Job satisfaction and happiness... is it all down to money ?

[Potter]

Grateful to whom??

I don't think it matters, just being thankful is enough, even aimlessly thankful.

[Buckaroo]

Hertzberg has the answer to this conundrum. Lost count how many times I've taught this stuff and coached business leaders on this very topic.

[Bigyin]

I was in the position to retire at 51 but i knew i still needed to do some sort of work to top up pension as i still have a mortgage to pay for quite a few years .

I had 2 options..... go back to something i have done for years in a slightly different role but earn enough money to put me in the 40% tax bracket. Option 2 was do something i enjoy for not a lot of money

I took option 2. I really enjoy teaching people to ride bikes but i dont earn 4 figures a month doing it as its only 2 or 3 days a week depending on the amount of students per day. Every time i have the "i need to earn more" thought i balance that with "how much do i enjoy this" ....... Guess i need to push the training company to book me more days instructing in the diary

[Asian Boss]

I'm not bothered about the money past a certain point. It is important to me to be able to lord it over people and be able to threaten to have them thrown out of their cottages or that they'll never work in this industry again. Also making out I'm more big-time than I really am and talking all posh and clever in a Channel Four, intellectual left wing, chattering classes voice. That's where real happiness lies.

[JackyJoll]

I work in an office now, but I still do my Diet Coke break routine for an appreciative audience of empty-headed lovelies.

[Potter]

I'm not bothered about the money past a certain point. It is important to me to be able to lord it over people and be able to threaten to have them thrown out of their cottages or that they'll never work in this industry again. Also making out I'm more big-time than I really am and talking all posh and clever in a Channel Four, intellectual left wing, chattering classes voice. That's where real happiness lies.

I think you'd need a time machine or to work in television to be able to do that.

[Saga Lout]

...

Current jobs ok, but this middle layer of female management real is difficult to get on with. Uneducated folk with plenty of mouth, blame everybody other than themselves for any problems. Horrible f--kers. Senior management are fine.

...

Senior management is responsible for putting middle management in place. Why are you letting them off the hook?

[JackyJoll]

Current jobs ok, but this middle layer of female management real is difficult to get on with. Uneducated folk with plenty of mouth, blame everybody other than themselves for any problems. Horrible f--kers.

Do a Diet Coke break. It’s the only language these tight-arsed crones understand.

[Asian Boss]

I'm not bothered about the money past a certain point. It is important to me to be able to lord it over people and be able to threaten to have them thrown out of their cottages or that they'll never work in this industry again. Also making out I'm more big-time than I really am and talking all posh and clever in a Channel Four, intellectual left wing, chattering classes voice. That's where real happiness lies.

I think you'd need a time machine or to work in television to be able to do that.

I think there's blacklisting these days but it doesn't have the same ring to it.

[Saga Lout]

Current jobs ok, but this middle layer of female management real is difficult to get on with. Uneducated folk with plenty of mouth, blame everybody other than themselves for any problems. Horrible f--kers.

Do a Diet Coke break. It’s the only language these tight-arsed crones understand.

You deleted the wrong quote tag. Dodgy knees wrote that bit, not me.

[JackyJoll]

Current jobs ok, but this middle layer of female management real is difficult to get on with. Uneducated folk with plenty of mouth, blame everybody other than themselves for any problems. Horrible f--kers.

Do a Diet Coke break. It’s the only language these tight-arsed crones understand.

You deleted the wrong quote tag. Dodgy knees wrote that bit, not me.

You were thinking it though.

[Potter]

I think there's blacklisting these days but it doesn't have the same ring to it.

There is still lording.
Especially over the mediocre, they don't like it up 'em.

[Taipan]

I earn a hell of a lot more than I did 15 years ago but I'm still short of money, although that's down to my somewhat remarkable financial ineptitude! But this newish job is literally a paying hobby and I love the new tricks etc I seem to learn every so often.

I'd certainly say there's is no way i'd do a job I didn't like for twice the money or more. Work is such a big part of your life I just could not spend it doing something I didn't like. But, as I've said before, I'm not interested in the more expensive side of life. I know my station!

[Yorick]

I earn a hell of a lot more than I did 15 years ago but I'm still short of money, although that's down to my somewhat remarkable financial ineptitude! But this newish job is literally a paying hobby and I love the new tricks etc I seem to learn every so often.

I'd certainly say there's is no way i'd do a job I didn't like for twice the money or more. Work is such a big part of your life I just could not spend it doing something I didn't like. But, as I've said before, I'm not interested in the more expensive side of life. I know my station!

I could have earned proper big money working in London, but just hate the place.
I had a nice gentle 8 mile drive through countryside instead.

[dayglo jim]

Golden handcuffs. I know quite a few people that have ended up in senior management with a big salary and hate what the job but the salary affords them a big house, holidays, cars, bikes etc. Just biding their time and building their savings while they wait for an early retirement offer. A lot of them being trades of some sort that ended in management. IT seems a big one for this (those that I know), engineers and programmers that are great managers that would prefer to be given a task or project to solve and not have to worry about what other employees are doing.

I'd imagine that most people on this forum, on winning the lottery, would get bored after a while of not working and set up a little business or volunteer or something as a distraction. IMO working makes you appreciate time off.

[Yorick]

Golden handcuffs. I know quite a few people that have ended up in senior management with a big salary and hate what the job but the salary affords them a big house, holidays, cars, bikes etc. Just biding their time and building their savings while they wait for an early retirement offer. A lot of them being trades of some sort that ended in management. IT seems a big one for this (those that I know), engineers and programmers that are great managers that would prefer to be given a task or project to solve and not have to worry about what other employees are doing.

I'd imagine that most people on this forum, on winning the lottery, would get bored after a while of not working and set up a little business or volunteer or something as a distraction. IMO working makes you appreciate time off.

Not a chance

[Dodgy69]

...

Current jobs ok, but this middle layer of female management real is difficult to get on with. Uneducated folk with plenty of mouth, blame everybody other than themselves for any problems. Horrible f--kers. Senior management are fine.

...

Senior management is responsible for putting middle management in place. Why are you letting them off the hook?

Good point...
I meant they are of a better ilk, but yes, they know exactly what they're doing. Putting these 'sorts' in team leader type positions apparently reduces heated confrontation. Bit like having a female football referee. 21st century business bullshit I'm afraid.

[Potter]

I've often heard the comment that the big bosses are ok, but the layer underneath are not.

Recruiting middle management is the hardest position to fill, because what you want is people that have set great foundations in junior roles and they're on their way to C-suite but they're not there yet, so they need the experience in those middle management positions, but they'll only be there a few years.
These people are rare creatures, because for every 100 employees the number that is capable of operating at C-suite level are few and there isn't enough to go around, so any big company ends up with a bunch of middle managers that are teetering on the limit of their capabilities and they can have a detrimental effect. Managing these people effectively can be the key to a company doing well or having a toxic environment and culture.

Watch out for the senior manager (or director) that has been in his job for >5yrs without stepping up, you can get some great ones who are just happy being there, but many have hit their ceiling and they're operating out of their depths and spend all their time looking down to see what you're doing to poke their finger into your business and be a nuisance.

[Saga Lout]

Watch out for the senior manager (or director) that has been in his job for >5yrs without stepping up, you can get some great ones who are just happy being there, but many have hit their ceiling and they're operating out of their depths and spend all their time looking down to see what you're doing to poke their finger into your business and be a nuisance.

That's the Peter Principle, "...people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their "level of incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another."

[Potter]

That's the Peter Principle, "...people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their "level of incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another."

IME that starts as a tech to junior management phenomenon. People assume that because he was a good shop floor guy then he'll naturally be a good supervisor or manager.

If you can manage ten people well then you can manage ten thousand.
The problem gets into middle management when the Peter Principle people drift further up and then employ more Peter Principle people to replace them.

There is some sort of theory about it, something like if you rate people on a scale of one to ten, then you must only have nines and tens in your team, because if you employ sevens and eights then they in turn will employ fives and sixes - then within a few years you've got fives and sixes in middle management and threes and fours under them. Then the corporate machine creates leadership schemes to fast track the fives and sixes and at some point you become Carillion and you've seen how that ends.