A MAN who jacked in his corporate job to work at McDonald's says he has never been happier.

Dad-of-four Paul now earns half of his £60,000 wage after swapping finance for fries – but believes you can't put a price on having "fun" at work.

The Aussie, 48, explained he became fed up with "rubbish meetings" and the exhausting corporate culture after 23 years in the financial services industry.

Despite working his way up to a team leader role in customer service for a major firm Down Under, he grew tired of the mundane job.

Paul also admitted he became overwhelmed by a feeling of impending doom ahead of the working week – seeing him quit his high-flying position.

He told news.com.au: "I just got to the point where I was sick of managing people in a way I didn’t feel comfortable.

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"So much of the work you do in financial services it’s just paper pushing and million dollar people talking about first world problems.

"It was a job where I was good at it rather than being passionate about it. I finally just woke up one day and I thought I can’t do it anymore.

“You know that feeling when you don’t want to go to work?

"It’s a Sunday afternoon you get all tense and horrible and I thought why do we do it to ourselves?

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"Let’s go be broke and poor and see if we can be happier."

Although he worked remotely, Paul still felt the burden of his demanding role at the top finance company.

He claimed employees were put under extreme pressure as bosses would rather punish them for mistakes rather than educate them.

And as the corporate company tried to keep up in the digital age, the dad says workers were forced to work excessive overtime.

Paul began desperately scrolling through job sites in the hopes of finding a new venture in a new sector, but was knocked back due to his decades of service in finance.

He eventually took the plunge and applied for an overnight cleaner position at McDonald's – and received a call 10 minutes later.

The 48-year-old, who worked at the fast food giant at age 15, took almost a 50 per cent pay cut and now earns £30,000.

But he is "loving" his career change and spending more time with his family rather than stressing about his draining finance job.

I had a new piece of equipment and the fun I had and the satisfaction I felt when the floors came up twice as good was just wild.

Paul grinned: "Job satisfaction is way up and stress is down.

"There is no constant moving goalposts. No rubbish meetings and pressure to always remember all the corporate language rules.

"Just cleaning. If it’s dirty, I clean it.

"I had a new piece of equipment and the fun I had and the satisfaction I felt when the floors came up twice as good was just wild."

Becoming McDonald's new mopping maestro has made Paul appreciate physical work and "not having to do all that thinking".

The father of three added: "I get home now and I’m more active in the house and I’m getting back into hobbies as my brain isn’t exhausted.

"I feel like I’m doing something and at my age, it’s nice to be back on my feet and the creative stuff is coming back.

"Don’t make money your motivator. Fear is the mind-killer too.

"Everything we do carries too much fear these days, sometimes you just need to take the shot and take the opportunity and throw caution to the wind."

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Paul is part of a growing number of Aussies participating in the Great Resignation – a trend where employees quit their tiring jobs due to hostile work environments, job dissatisfaction, poor wages or "stressful" demands from the workplace. 

A whopping two million Aussies are expected to leave their current roles within the next six to 12 months.

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