Nothing to do at work
Discussion
First post and definitely first world problems and yes I know I am very lucky to have a job now especially a well paid one but...
New job few months in and almost nothing to do at work, it is not that there are tasks to do but they are boring, there is just literally almost nothing to do. It is a WFH job, in "normal" times with some travel involved. In a 40 hour week maybe 5 hours at most of work. Took this job on because it was advertised as a development opportunity / challenge and also because... I had almost nothing to do in my last place. BI / data visualisation / data analyst / "what is the story behind the data" / BA type role in a small consultancy so on paper a busy challenging job especially considering the area that we work in, lots of experience with the technical side and also the "softer" skills. I always thought surely someone will notice on the timesheets or something that I do almost no client / project work but apparently not. Have asked for more work several times in the past and reached out to members of the team and wider, had the line about more work is coming, have done all the "admin", process efficiency work, training I can find etc etc.
In a previous life I was a contractor for several years and had situations in contracts where it was obvious the company had taken on a contractor just to spend budget and fill a bum on a seat rather than needing anything done, but surprised a small apparently lean consultancy would get away with this.
We are meant to have annual and quarterly objectives set, the last ones when I first joined were very vague (in hindsight I should have challenged this) although were marked as successfully completed, I don't have any objectives discussed or set for this year so far although there is talk of setting these up. My managers role is vacant at present following a re-org, the "manager" I talk to about work topics is actually 2 people and both are very senior in the organisation so I am not sure how a message like this will go down with them...
The job role was advertised as a lot of different things including abc and xyz but xyz is now done by a different team with slim to no chance of getting involved (I have asked) and abc is now not needed following an "alignment of company direction", overall the role is about 30% similar to what I applied for so even if the work was actually there it would not really be what I had expected in the role. Annoyed about falling into this situation since I had changed jobs originally because of exactly this problem in my last place.
Not sure what I am asking, probably more just of a rant!
New job few months in and almost nothing to do at work, it is not that there are tasks to do but they are boring, there is just literally almost nothing to do. It is a WFH job, in "normal" times with some travel involved. In a 40 hour week maybe 5 hours at most of work. Took this job on because it was advertised as a development opportunity / challenge and also because... I had almost nothing to do in my last place. BI / data visualisation / data analyst / "what is the story behind the data" / BA type role in a small consultancy so on paper a busy challenging job especially considering the area that we work in, lots of experience with the technical side and also the "softer" skills. I always thought surely someone will notice on the timesheets or something that I do almost no client / project work but apparently not. Have asked for more work several times in the past and reached out to members of the team and wider, had the line about more work is coming, have done all the "admin", process efficiency work, training I can find etc etc.
In a previous life I was a contractor for several years and had situations in contracts where it was obvious the company had taken on a contractor just to spend budget and fill a bum on a seat rather than needing anything done, but surprised a small apparently lean consultancy would get away with this.
We are meant to have annual and quarterly objectives set, the last ones when I first joined were very vague (in hindsight I should have challenged this) although were marked as successfully completed, I don't have any objectives discussed or set for this year so far although there is talk of setting these up. My managers role is vacant at present following a re-org, the "manager" I talk to about work topics is actually 2 people and both are very senior in the organisation so I am not sure how a message like this will go down with them...
The job role was advertised as a lot of different things including abc and xyz but xyz is now done by a different team with slim to no chance of getting involved (I have asked) and abc is now not needed following an "alignment of company direction", overall the role is about 30% similar to what I applied for so even if the work was actually there it would not really be what I had expected in the role. Annoyed about falling into this situation since I had changed jobs originally because of exactly this problem in my last place.
Not sure what I am asking, probably more just of a rant!
Different slant here, don't take offence please.
Why not look for some data to do something with ? Don't wait to be told what they want, look at what you have and see what you can do with it. Is there anything missing ? Can you go and fill those gaps ?
Most people are run off their feet and would welcome somebody looking for something to do off their own back.
Why not look for some data to do something with ? Don't wait to be told what they want, look at what you have and see what you can do with it. Is there anything missing ? Can you go and fill those gaps ?
Most people are run off their feet and would welcome somebody looking for something to do off their own back.
Or just learn some new skills. Sounds like a bit of a dream to be honest - chance to spend some quality time getting skilled up.
When I have had short bouts between busy periods I've either knocked up little utilities to make my life easier (I am sure if you ask around there are plenty of "gaps" that you could plug with a bit of code) or I've worked through tutorials in new technologies I wanted to try out. Either Pluralsight/Codecademy stuff or the coding katas and koans you can find with a quick google.
I certainly wouldn't be desperate to jump ship!
When I have had short bouts between busy periods I've either knocked up little utilities to make my life easier (I am sure if you ask around there are plenty of "gaps" that you could plug with a bit of code) or I've worked through tutorials in new technologies I wanted to try out. Either Pluralsight/Codecademy stuff or the coding katas and koans you can find with a quick google.
I certainly wouldn't be desperate to jump ship!
I’d be thinking about what I want to do next, and work towards that off your own bat until the company work out what’s happening and either bin you off or get you busy again. Obviously while still continuing to deliver whatever is asked of you as the priority.
At least you have the comfort of not having 5 hours work a week that is still taking you 40 hours because you’re rubbish at it
At least you have the comfort of not having 5 hours work a week that is still taking you 40 hours because you’re rubbish at it
Sounds like my time at logica.
12 months of purgatory, apparently you were supposed to use your internal network to get onto client work, which was quite a task when you were new and didnt have an internal network.
I quit and then had my manager on the phone trying to get me to stay, and all I kept asking was why would he want me to.
12 months of purgatory, apparently you were supposed to use your internal network to get onto client work, which was quite a task when you were new and didnt have an internal network.
I quit and then had my manager on the phone trying to get me to stay, and all I kept asking was why would he want me to.
I had this and it did my head in.
I asked for more work and did some self-study for a while, but I could only hold out a year so it didn't look too suss on my CV.
They would regularly flag my timesheets were light, when they were allocating me work that totaled around 20% utilisation per week
And as above, they almost begged me to stay.
I asked for more work and did some self-study for a while, but I could only hold out a year so it didn't look too suss on my CV.
They would regularly flag my timesheets were light, when they were allocating me work that totaled around 20% utilisation per week
And as above, they almost begged me to stay.
Edited by romeodelta on Monday 15th February 23:45
Hi all, Thanks for the replies, some really good opinions here. I think the self study and skilling up sounds like a good plan. I'm undecided on whether to just do this and keep my head down for x months or just jump ship and spend a few months off work when the weather is a little warmer. I have my 6 month probationary review in just under a month so will see how that pans out and probably play it from there. Watch this space!
Have the Rolls Royce Ansty approach - “If you don’t know what to do, find something to do and measure it”
In this case, skill yourself to go and work somewhere else. If the dopey sods don’t realise that the ones who need managing the most - tend to be the ones that have just arrived – more fool them. I’ve seen this happen so often…
When you do leave, whatever you do, don’t tell them the real reason why you are leaving, make up some verbal BS that keeps THEM happy. The next person will do the same, and the next and the next, and then the organisation will hopefully die on the vine, call it a kind of business evolution.
Learn how to use software properly like Word, Excel, Access, Oracle, SAP, Paint, 3D Paint, Photoshop, the CRM system etc.…
Read the appropriate journals/trade mags in your field.
Look busy.
Keep moving the mouse around to stop the screensaver kicking in.
Keep the email traffic going amongst your superiors/peers.
I’ve had this in the past and it really is mentally damaging, you know it won’t last, and a day of reckoning will approach. In some organisations - especially, MOD/nuclear type places- it seems not to though. The rest? This day always comes. Then having to work for your crust on something valid is a real shock to the system.
In this case, skill yourself to go and work somewhere else. If the dopey sods don’t realise that the ones who need managing the most - tend to be the ones that have just arrived – more fool them. I’ve seen this happen so often…
When you do leave, whatever you do, don’t tell them the real reason why you are leaving, make up some verbal BS that keeps THEM happy. The next person will do the same, and the next and the next, and then the organisation will hopefully die on the vine, call it a kind of business evolution.
Learn how to use software properly like Word, Excel, Access, Oracle, SAP, Paint, 3D Paint, Photoshop, the CRM system etc.…
Read the appropriate journals/trade mags in your field.
Look busy.
Keep moving the mouse around to stop the screensaver kicking in.
Keep the email traffic going amongst your superiors/peers.
I’ve had this in the past and it really is mentally damaging, you know it won’t last, and a day of reckoning will approach. In some organisations - especially, MOD/nuclear type places- it seems not to though. The rest? This day always comes. Then having to work for your crust on something valid is a real shock to the system.
its unclear to me from your OP whether you work for one company, or as a B2B service for many.
if the former, its often the case that a lot of companies have ambitions to be data driven but have weak ideas on what decisions are to be informed by said data, or collecting said data is ineffective. the whole thing gets de-prioritised very quickly by departmental managers who have more tangible things to be doing.
depends on you whether this role is going anywhere imo. engage with the business and find out what it wants from you. work with heads of department to create a scope of work for each of them, then create and action plan based on that. make your own plan and drive it. succeed and you have ownership and a basis to develop further.
if the former, its often the case that a lot of companies have ambitions to be data driven but have weak ideas on what decisions are to be informed by said data, or collecting said data is ineffective. the whole thing gets de-prioritised very quickly by departmental managers who have more tangible things to be doing.
depends on you whether this role is going anywhere imo. engage with the business and find out what it wants from you. work with heads of department to create a scope of work for each of them, then create and action plan based on that. make your own plan and drive it. succeed and you have ownership and a basis to develop further.
bucksmanuk said:
Have the Rolls Royce Ansty approach - “If you don’t know what to do, find something to do and measure it”
We used to call this 'spirit levelling', if a superior sees you outside your area or you fancied a chat with a workmate you just say ' just went off to borrow a spirit levelCase closed.'
sociopath said:
Sounds like my time at logica.
12 months of purgatory, apparently you were supposed to use your internal network to get onto client work, which was quite a task when you were new and didn't have an internal network.
I quit and then had my manager on the phone trying to get me to stay, and all I kept asking was why would he want me to.
It was a ridiculously inefficient way to run a company. I had high hopes when Logica was bought by CGI but nothing changed for the better.12 months of purgatory, apparently you were supposed to use your internal network to get onto client work, which was quite a task when you were new and didn't have an internal network.
I quit and then had my manager on the phone trying to get me to stay, and all I kept asking was why would he want me to.
I'm in a similar situation at the moment as a contractor. Nothing much to do as lockdown has stopped me internal ISO27001 auditing so I'm just doing some courses on GDPR.
bucksmanuk said:
When you do leave, whatever you do, don’t tell them the real reason why you are leaving, make up some verbal BS that keeps THEM happy. The next person will do the same, and the next and the next, and then the organisation will hopefully die on the vine, call it a kind of business evolution.
That really is not a mature way to deal with it.Maybe the company genuinely doesn't know? It's very easy to mis-manage or mis-communicate even with only 1 or 2 layers of management.
He needs to be honest, if he leaves
"Why did you leave?"
- The correct answer is "Because the role evolved into something different than I joined for and there was no work load for me, so I felt unchallenged. I made <reasonable steps> to create work for myself but without input from <someone> I was really struggling.
Not some other semi-corporate bulls
t about finding a new opportunities and wanting to water the flowers on a new relationship or any of that bks.Tell the f
king truth My old Manager used to work in a Manufacturing.
As part of a takeover, they made a whole team redundant except this one person who he worked with. That chap continued working with no manager and no work for 4 years before his retirement. He clocked in and out every day for 4 years while having no work to do.
The good old days without phones to keep you busy. I did wonder what he did with his time
How close are you to retirement
As part of a takeover, they made a whole team redundant except this one person who he worked with. That chap continued working with no manager and no work for 4 years before his retirement. He clocked in and out every day for 4 years while having no work to do.
The good old days without phones to keep you busy. I did wonder what he did with his time
How close are you to retirement
If I thought the mature way to deal with an organisation like the OP’s was by telling them the truth, that’s what I would have said… but sometimes diplomacy is key. Is an organisation really that mature, that it can leave a new arrival to just sit there and not manage their introduction into the organisation?
“Maybe the company genuinely doesn't know?” - IME, the company ALWAYS knows/strongly suspects what the issue is, or more likely who is the person (read manager) that’s the issue.
It’s a small world out there, sometimes very small, and if the OP goes to a competitor or similar, they will know what type of organisation the OP’s current employers are. There may be points of contacts in organisations that the OP may wish to work at that he isn’t aware of.
OP’s main thing is to update the CV, get it out there in front of employer’s agencies and their ilk.
The OP may also need a reference. No doubt the written one will be tickety boo – but the unofficial verbal one on the phone may well be completely different if the OP has told them some home truths, no matter how delicately phrased they may have been. Some management take people leaving badly, even when it’s almost an exodus, and they think it’s everyone else’s fault but theirs.
The OP doesn’t have to say any cold hard honest truths, someone else leaving or the OP’s replacement will do that for them.
I’ve been asked what was going wrong and told organisations what I thought was honestly going wrong with their engineering management both in direct and carefully structured diplomatic terms. Neither made any difference, I genuinely wish “telling the fking truth” as you put it, did work, but sadly….
As a contract engineering manager, I’ve been asked a few times what I think of their current engineering team, watching them drop clangers left right and centre, usually because “they have always dropped clangers that way”. I’ve never once said “maybe if you paid decent wages, you would get some decent engineers”. I’ve thought it almost every single time, but I have to look after myself as well.
In this truly rare case, the truthful answer of “the work is not here, that I actually came here to do, you need someone else in this role. Without appropriate input from others I feel it best if I leave for pastures new” – actually works!
“Maybe the company genuinely doesn't know?” - IME, the company ALWAYS knows/strongly suspects what the issue is, or more likely who is the person (read manager) that’s the issue.
It’s a small world out there, sometimes very small, and if the OP goes to a competitor or similar, they will know what type of organisation the OP’s current employers are. There may be points of contacts in organisations that the OP may wish to work at that he isn’t aware of.
OP’s main thing is to update the CV, get it out there in front of employer’s agencies and their ilk.
The OP may also need a reference. No doubt the written one will be tickety boo – but the unofficial verbal one on the phone may well be completely different if the OP has told them some home truths, no matter how delicately phrased they may have been. Some management take people leaving badly, even when it’s almost an exodus, and they think it’s everyone else’s fault but theirs.
The OP doesn’t have to say any cold hard honest truths, someone else leaving or the OP’s replacement will do that for them.
I’ve been asked what was going wrong and told organisations what I thought was honestly going wrong with their engineering management both in direct and carefully structured diplomatic terms. Neither made any difference, I genuinely wish “telling the f
king truth” as you put it, did work, but sadly….As a contract engineering manager, I’ve been asked a few times what I think of their current engineering team, watching them drop clangers left right and centre, usually because “they have always dropped clangers that way”. I’ve never once said “maybe if you paid decent wages, you would get some decent engineers”. I’ve thought it almost every single time, but I have to look after myself as well.
In this truly rare case, the truthful answer of “the work is not here, that I actually came here to do, you need someone else in this role. Without appropriate input from others I feel it best if I leave for pastures new” – actually works!
Just realised I never posted an update, apologies for that.
So within a month of me posting here I handed in my notice and almost immediately got put on gardening leave for nearly a month. I decided at the time to take a kind of mini sabbatical which I did, for around 4 months.
In that time I went hiking, wild camping, traveling around the UK, did lots of projects around the house, garden and allotment. It was great, a little limited since international travel was kind of off the cards still but still got a lot done.
I started looking around mid July, got a 2 week contract, which I completed and now I am on a 3 month data and systems migration contract. It is funny how these things work out since my workload in my current contract can be described as "light". I have today turned down a permanent offer since it is alarmingly close to being another situation where the role is again likely to be not as described. My current contract finishes in November so we will how things go.
Sometimes I wonder whether the right career choice, 40k - 50k for sitting around not doing much is a nice life but the years go by and I wonder whether there is anything better out there. Being self employed doing something different crossed my mind, there is more stress for sure but potentially better rewards.
So within a month of me posting here I handed in my notice and almost immediately got put on gardening leave for nearly a month. I decided at the time to take a kind of mini sabbatical which I did, for around 4 months.
In that time I went hiking, wild camping, traveling around the UK, did lots of projects around the house, garden and allotment. It was great, a little limited since international travel was kind of off the cards still but still got a lot done.
I started looking around mid July, got a 2 week contract, which I completed and now I am on a 3 month data and systems migration contract. It is funny how these things work out since my workload in my current contract can be described as "light". I have today turned down a permanent offer since it is alarmingly close to being another situation where the role is again likely to be not as described. My current contract finishes in November so we will how things go.
Sometimes I wonder whether the right career choice, 40k - 50k for sitting around not doing much is a nice life but the years go by and I wonder whether there is anything better out there. Being self employed doing something different crossed my mind, there is more stress for sure but potentially better rewards.
zigzag221 said:
Just realised I never posted an update, apologies for that.
So within a month of me posting here I handed in my notice and almost immediately got put on gardening leave for nearly a month. I decided at the time to take a kind of mini sabbatical which I did, for around 4 months.
In that time I went hiking, wild camping, traveling around the UK, did lots of projects around the house, garden and allotment. It was great, a little limited since international travel was kind of off the cards still but still got a lot done.
I started looking around mid July, got a 2 week contract, which I completed and now I am on a 3 month data and systems migration contract. It is funny how these things work out since my workload in my current contract can be described as "light". I have today turned down a permanent offer since it is alarmingly close to being another situation where the role is again likely to be not as described. My current contract finishes in November so we will how things go.
Sometimes I wonder whether the right career choice, 40k - 50k for sitting around not doing much is a nice life but the years go by and I wonder whether there is anything better out there. Being self employed doing something different crossed my mind, there is more stress for sure but potentially better rewards.
Your experience mirrors one I had around 15 years ago. I worked for one of the UK's largest charities doing what should have been a specialised technical role. I turned up on day 1 to find that the guy who hired me had left (under dubious circumstances) and nobody knew what I was supposed to be doing. I hadn't been told exactly what I was supposed to be doing because it was against their policy to disclose that information until I started work.So within a month of me posting here I handed in my notice and almost immediately got put on gardening leave for nearly a month. I decided at the time to take a kind of mini sabbatical which I did, for around 4 months.
In that time I went hiking, wild camping, traveling around the UK, did lots of projects around the house, garden and allotment. It was great, a little limited since international travel was kind of off the cards still but still got a lot done.
I started looking around mid July, got a 2 week contract, which I completed and now I am on a 3 month data and systems migration contract. It is funny how these things work out since my workload in my current contract can be described as "light". I have today turned down a permanent offer since it is alarmingly close to being another situation where the role is again likely to be not as described. My current contract finishes in November so we will how things go.
Sometimes I wonder whether the right career choice, 40k - 50k for sitting around not doing much is a nice life but the years go by and I wonder whether there is anything better out there. Being self employed doing something different crossed my mind, there is more stress for sure but potentially better rewards.
I had stipulated at the interview, that I was extremely capable at "A", but if it included "B" then it wasn't worth employing me because I had no experience in "B" and was not interested in learning "B".
After a week of doing nothing, which was driving me around the bend, because I hate boredom, someone came up to me and asked what I was doing. I was frustrated and more than a little bit prickly, so I asked them what was the point of me being here.
In the three months I was there, I witnessed outside contractors being paid four times more than the internal IT staff, setting up a database and system which didn't work. I was described as a negative person in meetings, when I said the system didn't work, I even showed data to prove it didn't work, but I was just a cog in the machine and the contracters had been hired by the CEO.
As for wondering whether self employment is an option? Yes it is, if it is something you are really enthusiastic about. Back in 2019, I made the decision to be a full time wedding photographer, so had quite a few bookings for 2020.
However, the pandemic changed that and I had to return around £2K in deposits as weddings were canceled. I have to say that the weddings I covered in 2018/2019 were brilliant and I look forward to hopefully doing the same again.
zigzag221 said:
Sometimes I wonder whether the right career choice, 40k - 50k for sitting around not doing much is a nice life but the years go by and I wonder whether there is anything better out there. Being self employed doing something different crossed my mind, there is more stress for sure but potentially better rewards.
The big risk with taking a nice easy life like that is one day it will come to an end. Either you'll be noticed and let go, or the firm will go under. Then you'll have wasted several years where you could have been growing, but instead you are deposited on the job market with not that much in the way of savings and even less in the way of skills.You could take on a side hustle but then the risk is you'll commit to something on the side hustle and suddenly be dropped with a load of actual work to do in your day job - so you'll sink and ruin your reputation.
It's a tough one but I think you made the right decision.
[quote=zigzag221
Sometimes I wonder whether the right career choice, 40k - 50k for sitting around not doing much is a nice life but the years go by and I wonder whether there is anything better out there. Being self employed doing something different crossed my mind, there is more stress for sure but potentially better rewards.
[/quote]
You could take a second job and double your income.
You could study or work on personal projects of interest.
As long as you are productive, all good.
Sometimes I wonder whether the right career choice, 40k - 50k for sitting around not doing much is a nice life but the years go by and I wonder whether there is anything better out there. Being self employed doing something different crossed my mind, there is more stress for sure but potentially better rewards.
[/quote]
You could take a second job and double your income.
You could study or work on personal projects of interest.
As long as you are productive, all good.
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