Bored at work?

[Thinking?]

Is anyone else really bored at work here in Singapore? Either not enough work, or work is not challenging / time consuming etc? Would like to hear other people's opinions. (Some of my expat friends claim to be really busy all of the time, but I'm not sure that this is the case).

[Occupied]

I guess everyone is otherwise occupied - working ;-)

[Yes!!!]

Totally bored. It's mind numbing. I seem to get things done far quicker than expected. At the beginning, when I'd get requests to do something urgently, I'd do it straight away and send it over to my boss. I'd then never hear back from him...the urgency obviously disappeared pretty quickly. I've given up responding to these requests now as they are never followed up on. I desperately need a new job but am beginning to doubt my abilities after being in this one for so long.

[my husband]

My husband was really bored at work.  He even asked his boss for more work.  But it was in vain.  Even the work that was assigned to him was not very challenging or vibrant than what he was used to.  He felt his work was just a "show" and not really adding real value and hence not gratifying.

He was so bored, he spent his time at Starbucks and doing yet anohter Masters degree by distant learning during his time here.  He has so much time at work to study, never studied at home (ok, except once or twice). He was so bored, he practicaly had to drag himself to work.  He calls work, the hellhole.

Anyway, he finally decided that it was time for more challenging work and so went back home. and so no you are not alone.

[Thinking?]

To "My Husband". I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one in this situation. Unfortunately, I'm not able to study at work, as I'm expected to be here during my office hours. That's what makes it worse, pretending to be busy.

I've decided to start looking for a new job in Singapore, the problem with this is that I will probably have to take a substantial pay cut, as I'm quite well paid in my current role.

[My husband]

sorry I may have unwittingly given the impression that my husabnd studied at starbucks.

He studied at work in his office with the door open.  He wandered to starbucks during tea-break.

Unfortunately, I suppose that may be how it rocks for the moment for you - the substantial paycut.  Hopefully it will be a case of taking a step back inorder to move two steps forwards?

If you are in no hurry, just wait for a right opportunity to present itself because I'm sure that if you were to opt for the lesser paid role, over time, you might become disgruntled that you're doing more than you used ot and getting paid a lot less. (I was in  such a situation and it wasn't very pleasent). 

I would vote for the lesser of the two evils and continue working where you are.

[Thinking?]

I am looking at various other opportunities, and I'll give any potential new offer a great deal of thought. I don't want to start travelling excessively and working myself to death for less money. I'm not sure how much longer I can put up with "pretending to work" though. It's fast becoming "not about the money" and rather preserving my sanity. Also, at this stage of my life and career, I need to be challenged and growing, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. Thanks for the advice.

[To pp]

What do you do?

[Thinking?]

To "To PP", I don't want to go into detail on an internet forum. Why?

[To PP]

Because I would like to have your job.

[Thinking?]

To "To PP",

When I leave, I'll be sure to post that there is an opening here. If you have ambition and the will to succeed, then this is not the job for you. If however, you are up for lazing about all day and getting paid for it, then it's probably a good match ;-)

[My husband]

Sometimes I do wonder why companies like these go out of their way to hunt for such "talents" bring them over on a very comfortable salary then doesn't give them any "proper" work to do and very "little" work to do.   Doesn't seem good business sense to me.

[Sinecure]

To PP:  There are many jobs like that even in the West.  (Especially in the West). 

I used to work for a v big insurance company in the UK and there were whole swathes of people who seemed to have nothing else to do other than to go to meetings which other, write memos to each other and play office politics against each other.  You didn't need to be a Mackinsey consultant to see that if you fired the lot of them, nothing would be lost.

There is a percentage of every large organisation that can be cut out any day because they have no real contribution to make.  It is as true in Singapore as it is anywhere.

[Thinking?]

To "Sinecure", I completely agree with you. Being bored at work / no challenge, etc, is not something unique to Singapore. I have had this same issue in the past during previous employment "in the west". While a lot of people would be happy to get paid to be unproductive, I am not one of them. The reason for my original post, was to find out just how common it is here in Singapore, as most people claim to be incredibly busy all of the time.

In my line of work, I deal with various departments in investment banks and other sectors. I have friends working at some major IB's (globally) and they too do nothing all day. (They count internal meetings and form-filling as work).

I guess it comes down to personality and your fit within the organisation. I am deemed to be "busy and productive" in my job, but that's my management's opinion and not necessarily mine. In the past (home country), if I was bored at work, I'd simply find another role that seemed more challenging. This is more difficult in Singapore when you factor in employment passes and cost of living. (I.e. having to take a pay cut just to be challenged and happy at work).

I'll keep looking and hopefully something interesting will come up.

[Me Too]

I think it's a charade that most people gladly play - pretending (and sometimes believing) that they are busy.

I have always worked in science & engineering fields. Once I was told (in the US) that my employer (a major oil company) keeps some seemingly 'unproductive' types is to 'freeze out' competitors. In other words, keep the talents out of reach from others. Then even if you don't use them, they cannot do any 'damage' to you, by working for others or for themselves.