5 days ago
Mother quits her £50,000 corporate job to work in a factory - and claims she's never been happier
A mother took a 50 per cent pay cut when she left her corporate executive job to become a factory-worker - and claims she's the 'happiest' she's ever been.
Budding artist Shany Hagan, 56, was a business development manager, earning £50,000 a year, but decided the salary wasn't worth the 'Sunday scaries' that came with the stressful job.
Having worked her way up the ranks during two decades at an electronics company, she realised that a 'stress-free life' and the free time to pursue portrait painting were more important to her than a healthy pay cheque.
Shany, from York, swapped her office for a factory floor, where she is paid £24,000 a year, after struggling with menopausal symptoms earlier this year.
The mother-of-one had to cope with hot flushes and brain fog, which proved to be the final straw.
Shany said: 'I had been in the business for 20 years, and it had always been very stressful.'
She added that, no matter how hard someone works, corporate employers will always expect you to do more.
While she acknowledged that she coped well when she was younger, Shany's priorities have shifted and she's now keen to spend more time reflecting on herself and her life.
'I've always had a love for painting and now I just want to focus on my passions and myself now,' Shany explained.
'For the first time in 20 years, I can forget about work when I walk out the door at the end of the day.'
Shany didn't go to university but managed to secure a good job in her twenties and worked her way up the ladder in business development at an electronics company.
The corporate role saw her 'chained to a desk' and working in a high-pressure environment, she said.
But she had been motivated by the pressure as she wanted to pay her mortgage off in full on her four-bed cottage.
In 2019, she finally paid it off - but then she began to realise she no longer enjoyed the work.
Shany said: 'I could cope when I was younger, but it's stressful.'
When furloughed during the Covid-19 pandemic, she picked up a paintbrush and discovered she had a love for portrait painting.
She had been unable to pursue the passion previously due to an eye condition, but had recently had surgery to fix the issue.
As she 'brushed up' on her skills, she even began to donate her artworks to charities - after getting celebrities to sign them.
Celebrities including Mel B and Cliff Richard have signed their own portraits which have been sold at auction to raise more than £350,000 in total, she said.
After returning to work post-Covid, she realised she was no longer motivated by her former role.
She said: 'After I paid off my mortgage, I was done. The work could be stressful, and I couldn't paint when I was stressed.'
She began job-hunting and applied for some other management positions, as well as lower-qualified roles including a factory worker.
She said: 'I went for a management interview where the interviewer told me "I want you to give this job 100 per cent, I don't want you focusing on your art."'
'I realised then that I wanted to focus on me - so I turned the job down in favour of a factory floor worker job.
'I wanted to be on my feet a bit more, a more physical job, to lose some weight for my health, which I have.'
Shany now packs food, labels products, does computer admin and cleaning at her minimum-wage job.
Since starting her new role in May, Shany said she has already noticed a difference in her physical and mental well-being.
She said: 'I don't get the Sunday evening "scaries" at all, and the people are kind.
'You can actually switch off when you leave.
'And I get to paint in my free time, and help people by selling my paintings. I get to go to big charity auctions.
'I do have to be more careful with my money of course, but the free time is the main thing.
'And my mental health has already improved, I have such a spring in my step now.
