I’ve been working in corporate UK PLC for a year and a half now.
Looking back on the whole period, it’s probably been the longest period of unhappiness in my life.
So I’m getting out, going freelance. Lots less money, no pension, but I know I can’t stick with this anymore.
I gather there are a few on here who have similar stories…

It only messes you up if you let it mess you up. Have been in and out countless times, each time i worked out better ways to manage it.

No story, sounds like that world wasn’t for you.
Enjoy your new venture.

get up
go to do meaningless twaddle
engage with idiots only as a last resort
never do anything more than the hours stated in your contract
plan you ‘real’ life in your ‘work’ hours
go and do ‘real’ life
sleep
repeat
die

Yesterday I asked my girlfriend if I could stir fry something in her think wok.

Depends what you mean by messed up? I’m so used to the routine of it all now I just get on with it, only occasionally wondering if I should be doing something else. For me though whilst a salaried job can be stressful I don’t think I’d enjoy the stress of working freelance or as a contractor and not having at least a thin veneer of security. It’s usually people that make things stressful and you have to deal with them whether you’re employed or freelance.

Yesterday I asked my girlfriend if I could stir fry something in her think wok.

😯

It’s usually people that make things stressful and you have to deal with them whether you’re employed or freelance.

Very true. I suppose with freelancing the idea is you are only working a contract for around 6 months, then you are out of it, and you don’t have to get involved in the politics.

Being able to switch-off is a must for succeeding in the corporate world, or just being a plain old workaholic.

The way I see it most of us have an easier time of it that some who have no choice so I just get on with it when things get a bit rough – e.g. shouted at to my face by a PM and generally blamed for things he was getting hassle for. Helps to be thick skinned but dealing with this stuff makes you tougher – just happy to get a decent salary really. I do work on projects though so there’s always an end point coming.

If there are good alternatives out there then nothing lost by going for them.

18 months? Presumably that’s one company? So that’s nothing to do with “the corporate world” messing you up, and everything to do with working for one shit company?

@njee, you could be right, it’s a company going through your typical restructuring/transitioning process.
If I could get a job at a company which is on the up, then I imagine things could be different.
But then again, don’t most corporates now use performance management, targets, carrot-and-stick neo-mangerial techniques? Part of my problem is I hate being under pressure all the time.
In terms of my domestic situation, I have no kids, no partner, I’ve done this deliberately as I know I have a low-stress threshold and need the freedom to walk away from an unhappy job.

It exposed me to the word leverage being used in a way that it was not intended. It also exposed me to the stupidity of the general public and more traffic jams than I would normally want.

That said, it does pay me, so I guess we are even.

Perhaps you actually need a partner to help you manage and share that stress? We have winge o’clock after work – nothing like a good old winge to blow the debris away.

I spent 7 years working for the worlds largest Telco and thoroughly enjoyed it. A small (20 person) company gave me a nervous breakdown about 10 years ago. Now work for a 80 person company and thoroughly enjoy that as well…

I’ve worked for three big corporates, and none have affected me as far as I know….

I seem to change between wanting to work bloody hard and get up the career ladder, to wanting to sack it all in and become a forest ranger. In reality, the forest ranger would have the shit to put up with as I do, just in a different way (general public, health and safety ect).

I never understand why people only want to do 9-5. If you have to be there, you might as well work a bit harder and get paid a bit more. I would much prefer to work 8-6, get paid twice as much (if not more), and have nicer holidays (in my view), nicer house, nicer car. Most importantly though, be more fulfilled in my career.

Never worked for a corporate. Very poor and very very happy now. Have a shit job which I only do two days a week. All the ‘stuff’ in the world wouldn’t tempt me to do more.

Wife is very corporate (large law firm), she loves her job, although she now works from home 3 days a week, but it is my idea of utter utter hell.

I don’t know what industry you’re in, but assuming you’re going to be doing the same stuff… what makes you think that freelancing will fix things?
Sure, you ditch all the career development/high level performance management stuff, but most everything else is the same- or worse.

I suppose with freelancing the idea is you are only working a contract for around 6 months, then you are out of it, and you don’t have to get involved in the politics.

I know I have a low-stress threshold and need the freedom to walk away from an unhappy job.

These comments make the think that you possibly don’t have the right mindset at the moment to freelance.
Contract work is not a panacea for difficulties in your current job- it can be a great life, but you’re still going to be judged on performance and attitude, and you’re far more vulnerable to a bad reputation, especially if you’re reliant on agencies/third parties to introduce you to job opportunities.

Businesses develop cultures (intentionally or not) some are good some are bad.

I’ve worked in good (present co) and bad (RBS) niether stresses me that much, its just work.

I think its about being something other than your job title. Thats how I’ve always looked at it.

Its the falseness of it all that gets me most. Having to pretend I’m someone I’m not for 5 days a week.

17 years in corporate world. Thinking about longer term options…

Life is just a serious of inconvenient obligations.
Then you die.

Try working for a charity instead.

I never understand why people only want to do 9-5. If you have to be there, you might as well work a bit harder and get paid a bit more. I would much prefer to work 8-6, get paid twice as much (if not more)

Ah, so I just have to work two extra hours a day and my salary will double! Miraculous 😉

Down with presenteeism! In my experience, a lot of the people who do stay in the office longer are suckers, and they often don’t get paid any more. Hours worked shouldn’t matter – your output and contributions should.

@vinnyeh, that’s a very good point. I used to freelance before moving to a full-time role, but my sales channel was already set-up by a well-established organisation, and the work itself was fairly non-pressure. It was actually the best time of my life work-wise, unfortunately that contract went under, so I had to move to current full-time role.

I worked for “corporates” for 33 years. Of course there were a rew times when I disliked it but mostly it’s to do with the people you work with and how you manage your manager(s).

It helps if you’re really good at your job though…..

Work an extra 2 hours a day and get twice as much? How could that work? Salaried means an agreed amount for an agreed amount of time. If you are lucky you will get overtime, but it won’t be twice the salary for just 10 extra hours a week…a dream, yes, but as long as it is realised it will never be a reality…

Loddrik seems to be winning here: work 2 days a week and have a high earning wife sounds perfect!

I’m very much in a corporate position…. 95% un-stressed followed by occasional stressful period. It pays the bills, 9 out of 10 people I work with are grand, I never work a Friday afternoon, it’s going to pay for me to look after child no.1 for 3 months. Can’t grumble really

DickBarton – Member

Work an extra 2 hours a day and get twice as much? How could that work?

I was assuming he means that working extra hours puts you in line to be on a boss salary – still seems unlikely

Never been a part of it. But this: “never do anything more than the hours stated in your contract” is telling.

My wife works in the nhs and frequently comes home and continues to work into the wee hours.

I occasionally feel guilty about being self employed and not turning up at an an office at 9am with an agenda. Rather, I roll out of bed at 9 and switch on the computer without having to suffer the badinage of colleagues.

Ah, so I just have to work two extra hours a day and my salary will double! Miraculous

Down with presenteeism! In my experience, a lot of the people who do stay in the office longer are suckers, and they often don’t get paid any more

I completely agree, it’s about working smarter, not harder. Let me clarify my point, it’s not so much about hours in the office, more showing the willing to go the extra mile to show you want to progress.

Work an extra 2 hours a day and get twice as much? How could that work? Salaried means an agreed amount for an agreed amount of time. If you are lucky you will get overtime, but it won’t be twice the salary for just 10 extra hours a week…a dream, yes, but as long as it is realised it will never be a reality

I certainly don’t consider myself on a hourly wage. I get paid an annual salary to do a job, it often takes longer to do than the hours in my contract ‘suggest’. However, it’s give and take, I can leave early if I need to, as I show that I’m not taking the p1ss.

My salary has more than doubled since I started work from graduating. I know several people who have tripled if not more. Three common themes between them all, intelligent, switched on, and hard working. None come from particularly wealthy backgrounds.

It’s about what you want from work – personally, if I’m learning new stuff, working with a wide range of people and I feel that I have some expertise and am valued, then I’m prepared to put up with a level of stress and crap.

I find being bored and working solely for the salary infinitely more stressful. I had a job where the need was “keep it alive” and was basically told to do the bare minimum. It brought out the worst in me and I had to get out to save my sanity!

Yay for academia, the pay is shite, contracts stressful, overtime pay doesn’t exist, it’s an emotional rollercoaster but I love it!

Meaningless, banal procedures, rubbish communications. Low level annoyance most of the time.

The pension is brilliant.

Oh and all day access to STW.

@kimbers i thought universities had been open to the free market and increasingly feel like working in corporations

@kimbers i thought universities had been open to the free market and increasingly feel like working in corporations

New Universities absolutely*, Red Brick/Russell Group less so (but changing slowly!)

*Let’s get rid of the people who know how the place works and replace them with Type A personalities from the corporate world who then try and dictate how the Academics should do what they do.
EG ResearcherA I need x to do my research, managerA you can’t have it it costs to much, ResearcherA, you do know this is my money that I won through a hard battles bid process? ManagerA it’s the Universities money I’ll tell if you can spend it or not. ViceChancellorA why did we lose the reasearch bid? ManagerA goodbye only to be replaced with managerB who trys to do exactly the same thing.

njee20 – Member

18 months? Presumably that’s one company? So that’s nothing to do with “the corporate world” messing you up, and everything to do with working for one shit company?

I’d have to agree.

I worked for RBS between 2000 and 2009 – when things were good (all but the last 18 months) it was a good place to work – the money was better than non-corp jobs with the same amount of difficulty and responsibility and the performance related payments meant you could earn serious wedge if you were committed.

They looked after you, REALLY looked after you – final salary pension, up to 12 months sick leave if you needed it, full pay for maternity and all that, but more than that it was like having a very Rich and Powerful Uncle that would help you out in your private life if you needed it, unless you did anything to hurt them – for example – I knew of people with Drug, Alcohol or gambling problems who rather than being sacked were given help, months off work fully paid and even had their personal finances taken care off by the bank. One guy with a drinking problem drove his car into a petrol station – literally into the bit where you pay, the Bank paid for his defence so he avoided prison, paid for his recovery, paid for his transport whilst he served his ban and sadly when he finally relapsed pensioned him for with a package of care, it wasn’t a unique case. If you really **** up the HR rules meant you had opportunity to resign before you were sacked, I only saw it once, but accusations of gross misconduct came with 24 hours’ notice at a minimum and you’d be told the outcome before you went in – you could fight it of course, but it was better to resign and leave with a good reference.

Ultimately it all went to shit when the knob in charge bought a liability for billions of pounds because he was too arrogant to pull out when he should have and it turned nasty quickly, well not that nasty – we all walked with a pay-out equivalent to 4 weeks salary per full years’ service – 4 times the legal minimum, plus 3 months’ notice and a HR consultant to write us a CV and such.

It didn’t mess me up as such, but like a spoiled Child I felt very hard done by whilst I was there and found it hard to adjust when I worked in much smaller places – the arrogance of the place rubbed off on me, I expected other people to do anything ‘non core’ for me – I walked into a 6 person business and asked “who do I asked to send post for me?” and they looked at me like I was from Mars and got into a spot of bother when I ordered £100+ worth of ‘office kit’ because I wanted a Chrome stapler I would likely never use.

Worked for big corporates all my career. I’m in the sort of job that would only exist in a big corporate.

I’m not in the 9-5 camp either, never have been and never plan to be

I like my job, sure it doesn’t emotionally fulfil like some jobs might, but I enjoy it, quite like working and it allows me and the family to have a good standard of living

I lasted 8 months in the corporate world, got out to run a bike shop.

Apart from a tendency to scream and punch people if they use corporate buzzwords, I don’t think it’s affected me.

*snigger*

@dickyboy thats what i pay a therapist for.
Ive always had issues offloading to friends and family as i feel guilty about it.

badnewz – Member

@kimbers i thought universities had been open to the free market and increasingly feel like working in corporations

I work at a research institute (within a Russel group uni)

Ive been incredibly lucky with the institutes Ive worked at as theyve had the funding, prestige and quality of leadership to prioritise research over politics….

… to an extent , Ultimately department heads and team leaders can vary hugely in their scientific & managerial ability- (the 2 traits can vary independently)

Im just lucky that my current boss is excellent at both and I still find my work fascinating.

Yesterday I asked my girlfriend if I could stir fry something in her think wok.

Skillz.

8)

Done both, of all of it the prospect of screwing up a job that is the only one your small company is getting paid for causes way more stress than a project in the corp world. Small/Freelance your only as good as your last job and your reputation mattters.
I’ve worked more evenings, weekends and holidays freelance/small company than I ever did in corporate.