Has anyone ever chosen a demotion?

[Toughtips]

I'm struggling to know what to do for the best. Pre covid I was enjoying my role as a leader and all that entailed. Since covid struck i was brought back in to process orders and take calls. That's now stayed with me so I'm actually doing two roles for the price of one.

Spoken with managers and they've asked me to think about what I want to do. I either stay as I am or step away from my senior role.

Ideally I'd go back to focusing on the team and leading etc but I'm needed on phones and processing etc and I can't cope with doing both roles as can't focus on them both equally.

Wwyd? I'm only on 21k and don't want to take much of a pay cut.

Have they increased the scope of your role (somewhat considerably) for the same wage and without changing your t&cs?

We had new job descriptions where it says to support the team with orders etc which was what I did pre covid. Now I'm doing two roles for price of one.

I've chosen demotion before, because I wanted less stress and more time with my kids. Less money, but I felt it was worth it.

Kind of. I left a stressful career move job to go back to a more flexible family friendly role. I sometimes regret it, but I know I did it for a reason and I'd have regretted staying for that reason. You can't have it all, not with a young family anyway IME

A case of deciding if it’s worth it. If it’s double the stress and workload for 10% extra then probably not worth it unless you need every penny.

I once asked for a certain project to be given to someone else. It did result in a slight salary decrease as it was one of my “roles,” but I just was t happy doing it- like you, I didn’t really have enough time. Perhaps find out the salary implications and clearly explain why you want to make the change- that you simply don’t have time to do everything effectively.

Yes I did.
It was career suicide.
It’s taken me about 6 years to climb the ladder and get back to where I was previously.

I did it for childcare, I couldn’t afford the nursery fees when returning after mat leave. There were other reasons too.

It’s been a long & hard road but it’s good to be back.

Yes I decided to take a step down in a management role after I returned from maternity leave , I needed slightly less stress and less hours. Obviously came with a pay cut, but I didn't regret it at the time.

Sort of.
I wanted to move to a particular school so went for a job just as a teacher but then got promoted to HOD and then to a coordinator role.

Well I'm just building myself back up really from being out of the office for so long when I had my kids. It's just changed a lot and I'm doing two roles for the price of one. Extra work and little recognition and no clear direction.

Keep the senior role, focus on that aspect of the work, do only what you can do, and continue to ask them to ‘backfill’/address the other resource gaps.

I did. I didn't get the training I was promised. Wasn't supported. Had far too much responsibility (in my opinion) for the pay I got. It was retail so even though I was technically one level higher than a multi purpose sales assistant it was still barely above minimum wage.
I had no desire to be a key holder, responsible for checking the fire safety, dealing with shop lifters or violent or obnoxious customers, being the person who could be sued if an accident happened in store or an age restricted sale went through to someone underage, responsible for locking up and setting the alarm etc.
My wages could only afford me a bedsit to live in. If I was essentially on the 'management team' I should of least been paid an actual decent wage.
I said I didn't want to do it anymore. My boss said "I will have to put your wage down" , I said "whatever".

Ill see what I can do. I feel like I want to keep the senior role but feel that I can't do both. At the minute im doing the TL role as well as a customer service agent job too