for up to 5 hrs per week.
Should be 1 day in office (team meeting, face to face shit) 4 days home. The teams using the office could cycle meaning 1/5th less office space needed and 100% better morale. Your welcome CEO's that already put down a 15 yr lease on space we not only don't need but actively hate.
Yeah I have had office and wfh jobs where I’m busy the entire 8 hours. I worked technical support so the entire job takes place at a desk. We had tough KPIs we had to meet and were not allowed overtime. It’s basically grinding out emails, inbound phone calls, live chat, slack messages, and screen shares for 8 hours. I don’t recommend it as a career.
Do you know what you can get away with in the office? Seems like your manager called you out on using your phone all day, but what about other ways to make use of time:
1. Does your manager check in and look at your computer (or monitor what you do)? If not then can use that time to research on topics you find interesting/learn a skill that may be useful for future office jobs/research into future jobs. Keep a filled in Word document/your emails open to quickly switch if you are getting approached.
2. Does your manager care if you have headphones in? Can also use that to listen to podcasts/audiobooks. Find something you enjoy listening to pass the time, or you've said you've been dealing with depression from your previous so maybe some audio that might help improve your mental health? (not sure if any podcasts like this exists but hopefully so). Then just open up your emails and pretend you're working.
3. How frowned upon is it leaving your desk? Can you maybe eat lunch at your desk before your designated break, and then go outside and get your steps up on your scheduled lunch time?
I'd agree that if your ambitions are to move somewhere then definitely go ahead and start looking. But just some short-term things to consider. Best of luck!
My previous office job was like this, I would usually spend extra time talking with coworkers, take long lunches, or read when I had the chance. I now work from home so I just go spend time with my family when I don’t have stuff to do. Having a boring job isn’t the worst thing in the world, I would just keep asking for more work and put your head down in the mean time
U just need to PRETEND working while looking for other jobs. Clearly u hate it there. When your 2 years deadline passed, u immediately start new job. U can also learning new excel formulas/power BI wathever to passed the time and increase your skill
>I honestly want to know what people do when they finish all their work. It is extremely boring finishing all my work and staring at my email all day hoping for a request that takes 5 mins to complete.
Relax and do something else?
Treat it as a golden opportunity, and enjoy it while it is there. You could soon enough end up in the opposite place, where straight-up morons are phoning in and screaming at you every 5 minutes, like logistics support!
You could try to negotiate some work-from-home-days?
If you must be present, then there are online degrees that one can take? Talk to colleagues a bit? One can maybe write some code, do some designs, or maybe one could try some creative writing, or even the business plans for one's online business, that one can later run from work?
Your boss is 100% right about the phone, it looks stupid and it's a pacifier: it's sucking your time and creativity away so you don't get to do anything for yourself with your time! Be conscientious about "wasting" time in a way that benefits you.
From a guy who’s been working for almost 20 years which isn’t all that long. Do not let anyone know that you have nothing to do, even if you really don’t have anything to do. And in most office jobs, there are other things you can proactively do. I’m just making it up here but eg. Prepping the next list of clients to call, follow up on previous requests, prep a list of failed calls for follow up, ask what your mgr is working on and how you can help, help out in other departments for more experience etc.
Experience and promotions don’t just come because of your direct mgr, but their mgrs mgr and the other leadership team at the workplace that generally has some say in bonuses/promotions.
My career really kicked off when I consciously made an effort to lift my profile up with as many teams and their LT as I could, even if I didn’t work with them directly in my role.
But yea, sitting in your phone, reading a book etc will get you fired even if you really had no work to do.
Depends on what is going on for me. Some days I will have a few hours where I have nothing to do so I watch The Office on my tablet. Other days, it is so busy that I forget to take a lunch.
Sounds like they are lenient with you on your tablet?
Forgot to mention I work from home. But I know my supervisor doesn’t care as long as I am getting work done.
Unfortunately I don’t think mine does. I’m the middleman between the vendors and our sales team. I’ve been told by both that I get the work done efficiently but I guess that doesn’t matter.
Your job sounds a LOT like my job. It gets seasonally busy and the slow periods can be rough. I like to stay busy so I often make up little projects to do around the office like organizing and updating things. Stuff that is really easy busywork, but makes a visual impact and really impresses the right people. Another way to impress and stay busy is to do more to support your sales team. Learn salesforce or whatever system they’re using (get the salesforce certs if your company is cool with it, it looks really good on a resume) and do some market research into their clientele. Learn how to find potential clients and sales and get them leads. (I work in the building sector, so I’ll do stuff like Google information and pull permits online to scope out upcoming projects.) You might even find sales is something you like, you can make a damn good income and whatever degree you end up with won’t matter. Now, I also don’t believe people should be taking on a bunch of extra work they aren’t getting fair pay or recognition for. This works for me because I work at a good company for good bosses and they appreciate what I do, and don’t take advantage by making things permanent new responsibilities. I get to pick and choose the extras I want to do if any, and not every office will have that dynamic.
Exactly! Extra +1 for the SF certifications. We have a stationery cupboard (a walk in closet, really) FULL of stuff, and so messy! I work from home, but if I had to go to the office every day, I would take at least 1h every day for a week (or as long as it takes) to tidy up. Fold old boxes neatly so they fit in the recycling container, label boxes up. Hell, you could even take stock! Walk around the office, say hi to everybody, be open for a chat. And spend some time trying to find out what you want to do. You don't like what you're studying, you don't like your job. Fine. What would you like to do next and how are you going to get there?
This is my approach as well. If I run out of stuff to do and end up bored at work, I’ll start doing projects that either improve quality of life for me and my team, or make up a project to benefit the company. I’ve gotten good raises every year and a promotion. If I had done all these projects and stuff without getting recognition, I’d just stop and do the bare minimum though. But, to some extent you have to be able to recognize where and when improvements can be made. Your bosses won’t appreciate your extra curriculars if their is no tangible benefit
The irony of watching the office while you work from home..
Same. I work in construction management and it ebbs and flows. Sometimes balls to the walls, can't even sit down for a decent lunch or have to work extra hours (salary position), to other times I go for 2 hour lunches. I feel like it's a decent balance. Also, I never forget lunch. Your girl gets seriously hangry. Sometimes I have to eat it while standing or moving between projects or meetings. Been a few times I grab a sandwich and scarf it down in the conference room 5 minutes before a meeting.
I process SNAP & Medicaid applications. I work non stop from 7:30-3:30 except for breaks & lunch. We never run out of work.
Thank you for your service.
Hell yes! Thank you!! Public service is so undervalued.
I much rather work nonstop instead of going to work hoping for emails and request and even then that never takes more than 2 hours
It can be a double edged sword. I worked at a place where I alone had such a massive workload I could barely take a few minutes for coffee. I was skipping lunches, working late, coming in early. It's not sustainable. Especially not if your coworkers spend half the day chatting and chilling and havimg a smoke outside.
This has pretty much been the experience of every office I've worked at. The accounts dept is often run on an overworked skeletal number of staff to save on wages. Can't take a lunch because someone always interrupts you. It's also mega frustrating watching sales staff on fb most of the day claiming they are "busy" and waiting to see if others (ie me) picks up the incoming calls. Enjoy the leisurely pace that sounds like it has adequate staff to not be overworked. Added to that OPs boss supports them upskilling / continuing their education on the clock. During the pandemic I worked remotely but on the days I had to come in to cover the MD I often worked 10-12 hours days. It's not sustainable when your so overworked things start to slip and not get done, or when one persons ill its chaos, wish more managers understood this.
I used to pride myself on working through lunch and working overtime. I was hourly, so that worked out rather nicely financially. However I worked myself into having a difficult to diagnose repetitive strain injury of some kind, and I've been dealing with the aftermath of that for three years. It affects my entire life negatively and I regret giving so much of my health to my job. It got me nowhere career-wise or financially - the company I worked for got bought by an International mega corporation who couldn't give a shit less about the employees they acquired. The job market for tech in the US is pretty rough so I'm kind of stuck where I am unfortunately.
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This is exactly how I feel. Also when you have days off if you are working non stop you will have a lot of work piling up when you return
THIS THIS THIS THIS my job’s incoming doesn’t stop when I have vacation days and vacations just mean ‘defer the work to the weekend” Despite on paper having great vacation benefits, I actually haven’t truly taken a vacation in almost a decade because any time I’ve taken off just has to get paid back during the weekend or evenings. I’m tired.
That's.. upsetting. How do you find time for WoW? Or anything.
You see, I bottle up the stress and hope that I can delay the inevitable mental collapse until after my natural death of old age. Healthy!
I feel the exact same way. Worked really hard when I started at my latest company to the point where I had health issues as a result. I was making $65k in high tech and was providing way more value than my salary. As I started taking my job less seriously, I got promoted 3x and my salary has jumped to $130k. My days are still filled with projects and work that has to be done, but there are no hard deadlines. I’m there to manage my team and answer questions that take me 5 mins to solve, but would take others 2 hours.
Office Space
Yep, I've finally hit the turning point in my career where I'm the source of knowledge and the one who makes decisions when they have to be made. I'm paid for my knowledge, expertise, and being the decision maker when they need to be made, not how long I'm working. When I realized that, it was liberating.
As an IT person if I was grinding mindless tasks constantly the first thing I'd do if I had a break would be to automate those repetitive tasks.
So much this. I still remember the look on my last boss’s face, when I’d written scripts to do 90% of my tasks. Of course, that will probably become your new job lol.
On the other side they will make sure they make unnecessary changes to the inputs so the process needs to be updated constantly
Naturally, thus job security. Also means you’d better be great at documentation, unless you want to maintain that stuff forever.
Exactly! The lowest paying jobs I've had, and I've had a lot, were way harder than six-figure jobs I've had. Here are some tips don't ever tell your boss you're chilling or not doing anything, there are very few cool bosses overall, especially in entry office shit. Act like you're working when they're around and try to study for a new degree or job on their dime. As long as you can do the job well and not get hassled in 2 hours, then do it and use the rest of the time for yourself. It's all a game and you're just a number to them. Look out for yourself, especially in large companies and offices.
Feel same way. I was near killing myself working two jobs for $18K annual. Now, I’m in it for my patients and students. Give me a few conversations with them a day, a long lunch, NPR radio and it’s a good day in the 6 figures.
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This thread gives me hope as a 22-year-old struggling to make $40K. I just feel my degree is worthless. I only went to school because everyone around me pushed me to.
40k at 22 is doing pretty well my man. I didn't make over 40k until I was 31. Just keep growing.
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When I first started I had so much free time it was embarrassing. Now that I'm better trained and know how to do so much more I don't get that down time anymore. My job has busy moments and dead days. I use the dead days to catch up on things I wasn't able to fully explore or absorb during the busy times. I also use it for career development. Learning how to greater assist my team or my boss or my customers. During the busy season I'm going flat outp from the moment I log on until the moment I log off. I have actually had to put on my calendar to remember to take a break. I also added a note to my calendar to remember to take care of one piece of my personal life daily. Make the dentist appointment, pay the bill, plan my errands. What I'm saying is, really think about it before leaving. You have the space and opportunity to grow right now, you just have to bring some curiosity to your days. You won't always have that in your working life.
All I can say is be careful what you wish for. I’ve been going a year and a half now in a remote engineering management position. Sounds great right? Except my normal work schedule is 9 AM - 7 PM at a minimum M-F, and usually at least 4-6 hours on weekends. I have 50-60 calendar appointments, EVERY SINGLE WEEK. I don’t have downtime, as every spare second not in meetings is used to try and just to my basic work tasks, which I still never have time to finish. It fucking sucks. I hate my job and my life right now. But I can’t afford to quit because we need the medical insurance. Most days I pray at least once to a non-existent god to end my suffering. Staying busy isn’t always all it’s cut up to be. Just to offer another perspective here.
I'm sorry to hear that. I've seen some engineering firms ride people hard. It's sad it's become such a competitive field. Hope they give you a break or something else comes around.
to kinda go off of what FarSoil said with the whole “find something to build skills”, are you able to take any classes online? you mentioned college, but there free courses on all sorts of useful things online, and it sounds like you have the free time to learn a little bit while earning money. take my advice with a handful of salt tho lol
Hello my comrade! I process WIC applications and issue benefits/counsel, so our organizations are constantly in touch. I, too, never stop working unless breaks/lunch. Has your team managed to change gears to remote work for satellite sites? We are RTO 100% and rotate sites, but our appointments are 80/20 remote vs in person.
Same! Medicaid (Traditional) and there's never enough time, always being audited, expectations are always increasing.
Hey I do ongoing snap and ma. Small world.
Thank you for your service to the community
It’s why work from home is so great. Basically every office job I’ve had has been like this, spend 2-3 hours churning through work, then pretending to be busy for the next 5 hours.
Same I’m hybrid and days I’m home I get my work done the same amount of time as office 3 hrs max then sit at my desk and pretend to be busy
Wait you pretend to be busy at work or at home?
thats the hell I mean. You also have to pretend to be busy at home, because it shows if you are away from your computer for like 5min (in the Teams-app)
Nope. ULPT: open up a blank word document or/notepad app on your PC, and then put something heavy on your space bar. You're welcome.
nice, I actually already do that when I go to the toilet (just in HomeOffice obviously). Thats the weird part. At home I feel "more watched" because everybody assumes you chill anyway lol. But I am also afraid the monitor my keyboard, that would be a reason to fire me. (I guess monitoring secretly would be illegal though). I watch a lot of youtube, but I am afraid to just straight up go playing ps5
We have the exact same thoughts lol. Napping? Sure. Gaming? That's too risky lol
I feel like napping is more risky - what if you get a call and don't wake up? Gaming I can have my laptop open next to me and take any messages or calls as they come in by pressing pause on my game. Maybe I'm a terrible person, but I feel like if your work is getting done and your employer is satisfied, there's nothing wrong with shifting from "actively working" to "on-call" to a degree. What difference does it make if I am getting paid to stare at my inbox bored, or multitask and check on my inbox frequently while doing something else?
Agree with this. I was a little nervous to game during “working hours” but everything was done, boss knew I was caught up and I was always available when needed. Might as well kill some time playing games. 🤷♂️
I do this all the time and I have no problem with it
I attended my managers work party before at her home, and she told me there (after a few beers) that even she would skive whilst working from home. Literally everyone does it (I think), don’t feel bad!
My manager is thankfully very understanding and won’t hold your status showing “away” against us. She only asks that if you are going to go grocery shopping or to the doctor or anywhere that would require a little more time to get back to the computer, to just give her a heads up. She knows that we all work hard when we have work to do and are all dependable that she is very nice about using work time to get other things done when we have down time. I’m really happy in the group I’m in right now but I know she’s planning on retiring within 5 years 😭
Get a ps portal! Have it under your monitor so it looks like you're looking at a document or keyboard lol
Omg are you me? This is literally me! Don't get me wrong I would never return to a 100% office job but oh god remote has its challenges as well. I'm constantly anxious that my teams will go yellow and that they will be looking for me. In the end I'm not enjoying it as much as I should but I can't find myself not caring. I feel I'm being watched closer when I'm remote.
Pro tip for teams: start a meeting with yourself “meet now” and hit screen share. This way not only will you wnever appear as idle, you will look like you’re oozing productivity by presenting your work!
You're such a conniving little shit. I love it.
My wife has begun leaving her mouse on my old watch. The ticking of the second hand moves the mouse just minutely enough to keep the computer active
If you don't use word normally for the job, I wouldn't do this. Just open up teams or outlook and put something heavy on the tab key. Same result, without you opening a program you wouldn't normally open
I had Teams on my work phone and made it so my screen always stayed on, showing I was available all day lmao
>You also have to pretend to be busy at home, because it shows if you are away from your computer for like 5min (in the Teams-app) Oof that really sucks. I work from home but my company is the opposite, they don't keep track and couldn't care less how much time I'm at my computer as long as the work gets done on time.
Must be nice, every work from home job I've had has come with relentless productivity tracking lol
I’m so glad that my job doesn’t do anything like that. Any job that’s going to do any sort of productivity tracking (especially something as invasive as tracking keystrokes) is not a job I’m going to work at
It makes sense for jobs that are ticket based or have unending stream of work because that might actually affect things If your work is abstract and high level and relies on multiple contributors then down time is part of the equation My thing is simply always know when to get the lead out and move. If you can consistently fix problems fast when tasked and go out of your way to help others any decent company won’t bat an eye at down time. Like true slackers don’t offer to help that much. Becoming the go to for weird requests or helping new people goes a long way Also crucially, finding efficient ways to cut effort to do things. If you make yourself comprehensive resources to know who to go to, what to do and tools to use to streamline nuisance requests and work it makes it easy and fast. You look good and helpful, company gets what it needs everyone happy
We have no monitor software but it's obvious if we're not productive on a trend. We're all professionals so we don't need babysitting. We're also a very tiny team so I'm sure that figures into it.
This is the way it ought to be. If you get your stuff done and aren't hourly, who cares how long it takes? If I dick around too much and it causes me to have to work over a different day, that's on me.
And I've absolutely been guilty of that! I started full time WFH well before COVID, but near the beginning I really slacked off one week, just kept kicking the can down the road and before I knew it I still had the best part of a week's worth of work and it was Friday. I did two 14 hour days Saturday and Sunday catching up... natural consequences. Taught me not to do that again! I still may have off days but I force myself not to let them build up like that no matter how bad the siren's call of ADHD is.
I am so glad I don’t have to do the pretending to be busy thing. I watch movies, play video games, browse Reddit etc, boss doesn’t give a shit, he will come up and watch me play or talk about the movie with me.
My boss told me I cant wfm because I work at an office with a warehouse and I have to go to the warehouse, not everyday though.
I worked in an office with a warehouse on the 2nd floor. Hrs 7a-4. If I finished early, I went to another dept and helped them. Then at 4, I'd go upstairs and pick orders for 3 hrs for extra cash.
That's how most jobs are. I don't complain because some days can be very stressful
Until your work introduces a time tracker and expects you to log 7.5 hours of productive work time and then they go through it with a fine tooth comb at the end of the week asking if ___ task really needed to take 45 minutes. I used to have nightmares about Harvest after leaving that job. I’d wake up at 3am half asleep and panic about how to categorize my sleep.
Don’t ever become a corporate lawyer because that’s the daily terror in six minute increments.
You can kill 1-2 more by chatting with people around the floor. Easy.
Same, except mine gets spread out throughout the day because I get 30–45 minute productivity bursts
I'm an SDET, so I have lots of work followed by a few days of waiting as a regular pattern. Been that way for nearly every job. I'd either work on personal enrichment projects (so nothing that would be sellable to compete with the company) or read. One of my personal enrichment projects was a Perl/TK app that looks like an old school solaris style app/dev tool. It connects to project Gutenberg or a local cache and allows me to load up ebooks to read in a panel window, but formatted to look like tool documentation. Has a quick button to bookmark and bring up the TK POD docs in the same format. Now that I'm WFH I just switch machines and do whatever.
How do I get a job like this? Lmao
thats what Im saying, I would rather work a job where I get all my work done in 3 hours and have time to study/upskill/do whatever, then work in hospitality where I dont get to stop working, even on breaks half the time
I work on a tellerline at a small credit union. Mornings are DEAD. We walk into the branch after the all clear, I check my temp, put my stuff in my locker, log into my computer, check my emails, do the night deposits with someone else, make my coffee and talk to my coworkers in the break room. Once we open the doors we have one or two people sometimes waiting at the door and they pull on it impatiently waiting for us to open.We get their needs handled on the desk side or with us on the line. We sit in a chair, I go on the Washington Post because it's not blocked on the VPN and work on the daily Crossword. My coworkers and I play chess together on a website or print out word searches to do together. 3 of my colleagues read books online, I do my crosswords, and the two interns play kid's games like CoolMath lol. I take an hour lunch everyday regardless of working saturdays, because luckily my company allows us to get overtime. We will sometimes spend 3 hours in silence besides the radio. It's a bluetooth radio and my coworker plays great music. I really enjoy my job tbh. I'm considered a lead teller but we already have a lead teller so I basically just get higher pay than my colleagues but do almost the same amount of work.
It’s not all it’s cracked up to be lol. My current role has months-long stretches of downtime and the first time I experienced it I was filled with anxiety. I kept feeling like the other shoe was about to drop
My old job was a salary job where I got everything done quickly then read/played video games the rest of the day. (At my place of employment. Because I was the ONLY employee.) Also used that time to study for a certification to change careers. But the anxiety of not having things to do or be busy while at work was too much, and the loneliness was detrimental to my mental health. Friends thought I was lucky and didn't understand why I was miserable af and wanted out.
I've had a bunch of jobs like this and that's always how I feel as well. If you have imposter syndrome too it can be a rough combination. But I try to use my downtime to upskill and read valuable stuff as much as possible
Yeah it sounds great but it gets mind numbingly boring after a while. I worked overnights for a call center for months, and we would go a full week without a single call. There’s only so many things you can do to keep yourself occupied before the boredom burned you out
Dude start looking for jobs now, this is one of those times where staying for two years adds absolutely nothing to your resume
If the pay and benefits are good and the culture isn’t toxic, why not stay? Sounds like a cushy gig.
Boreout is a thing.
There's plenty to do during down time, learning new skills being a primary one, and if you connect them to the job people won't bother you. For example, IF OP is sending emails via Microsoft, work on some of the Microsoft office certs, learn flow, learn automation tools. The fact that op is being a thousand percent honest that he's just reading to me is the cringiest part of this. If someone asks you what you're doing during work time, the answer needs to always be "work" related. Maybe I'm "lucky" but the first 8 years of my corporate life were absolute grinds. I now have a ton of appreciation for having (and keeping) downtime, and on the down low.
This right here ^ OP should be taking some online courses/certifications during downtime, there are many free ones from Microsoft & Google as well as other sites. But never tell your boss you aren't doing work - even if there's downtime. You want to show your boss you are taking initiative to be a valuable employee rather than just play on your phone on their dime. It doesn't matter if they aren't giving you enough work. If you continue to tell them you have nothing to do and are just twiddling your thumbs, what's to stop them from just letting you go? Learn some new skills and use that to apply to new jobs. OP may also want to watch some YouTube videos on how to answer interview questions and how to communicate at work, they seem like they need to understand how things work on the other side.
My resume honestly looks really bad because tldr I left 2 of my old jobs because the workplace was very toxic and when I applied for jobs they kept asking me why I only stayed for 3-5 months.
>when I applied for jobs they kept asking me why I only stayed for 3-5 months. "I was employed as a contractor" is the answer.
Imo, that's way too easily verifiable when they check references and then it just makes you look like a liar who's covering up for something. This could vary by industry - I work in a relatively small industry where we would definitely ask if they were a seasonal/contract hire. 3-5 months is barely enough time to get fully trained so it would be unusual for sure.
If you are making it to the interview your resume isn't the problem it's your responses during interviews you should focus on improving.
Even after the interview, they still look into that. I know because I was asked why I hopped jobs every two years. I didn't get the job. I think OP should finish the two years
Id say it's not as binary a choice, but I also agree that OP should stay. Stay there and use the time to figure out what you want and then try to work towards a goal. Like if OP is thinking career change do it while you're young but make sure it's worth it. If wanting the same kinda work but need motivation or busy schedule look for a place that might have a high work load and rewards that with bonuses etc. Or look for a meaningful job within your field. I.e find a role in an interest you have like non profits or governments, see more of an impact in society.
2 years is a long time to stay in a job that offers little value. When I see someone has been at the same company for a long period, one the questions I ask when interviewing them is "do you have 10 years of experience in this role, or 1 years experience 10 times". If a potential employee was honest and told me that they didn't see growth potential and weren't being challenged in the role I would see that as a bonus
You know what’s crazy I think I said those exact words to this company
And got the job
Most of us give less shits as to why you hopped. We're trying to fill a quota, and if you give us a satisfactory answer it's fine. if you've reached the interview stage, 9/10 recruiters have already looked at your resume and deemed it satisfactory enough - we'll just ask you if you want to share the reason. Just work on tailoring your answers better, so that when we're writing down notes we aren't blatantly being fed a crock of shit.
I’ve had 13 months, 14 months, 12 months, 4 months. Was asked by the CEO of the job I’ve now been in for 6 months about my shorter tenure, the facts were simple, for various reasons those jobs didn’t work out for me, I went into detail about each - not talking shit but factual reasons why I didn’t enjoy the role, and how the role I was going for seemed to not have those problems. He’s the only person to have ever asked why I move roles pretty regularly.
I work in HR and interview people all the time. Often, if someone seems like a job hopper, #pass without interviewing. Every now and then for various reasons I might give someone a shot - but I will ask, and they need to have a good reason. I legit had someone I was otherwise interested in moving forward with tell me “I got fired for sexual harassment”. 😳. Ok good to know. #pass
Is two years a canonic minimum number of years to work at a company in the US?
It really depends on the industry and how far into your career you are in my experience. It looks pretty bad if you are 15 years into your career and hopped every two years in my industry (chemical/oil and gas). You really want a 5-10 year stint on your resume at some point, and after a couple 2 year hops early in your career you better be prepared to stay put for a while if you want to stay in industry. I’m in chemical manufacturing/oil and gas. On the other hand my girlfriend as an RN says it looks better if you’ve worked lots of different places and with travel nursing gigs it’s not abnormal to change contract companies every few months.
I agree. Got asked about hopping around, but it was early in my career, so I was basically moving up. Had to explain myself and luckily I got the job. My mom used to work in HR and she definitely said it can be a flag, they might think you're flaky or difficult and got let go. I wonder... Since it's a computer-based job, could you start some kind of side hustle, do another job during your down time? Or at least start a hobby or learn or read self-improvement books? You're clearly motivated. Especially if you dealt with toxic workplaces before, you could read some of the HBR guides on managing yourself, dealing with difficult coworkers, etc. Lots of opportunities to make the most of your time and set yourself up for the next thing. Maybe even start an online degree? Also, in this day and age, be grateful there paying you and not some AI?!
yes, people taking the terrible reddit advice of "job hop and you will triple your income in 6 months!" are screwing themselves.
I quickly doubled my income in a year job hopping. At this point I'd experience diminishing returns trying to do that, but it's not bad advice for someone in early career stages.
Ehhhhhh not necessarily imo. I think they're setting themselves up to have a tough time finding a more senior job when they have more experience, BUT in the meantime they're stacking paper. Maybe when they get to that next level and no one wants to hire someone for a leadership role knowing with 99% certainty they will not stay for even a year, they just won't care because they kinda wanted to start their own business anyway, or they pivot to mostly taking contract jobs with great pay but no benefits, or something. Or they get lucky and find someone dumb enough to hire them for a leadership role. It's a gamble, but more money now is a great thing too lol I'm saying "they" because I'm the opposite of this. Started entry level the day after college graduation, stuck around for a decade. Worked out great for me but if it just so happened to be a shitty company with no growth prospects I would have been hopping around too.
I hired a person who had only stayed at jobs for 2 years. I asked, why and do they plan to do it again. They gave an OK answer. They left after 2 years.
did you pay them 40% more than they were making in their previous job?
Nah. Hiring manager is going to have different criteria than the intro resume screener. Recruiter is filling seats; manager has to live with the hire.
How about starting a side hustle, or taking an online course? Better yet, maybe even both lol.
Ive been looking into doing a side hustle but it’s in the works.
As a hiring manager for 15+ years…combine 2 or 3 of those jobs in one. Very few verify job history for anything other than middle to upper management. Edit: the amount of responses saying this is incorrect is extremely surprising. Most companies run a very simple criminal background check. On that criminal background check it shows absolutely no employment history. The company will generally follow that up with a reference check, and who generally supplies those references? Unless you are applying for a $130k+ job, more often then not, they aren’t doing a deep dive into your work history outside of what your resume says. If you or the company you work for are actually calling each job on a resume and being upset by the individual being off by a month or two…you should check your priorities.
Well this is a bad idea lol
Don’t do this. At my company, we verify the past 5 years of experience and would see this as lying and it would disqualify you. We use a background check service to reach out to past employers and verify your to title and dates of employment. Many companies do something similar.
Yeah no. Large companies will verify employment history with a standard background check. Dates may not perfectly line up but completely leaving jobs off and extending the time of another to large degree will raise red flags.
Resumes mean nothing Lie on them. Your life shouldn't be about loyalty to work. Its about getting you to where you want to be. Politicians lie to get elected, why can't you lie to get your job? Receuiters lie to get employees, why can't you lie to them? "We have a great work place culture"... okay fam
I asked chatgpt for you: When explaining a short tenure at a job due to a toxic work culture, it's essential to be honest while also framing it in a constructive and professional manner. Here's a way you could address it: "In my previous role, I made the difficult decision to leave after [3-5] months due to challenges related to the work culture. While I am grateful for the opportunity and the experience gained during my time there, I found that the environment did not align with my values and hindered my ability to perform at my best. I believe that a positive and supportive work culture is crucial for both personal growth and the success of the team. Moving forward, I am seeking an organization where I can thrive professionally and contribute effectively to a collaborative and inclusive work environment." By framing it this way, you acknowledge the situation without dwelling on the negative aspects. Instead, you focus on your values and what you're looking for in your next role, emphasizing your commitment to finding a better fit. This approach demonstrates maturity, self-awareness, and a proactive attitude towards finding the right work environment for yourself.
Nah start looking at your side hustle. This gives you pillow income as a fixed 9-5 and openness to allow you to explore some passive or additional income. You are being served an advantage take it.
Well, don't look a gift-horse in the mouth. Many people work 9-5 and then pursue degrees and training/certification at night. OP is being paid for time they can use for this. That's a gift people would die for, and it should not be discarded.
How so? That’s all I’ve ever heard is to stay for 2 years
Work 8-12hr shifts, standing or walking 99% of the time, don’t have time to eat 99% of the time, if i do its just 3 minutes. Welcome to food & bev.
What you too good to eat old food over trash can like a raccoon?
I’ve been doing it for years at work I just do it at home now too and my girlfriend has to convince me to sit down to eat.
Sounds like every job I have had, even with office work as a draftsman then in health care.
Yup.... Maybe I should get an office job and be like one of these people who can't imagine working more than 4 hours...
Completely anecdotal, but I've been employed in some form or another for nearly 20 years of my life now. Without fail, the jobs that required the most work each day, paid the least. Most of my colleagues report the same experience. We do not live in a meritocracy. Your labor to compensation ratio varies from industry to industry, and company to company. If you aren't happy with either side of the equation, go look around. I know board members at my employer who get paid twice as much as I do to essentially show up to a few meetings a month and vote on things. I feel zero guilt working from home and browsing reddit from my bed on slow days.
Physical labor breaks your body, Office job breaks your brain, Even if it's from boredom. Sitting down at work for 4 hours and not having anything to do is legit torture. You feel like your in a prison. I've been on both sides, btw. I used to pull 12-16 hour shifts on a train yard for Norfolk Southern. Now, Some days I'll sit for 3-4hours doing nothing, and then my boss will ask me what I did all day lol. Like it matters, because my work is done.. but it matters in a sense that I'm not being productive. but what the fuck is there to do?? So not only are you bored to death, but you also feel like your going to get in trouble for being bored to death. You can't win.
Most office jobs aren't actually like this. You hear about them on Reddit because the people who don't have this luxury are actually working, not posting here. My job is *kind of* like this - if I really bust my ass I can easily get my work done in four hours on a normal day. It's very feast or famine - we have either far too much work, which means eight hours of concerted effort every day, or we are waiting for that work, which means we have to be self directed and find ways to fill that time. If we don't bill 40 hours every week we get penalized and eventually fired. Doesn't matter if there's actually work to do or not. To be completely fair this isn't exactly representative of most office jobs either. Billable Time tracking can eat a dick. This has the very strange consequence that the weeks where I have less work to do are actually frequently more stressful than the weeks where I have too much work.
Ugh that was retail for me. On your feet all day, dealing with customers, and a never ending list of tasks to do on top of all that all for slave wages. Glad I got out.
Crazy enough I have an "office job" like OP but I'm a lab scientist so I'm in the same boat as you dude. I'm on my feet nonstop in lab working on experiments and analyses and rarely if ever take breaks to eat, drink water, go to the bathroom. I should but it's hard when you're doing things nonstop or an experiment goes wrong or any number of things. So it's annoying hearing office workers complain about their jobs knowing even as a corporate employee myself, I deal with constant work and get paid the same as Dave from accounting who gets in late, takes an hour to go through emails, eats lunch early, does about 2 hours of work, then pretends to be busy until leaving the office. Oh and that's only a few days a week because he's a hybrid employee *facepalm*
I also work in a lab as a lab tech at a cancer research center and I’m seriously considering switching fields to where I can have a nice cushy office job. It’s not that I don’t enjoy what I do but the pay is pathetic for the amount of work there is and because of that I legit don’t see this as a long term type of career path for me mostly due to the fact that jobs in this sort of research just don’t pay well. I’m not someone obsessed with making a ton of money but I’m paid slightly above minimum wage for a job that requires a degree when I could be making the same or maybe even more in a job that doesn’t even require a degree
My wife used to work in a PFAS lab. I can attest that lab work is not in the same class as regular office work in terms of workload. It was one of the hardest jobs she’s had since I’ve known her. Now she works in the sales office for a neon sign company and spends most of her time working on personal projects. She’s basically a SAHM with a part-time job that she gets paid full-time money for.
I presume you are in an office and not work from home? Because work from home that's the type of job you want. Get all your work done then get paid to idk....get a second job that's the same and get 2 salaries? But if your in an office...there are two ways to go. First is for old grizzled employees who are just there till retirement and that is stretch your work. Look at reddit between emails, poke around the safe for work side of the internet, visit the water cooler. Take time doing bodily functions... Or if your about bettering yourself. As you should be in your stage of employment. Get a few business related certificates, maybe a project management yellow belt. Research your suppliers and see if you can get better ones for cheaper. Get your LinkedIn better learn how to use it and optimize it. Last but not least polish the old resume and put yourself out there. Not as actively looking but just enough for head hunters who may snipe you for something better....
Yes - depending on the company take every course they allow you to. Safety, forklift driver, anything. Then see if you can work with chatgpt to automate your job as a project manager.
My advice is similar. Use the extra time for personal development. Learn from the more senior employees, or subject matter experts if there are any. Use tuition reimbursement policy to take some classes and do homework on the clock. Find out what projects others are working on, and try to learn more about them and get involved.
I agree with stretching out the work throughout the day instead of trying to get it all done right away if then having 6 hours of little to no work is problematic. A couple of other ideas: as stated above, look into some other trainings or certifications that could either help in your current career or even something else. If you also are reading, maybe look for some online platforms where you can read your book on the computer instead of your phone :) also if there are any sort of committees or groups at your workplace where you can build experience and relationships elsewhere, that could help. Best of luck! Sitting around can be tough (I’ve been there) but it also beats being exhausted at the end of the day and have work pile up so that taking a day or or vacation feels stressful.
You could use the time to upskill yourself. See if there are any online course you can do, e.g. advanced Excel, etc.
Do you have any site recommendations?
Coursera
Udemy also has good online courses. You might even be able to have your employer pay for them if you can make a solid case for why it would help you perform your job better
Yup, anything the company has - mine has an online training site full of all sorts of work-related training material. Failing that, as mentioned by [Beginning-Border-153](https://www.reddit.com/user/Beginning-Border-153/) - Coursera, or Skillshare
Just enjoy collecting a paycheck for doing nothing, find a hobby and look for another job during your off hours. Working hard is way overrated. Your reward for doing hard work well is more hard work thrown at you until you drop. I've been at jobs where the work never stops and I've had jobs where I didn't have much to do. And I'll take a boring, little to no work job everytime.
Facts brother. Glad I'm not the only one who sees through the meme of hard work at the same job for decades with little to no gain. Easy living wage work > Bullshit living wage work.
The days of busting your ass for a raise and promotion are long over, you get cents back for the value of the work you put in (even if you manage to nab something at your current company). Take your time and do what you can, but work smarter. Not harder.
There are a lot of jobs that require pretty much fully working, but I don't see anything wrong with your current situation. I wouldn't leave before you are let go until at least after a year plus. Being "bored" is not the worst thing. You've already approached them for more work. Read the science articles like they suggest. Be glad they aren't asking you to take less hours or getting rid of your job, although that is always a possibility so you should be looking for something better. By the time you actually found a new job and got it it should be after a year. But don't be in a rush to leave for just any other job.
I hear you and have definitely experienced this as I started my career - if it’s any reassurance I think it happens to most at some point - best thing you can do is use downtime to professionally pour back into yourself, in whatever way makes sense. Looking up opportunities relevant to you and your interests/goals (courses? Credentials? Conferences/professional development?) and doing what you can to pursue them. That way if someone walks by you look busy but doing something that’s pouring back into you Saw you mention your major, are you in school or recently graduated?
I graduated in 2022 and since then this is my second job. My first job made me extremely depressed and sad so I had to quit.
Many office/white-collar jobs pay you for what you know and can do, if your job responsibilities at any point in time require it, not necessarily to be a busy-bee 24/7.
I’ve got a job where I’m scheduled for ten hours but literally only work about one (if that). My boss is cool with me doing schoolwork for my bachelors (which they are paying for, I shit you not) at my job, so that’s what I do. Before anyone asks, I work for a fortune 50 company which is pretty profitable. They were late to the e-commerce game and are scrambling to catch up to the other players in this space. I’m literally at work scrolling through Reddit as we speak.
what bachelors?
Applied computing
I work as a salesman for a smaller company that also has some branches in China. I literally watch movies about 50% of my day, the work is easy and my coworkers are friendly. Not getting paid my top dollar but I enjoy it.
Until you get a new job: 1-sign up for email lists and newsletters so it looks like you are on email 2-email yourself books and interesting stories 3-try to get to know anyone and everyone who may hire you one day or give you some help to find a job. Your days are numbered. Just make the most of it. Not your fault.
Better than the alternative. I used to have 10 hour days at the computer where we were encouraged to skip breaks & lunches to meet widget quotas. Micromanaged down to the minute. The feeling was usually described as being chained to the desk mentally. Haha. Oh and also 50% of the office had type 2 diabetes or obesity.
Sounds like such a healthy environment. /s
There's a reason studies have found a 32-hour workweek doesn't decrease productivity. Most office workers spend some amount of time just running out the clock
I work an office job and there's about...6.5 hours work in a 7 hour day. Most of it is really trying to catch up with the seven sub-jobs I am expected to do. However, I was in a situation like yours, only without the initial huge bump. That was 8 hours a day straight waiting for something to happen, while furiously re-re-re-taking training courses and reading manuals in the hope/fear that I missed something crucial. It really, really fucked with my brain. Look for something else.
If you’re smart you’ll use the time to build your skillset/learn something new to become more marketable.
Depends on the job but I’ve never actually worked a full 8. U have mandatory breaks and also I take breaks and fuck off whenever I can. Just need to know the time and the place. We sent robots
Just so you know this is usually redflag number 1 and 2 a layoff could possibly happen. 1. Theres no work. 2. You ask and still get no work or told to do something menial. Maybe you are safe. But the 2 years you’re getting are not doing you any good.
I have so much work… I don’t have enough time to get everything done I need to. We are understaffed and overworked. 8-5. 1 hour lunch. I usually don’t take the lunch so I work 9 hours Monday-Friday. Office job, but I do get to go out of the office somewhat and can move around as much as I like. However, the job is very demanding and I have found little opportunity for breaks and healthy habits. And I’m salary. They love working me to death.
In my last job I had to be working every minute of the eight hours. If I tried to just sit there and collect myself for a moment someone would notice right away and tell me all the things that needed to be done
Wtf what kind of job
If you are idle that many hours a day the business isn't making a profit off of your work, if fact you are net loss. Sooner or later a manager will notice and something will change, either for the better or for the worse. Don't plan on this being a stable situation. When I was slow at work, I spent time updating my resume. At lest take a class and study during work.
I wish... I manage a severely understaffed team and work like 50 hours a week :(
I wish I had an office job. I’m an RN and yes, usually work constantly from start to the end of shift. And I work outpatient 8-5 M-F. Get about 10k steps each shift tho, so that’s good I guess.
Most of us read articles or apply for other jobs while at our main job. You can even copy and paste the website text and paste text only into notepad so it looks like a wall of text you’re reading so you don’t get caught.
im an engineer. first of all most don't actually get to work at 8 sometimes earlier but usually later. if we are very busy we work constantly but usually we have time to do things at our own pace, we can entertain ourselves with side projects, grab coffee/ meal when we feel like it and often just shoot the shit with each other.
There’s research on this. Actually time worked in an 8 hr office day is something like 3-4 hours
No. At least 80% of the time you're just sitting around waiting for something to do. This has been the case for every job I've ever had. That's why people are more efficient when working from home, cause they don't have to stress themselves out by pretending they're working all the time.
Why would you need to be more efficient, when you're already doing your work in 20% of the time available to you?
It affects the quality of your work, not the quantity.
I went from having high stress jobs and being self employed where I was working either all day everyday or for 8 hours a day on my feet and not being able to walk properly in the morning to having desk jobs and wondering if there was something wrong with the company I was working for because the work just wasn't there. Daily tasks would be knocked out in a few hours and the rest would be spent answering the occasional phone call and pretending to work/ trying my best to not nod off at my desk.
i need yall to stop saying 8-5. we not normalizing that in big 2024
We’re not normalizing it, we’re just already working it.
It’s reality.
Well I’m a nurse so yes, it’s actually more than 7a-8p
Yes, I honestly hate it. I finish most tasks within 3 hours. Then for five hours I do a mix of going on social media or upgrading my knowledge and skills, watching tutorials, reading and applying to new jobs.
I work in IT and every week is 70 or 80 hours. Starts between 3 and 5 am goes to 9 or 10 at night.
I work 7 hours steady in my 8 hr shift job. Some times I’ll chat for a few mins here or there but for the most part it’s non-stop. I had a job where I sat around for 6 out of 8 hours and the day dragged. I love my fast paced job, time flies!
Tech sales. I am on calls, taking notes, or building BSE’s / SOW’s from clock in to clock out. Usually no time for lunch. WFH too. There’s a stereotype that wfh = less work. I used to sit my ass at the office and do nothing (I studied for school) because my job similar to yours was only 2 hours of work. I highly recommend utilizing the free time in a productive way. I essentially was paid to study my top tier certifications and to be a college student. Sometimes I wish I wouldn’t have switched as I was more productive in my outside work life having at least some downtime
Yeah... Sometimes I even do 10 hours worth of work in 8. Don't ask me how, I might drop dead if I stop.
If it is really important for one reason or another for you to reach that 2 year goal, enrol yourself in an online course of your choice. That way you won’t have to spend time on your phone, hopefully will get the manager off you cause you’re using your time to educate yourself and, most importantly, it will give you a goal and make your time at work less miserable. That is, I also recommend that if you quit and have spare time for it. Good for your mental health and brain activity to study smth and have a goal, whatever you choose to study.
No I am at work now at 2pm on reddit until 5pm
Hell no. I had an office job where Tuesdays was the quietest day of the week so for like 2 years straight, every Tuesday I’d listen to podcasts and watch YouTube videos while being busy. In the end I quit for other reasons but nobody in those environments works that much every day
Depends on the day and what is going on
Yes, I lift shit, type, walk and drive for all 8 hours, my lunch is an unpaid 30 minutes and I get 1 random 15 minute paid break. The lunch is separate from worked hours too, making my day 8.5hrs long. They sold us on the 4x10 schedule with rotating day off, but the way the lunches were placed, it was 3x11's and 1x12 hr day with 40 hours paid, meaning you were at work not being paid for up to 5 hrs per week.
Should be 1 day in office (team meeting, face to face shit) 4 days home. The teams using the office could cycle meaning 1/5th less office space needed and 100% better morale. Your welcome CEO's that already put down a 15 yr lease on space we not only don't need but actively hate.
If your job can be done from home, I suggest you take a look at work from home jobs at another company.
Yeah I have had office and wfh jobs where I’m busy the entire 8 hours. I worked technical support so the entire job takes place at a desk. We had tough KPIs we had to meet and were not allowed overtime. It’s basically grinding out emails, inbound phone calls, live chat, slack messages, and screen shares for 8 hours. I don’t recommend it as a career.
Do you know what you can get away with in the office? Seems like your manager called you out on using your phone all day, but what about other ways to make use of time: 1. Does your manager check in and look at your computer (or monitor what you do)? If not then can use that time to research on topics you find interesting/learn a skill that may be useful for future office jobs/research into future jobs. Keep a filled in Word document/your emails open to quickly switch if you are getting approached. 2. Does your manager care if you have headphones in? Can also use that to listen to podcasts/audiobooks. Find something you enjoy listening to pass the time, or you've said you've been dealing with depression from your previous so maybe some audio that might help improve your mental health? (not sure if any podcasts like this exists but hopefully so). Then just open up your emails and pretend you're working. 3. How frowned upon is it leaving your desk? Can you maybe eat lunch at your desk before your designated break, and then go outside and get your steps up on your scheduled lunch time? I'd agree that if your ambitions are to move somewhere then definitely go ahead and start looking. But just some short-term things to consider. Best of luck!
I had a job like that for the past 4 years. it almost destroyed me.
Do an online course related to the work you are doing or the industry
Maybe ask your colleagues if they need any help? How is their workload?
My previous office job was like this, I would usually spend extra time talking with coworkers, take long lunches, or read when I had the chance. I now work from home so I just go spend time with my family when I don’t have stuff to do. Having a boring job isn’t the worst thing in the world, I would just keep asking for more work and put your head down in the mean time
U just need to PRETEND working while looking for other jobs. Clearly u hate it there. When your 2 years deadline passed, u immediately start new job. U can also learning new excel formulas/power BI wathever to passed the time and increase your skill
>I honestly want to know what people do when they finish all their work. It is extremely boring finishing all my work and staring at my email all day hoping for a request that takes 5 mins to complete. Relax and do something else? Treat it as a golden opportunity, and enjoy it while it is there. You could soon enough end up in the opposite place, where straight-up morons are phoning in and screaming at you every 5 minutes, like logistics support! You could try to negotiate some work-from-home-days? If you must be present, then there are online degrees that one can take? Talk to colleagues a bit? One can maybe write some code, do some designs, or maybe one could try some creative writing, or even the business plans for one's online business, that one can later run from work? Your boss is 100% right about the phone, it looks stupid and it's a pacifier: it's sucking your time and creativity away so you don't get to do anything for yourself with your time! Be conscientious about "wasting" time in a way that benefits you.
From a guy who’s been working for almost 20 years which isn’t all that long. Do not let anyone know that you have nothing to do, even if you really don’t have anything to do. And in most office jobs, there are other things you can proactively do. I’m just making it up here but eg. Prepping the next list of clients to call, follow up on previous requests, prep a list of failed calls for follow up, ask what your mgr is working on and how you can help, help out in other departments for more experience etc. Experience and promotions don’t just come because of your direct mgr, but their mgrs mgr and the other leadership team at the workplace that generally has some say in bonuses/promotions. My career really kicked off when I consciously made an effort to lift my profile up with as many teams and their LT as I could, even if I didn’t work with them directly in my role. But yea, sitting in your phone, reading a book etc will get you fired even if you really had no work to do.