Have you ever taken a pay decrease, and did you regret it?

[hopingtomorrownevercomes]

Hate my job beyond belief these days, and don't think I'm any good at it anyway. I earn £35k with great T&C's.

Considering moving on, and back to an admin type role.

This would likely mean a drop in pay of at least 10k.

I'm single, with a mortgage, and with one DC aged 19 still at home, but they are working themselves.

Anyone taken a huge step backwards and been glad they did so, or otherwise?

Thanks.

I'm currently looking for a new job which would mean a drop in approximately £400/£500 per month. I will benefit from reduced stress, with regards to the workload and crap management and that's a big reason for taking the hit.

Yes! Big drop.....but Wfh so no travel costs which makes huge difference. Also alot less pressure..still some but not life and death stuff.

For you it might be about £600 a month difference but life is not all about the extra £ a month imho.

Think of it the other way around, if you had a job you enjoyed and were content would you move to a job you hate for £600 extra?

Thank you both. Sounds familiar!

Are you from single income households?

I took a £1000 a month pay cut, however in the interests of honesty, I will have a pay rise of about £600 a month in a year. Anyway, i do not regret it at all. I love my new job, so much less stress, I’m happier, more time with the kids, etc

I took a pay drop a few years ago as wanted to take a step back as my DD was young. I did it in a way that I knew I had options to step back into more senior roles (which I latterly did). I suppose it's one what you can afford and two creating a space to enable you to step back if/when needed

I'm looking for new jobs but will have to accept a pay cut to get into what I want. I worked out my baseline and used salarycalculator.co.uk to find out what kind of salary I will need. That helped me decide that I should go for it!

Yes- I value my quality of life daily then I do monetary things. As long as I'm making ends meet/cut my cloth of suit 😊

Why don’t you try a different company first at the same/ better salary. It might just be that you hate. Taking a massive pay drop in the worst financial crisis in decades doesn’t seem that smart - also job security, if you’re anywhere under 2 years you don’t have any….

Yes, and no. Although in my case the new job came with professional training that has enable me to shift my career to another area.

I don’t understand why you would seek an admin job with a much lower salary at this stage rather than trying a different company first. I certainly don’t think I’d do it if I was single and had no other financial income.

It's not the organisation, it's the actual job. I'd be happy to go back to an admin post in my existing company. As I said, great T&C's, good colleagues, 5 minute commute. But I hate the responsibility and negativity of the role itself.

But yes, the timing scares me. I've 4 years left on my fixed rate, and then who knows how far £23k - £25k will stretch.

I'm hoping my employer might offer out voluntary redundancy again. I would very much consider it this time.

But I think I might start seriously saving. Try surviving on what I would be earning if I did take a cut, and see how I get on for the next few months.

It's the job I hate, not the company. I've been with the company for 15 years.

In saying that, morale is low on the organisation in general. It's public sector, so there's lots of budget cuts, changes in management, less people and more work to do, but it really is more about the actual job I'm employed to do.

No such a huge step back but a drop in pay
tbh the drop isn’t as much as you think when you take deductions into account

no commute and didn’t have to run a car so a 6k drop was 15 hours a week less and cash wise minimal difference

Yes, after a bout of illness I had to work back up slowly to working at all, and took a job 3 grades below where I'd been before the time off. In this particular part of the public sector if you have a break and come back in, your previous experience counts for nothing. I can't pretend it isn't galling to see people up to 20 years younger than me leapfrogging into higher graded jobs but I don't currently want the hassle and responsibility of those grades or the sycophantic behaviour that now seems to be expected.

I do some freelance work in my own time as well which brings in some income which takes me close to what I used to earn, if COVID-19 hadn't hit I'd have been on track to be about 60% self

( hate using the phone to type these things, never behaves! And worse since the er upgrade)

Rest of post: self employed.

I don't regret the pay cut as I had no choice health wise but I am sometimes sad that all that career progression I nearly killed myself for has been wasted energy, I'd have been better off working on my hobby (which is connected to the freelance work).

I handed my notice in last week for a job with a £7k pay cut. I was really bored and unmotivated in my job, and the new one is pretty close to what I'd write if I was to design the perfect job for me!
Life is to short to be miserable for 40 hours a week. While the timing isn't ideal with the cost of living I'd rather tighten my belt than carry on in the job.

I took a big pay cut to go part time after have DC - totally worth it and I’m not currently planning on ever going back to full time unless something changes.

Thank you for the replies. They're quite encouraging. And the ones which advise to be cautious are obviously very relevant too.

Still keen to see how many of you who have done this are a managing on a sole income?

@hopingtomorrownevercomes yes, I took a pay it to leave a stressful job and horrible boss. But I gained wfh four days a week, lovely team, interesting job and flexible boss. Was very restorative after a period of stress and unhappiness. It gave me the headspace to apply for the job I really want with a salary reflective of my experience- so moving on after very short period there. Your mental health is worth more and if you see it as short term stepping stone. Good luck!

I’ve done it twice, at 26 and 36, both times single with a mortgage. Dropped £5-6k each time, but in both cases it was in the knowledge that it was a temporary drop that would eventually lead to a higher salary than I was already on and better pension benefits. It was pretty tough in the beginning, but worth it in the long run.

If you can cope with it financially and it will make you happier, then go for it.

Always worked part time and lived accordingly, preferring freedom/less stress to money/possessions.
It's worked for me, had a mortgage, paid it off, always lived in a nice home.

I took a big pay cut a few years ago. It was a mistake but not because of the job or the money, but because of the working pattern (full time in the office). I left and worked freelance and then got the job I have now, which pays more, for fewer days!

It really depends if you will be happier. Money isn't everything, although you need enough to pay the bills and hopefully have some fun too.

I took a pay cut and I'm much less stressed. It was very much the right thing for me at the time.