Has anyone got experience or tips for looking for jobs with work-life balance?

[Cobbler]

all my working life in "britain " i have never had what could be called a good employer just use you as a tool

I’ve had the good, bad …… & the ugly! But I’ve never had a job that I could say I enjoy this. Paid the bills, yes, liked no. Tolerated, just about. Now retired & enjoy every moment, but I would have loved one of those jobs were I could say “yippee I’m going to work today” those are few & far between.

 

[My Old Landy]

I’ve had the good, bad …… & the ugly! But I’ve never had a job that I could say I enjoy this. Paid the bills, yes, liked no. Tolerated, just about. Now retired & enjoy every moment, but I would have loved one of those jobs were I could say “yippee I’m going to work today” those are few & far between.

I did have one of those and I was gutted when I got made redundant after 13 years. BUT when they sent a manager around after two months to offer me my job back with a pay increase I had already moved on and said no. It was the best decision of my working career (apart from quitting work altogether in Jan this year of course!)

 

[RWD3M]

I’ve had the good, bad …… & the ugly! But I’ve never had a job that I could say I enjoy this. Paid the bills, yes, liked no. Tolerated, just about. Now retired & enjoy every moment, but I would have loved one of those jobs were I could say “yippee I’m going to work today” those are few & far between.

That's a real shame @Cobbler. I guess I must have been lucky. 27 years in the RAF, loved every minute. 7 years with a major defence and space industry company - equally enjoyable (even the getting made redundant bit!) and then 10 years consulting to a major aircraft manufacturer which was almost as enjoyable (especially the last couple of years as a contractor on 3 days a week).

However, like you now loving every minute of retirement even though it was forced upon me.

 

[MattF]

all my working life in "britain " i have never had what could be called a good employer just use you as a tool

I've had 3 good bosses, in my time. I suppose I've been lucky.

 

[mtt.tr]

Sounds like you need a chat with company, if you can give a reasoned case for a pay increase you might get it.

 

[skotl]

I've had 3 good bosses, in my time. I suppose I've been lucky.

Same here - I try to go out of my way not to be an asshat boss, and I go out of my way not to work for asshat bosses. It definitely does happen, though, then I leave - life's too short

 

[rcx132]

I thought you might appreciate a mini update.

I had to find a new job and hand in my resignation before management and HR took action, acknowledged there's a pay gap, and made me an offer to stay, which I accepted.

I don't think I properly articulated my original question. I know I already have good work-life balance as people pointed out. My question was how do I find a new employer that's also decent. I had half a dozen interviews since and found the technique that worked was to ask indirectly, using questions such as "what sort of policies do you have to maintain employee retention", and "are you able to accommodate employees with childcare responsibilities", that kind of stuff. That soon sorted the ass companies from the good ones.

 

[arther dailey]

sounds to me like you are one very lucky fella , hope it continues well for you , not only luck though is it really as you are putting your family first and foremost and not many working folk get the opportunity to do that , its normally the works there get on with it ot theres the door. congrats on the new offer and all the best for you and yours.

 

[rcx132]

sounds to me like you are one very lucky fella , hope it continues well for you , not only luck though is it really as you are putting your family first and foremost and not many working folk get the opportunity to do that , its normally the works there get on with it ot theres the door. congrats on the new offer and all the best for you and yours.

I'm lucky to be in a work force that is in very high demand and can therefore demand good conditions, I know I'm lucky and feel guilty even admitting to that. It's very sad that's what it takes for employers to treat people well. The best example of this is Amazon, they treat their warehouse staff like cattle, but treat their technical architects very well, it's sickening. Hopefully Glassdoor and other review sites will put pressure on employers and change things.

 

[arther dailey]

You worked and trained to get where you are , and well done ,glad to see your family comes first , re changes on amazon and the like ..will believe it when it happens nothing has really changed since the industrial revolution, the worker bees are expendable its that simple.(unfortuantly)

 

[gaz1]

Watch out for IR35 - apparently being implemented with zeal now

and the courts cant get it right either

Another UK government limb that can't get IR35 right: Court service pays taxman £12.5m

HMRC's 'fundamentally flawed' Check Employment Status Tool strikes again

www.theregister.com

 

[cr500dom]

I’ve been contracting as a design engineer for over 20 years but this April I took a permanent role as a facility manager for the new £7.5m engineering facility at the local university
Covid and IR35 were the final straws for me, everyone became super risk averse so despite working for many different companies on a very ad-hoc basis, many deemed the work inside IR35
I’m now on half the money I was during good times, but enjoy what I’m doing, flexible working, huge paid holiday entitlement, good pension etc and 5 miles from home so I’ll get a cycle commute back too.
Oh and the added bonus of £1M worth of trick kit at my disposal to play with too.
Work life balance has never been better.
Yes we’ve had to make adjustments in other areas but it was definately the right move despite the pay cut.