Workplace wellbeing: Tired of the job but can’t work out what to do?

When the mid-career milestones of pay rises and promotions are no longer satisfying, you may find yourself in a slump. Should you change career or try to love the one you have anew?

Mid-career malaise: If you are unhappy at work, you can change your job or industry, change your attitude to your current job, or cultivate outside interests to compensate. Picture: iStock

Sara Slattery had worked for 17 years in community development when she realised it was no longer for her. She had worked her way up the ranks in what she regarded as “a steady, pensionable job”, but the 48-year-old, from Galway, felt the demands outpaced the rewards.

It hadn’t always been this way. Slattery had been ambitious. “Not about climbing the traditional corporate ladder, but about making a difference in the world,” she says. “I thought I could do that through community development.”