WWYD! To take a risk and move close to family or stay for job security?

[ellabellaaaa]

Hello everyone!

For the past couple of years, myself (33, F) and DH (34, M) have been actively considering moving closer to family. We live over 300 miles away from our family and good friends. Despite living in a lovely place with great jobs, the distance and loneliness have been really getting to us. Almost every day we talk about moving, and feel like our lives are on hold (we pulled out of buying our dream house here last year and have delayed TTC).

Job opportunities are very few and far between close to family. After looking for a year, I have recently been offered a new job in a public sector organisation that is home-based. The job is v different to my current Civil Service role and seems like it will be much more challenging, but pays the same. The new role has fewer workplace benefits (aside from home working, it will be no flexi time, worse pension, less secure with a small chance of compulsory redundancies) and, following the job offer, the organisation received some negative press in the news (labelled as “failing” by the new labour gov). I know that a large proportion of the workforce are currently on sick leave due to stress and stress was the reason the previous person in the role left. The new chief exec has said that they are looking to address these issues though.

I’m really torn on what to do. It’s taken a year to find a home-based role that would allow a move closer to family, and I know this might be our only opportunity to move prior to having children (we’re not getting any younger 🙈). However, I’m seriously concerned (terrified!) about leaving a great job that I enjoy and know well for so much uncertainty.

The stress of the situation is really getting to me and I need to make a decision this weekend to accept or decline the job offer.

WWYD? Thanks 😔

@ellabellaaaa That's great about the new development with your current employer. The universe is definitely helping you make this move closer to family 😊
If you love your job/company why not just stick with your employer, seems like they really value you if they're willing to offer you a remote set up. Good luck 🤞🏻

They issues are across the whole organisation and their issues are having a huge impact on providers too. For context I now work for a provider. We have registered managers who can’t register and we have had to revert back to paper notifications in some homes. The provider portal has been a nightmare. From a CQC perspective, we raised concerns for months and were ignored. Many of us left for this very reason. There systems are not working which is making it extremely difficult for inspectors to carry out their roles. A huge proportion of the workforce are off sick, adding additional pressures to the existing workforce. I am not against CQC and would in the future consider returning. I absolutely see a need for a regulator and believe there will always be one. I personally think CQC will rebrand as they have done in the past in an attempt to rebuild trust. I would personally avoid until the SAF is being implemented properly. However, perks are it’s basically a fully remote role with the exception of inspections (1/2 per month), they are really flexible if you have a young family (I used to do compressed hours, 37 a week but across 4 days so I could save money on nursery fees). Inspector colleagues are brilliant, and as inspectors we were all extremely supportive of one another. A difficult decision for you to make but I wish you all the best and hope it works out well whatever decision you make.