Working for Google
Perhaps it’s working in such energetic surroundings that keeps workers at the Googleplex healthy because despite the company’s free all-you-can-eat restaurants, none of them seem to put on weight. The IT colossus was ranked best employer in the world this year by Fortune magazine and its staff are encouraged to think freely and innovate, resulting in some of the world’s most popular products.
Being a Microsoft Techie
Recognising that rewards are key to creating a buzzing workplace, Microsoft’s army of workers seem to have nothing but praise for working for Gates. Why? Does your job have an organic spa? Pay a six-figure salary and an annual bonus of more than 10 per cent? Thought not. Now you know where to send that CV.
FedEx Driver
“The World On Time”. The slogan is familiar to millions around the world but FedEx is much more than snappy ads and punctual deliveries. How many companies put truck drivers through degree courses and reimburse them if they pass? Exactly. FedEx even makes it easy to transfer your job with them around the world, publishing vacant positions and offering free seats (when available) on its cargo flights.
Premier League Football
Thanks to the billions generated by broadcast subscriptions, Premier League’s salaries are enough to make mortals weep. We’ve grown used to footballers making millions but when the average wage for a player is 36,000 USD a week, just to kick a damn ball, brain surgery doesn’t seem such a clever job.
WORST
Construction Worker
You only have to look at the gloomy faces staring out of company buses as you drive home at night to understand that being a construction worker in the Middle East leaves something to be desired. Site supervisors are lucky to earn 1,000 USD a month. Labourers, who work 10 hours a day, six days a week and live packed like sardines in sweltering rooms, are luck to touch 400 USD. Suicide is rife. Surprised?
Sewer Cleaner
For 100 USD a month you could while away your days three metres beneath the streets of Calcutta. Armed with a steel bar and a hoe, clad in your underwear, you’ll spend each day filling buckets with the kind of muck even a hot shower can’t completely erase. Whoever said where there’s muck, there’s brass clearly didn’t mean this.
Mosquito Researcher
We couldn’t find facts regarding salaries but even if they read like telephone numbers, scientists fighting Malaria in Brazil aren’t paid enough. The South American anopheles mosquito isn’t attracted to light as they are elsewhere, so the intrepid boffins use themselves as bait. Result? Up to 3,000 bites a day and the odd bout of malaria, despite the meds. Any takers?
Lumberjack
The jolly Monty Python song does the trade a disservice. Rated by Forbes as the worst job to have, hazardous conditions, intermittent demand and low wages are just some of the negatives. Add in loneliness and the chance of losing a limb, hours away from the nearest hospital. Sign us up!
