To request advice from Working mums

[itsmehere1]

I’m a mum currently in a 9-5 role that requires 5 days in the office, and I’ve been here for 5 years. I’m fairly settled and know the work, people, and culture well.

Recently been offered another role that would be 3 days in the office and 2 days WFH, which feels like a big win for worklife balance. However, it comes with a 10% pay cut (I am ok with it as over a big base) and I’m feeling anxious about the unknowns, new work culture, new colleagues, expectations, and whether the flexibility will actually be respected in practice and then what if it also becomes a 5 day in office week eventually like my current one did?

I’m torn between the security and familiarity of my current role versus the potential time and mental space I could gain by working from home part of the week.

For those who’ve made a similar move:
• Was the flexibility worth the pay cut?
• How did you navigate the fear of unknown culture and team dynamics?
• Any regrets (or things you wish you’d considered more carefully)?

Would really appreciate hearing your experiences especially from mums juggling work, kids, and everything in between.

Can you ask for flexible working in your current job?

It will depends on all sorts of things

Mainly, how much that 10% cut will impact your budget as a family.
But also, how long your commute is.

What age your dc are.
How much space you have to WFH.
How much of the role is interdependent on others being at work the same time as you (as in, do you still need to stick to the 9 - 5 or will you have the flexibility to do your 7.5 hours at any point between 7am and 9pm, for example? As the latter one gives you FAR more flexibility than the first does).

I loved wfh.
But there are often poster on here who don't.

If you are still going into the office 3 days, then it means you still need the monthly travel pass (but don't get value for money from it) or still need to run a 2nd car as a family or whatever, so the extra you are spending on heating doesn't get cancelled out by savings on commute necessarily.

If you have older dc, then you can save on out of school care, as mostly they can be fairly independent after school as long as you are in the house, but of course, with little ones, you'd still need that wrap around care.

Absolutely brilliant response. Hit the nail on the head in every respect.

I made the move to WFH during covid and have never returned to the office. I love it and feel the perks far out way the negatives. Work life balance wise there's no comparison.

What type of company do you work for? I was a manager in a small private company when I made the change. At first everything was great but eventually relationships soured when a subordinate who worked in office began to stir the pot so to speak. She was in the office every day, I wasn't and essentially I was 'pushed out' and just felt I had to leave as I wasn't part of the 'team' anymore. Now I'm in a larger company where all admin work from home and I absolutely love it. I wish I'd looked at new roles years ago.

I'd never go back to working in the office. I feel I've finally got the balance right, I'm here for my family and enjoy life more.

Thanks for the detailed replies.will try to answer some of the questions.

10% over a big base so won’t matter much. Just 1 primary going child.
Have wfh setup as used to be 3 days in current job but it changed.
Flex is there to work different times in both jobs as individual contributor role barring meetings.
Commute is 70 mins each way for both jobs.
flex request in current job to wfh couple of days was rejected.
Large FTSE 100 company.

Change is scary! But after a while everything weird in your new role will start to feel normal.

I think two WFH commute free days are a big win. Good luck in the new role!

I work from home about 80% of the time, with office days for a purpose rather than because I have to hit a quota. For me any loss in salary is 100% worth it. I've moved around a bit, it's all scary and takes a little while to settle and learn the cultural norms... But generally I find people are nice and I've always settled into every new team. My advice is to lean into being new, I put in coffee and intro calls with loads of people and just say 'I'm new what do I need to learn and who do I need to speak to' and to learn some stuff we could chat about if we get caught waiting on a teams call for people to join, it helps me get my feet during those first few weeks, particularly as in a more senior role relationships are so important.

The previous poster who highlighted that your costs won't go down is spot on, so something to consider.

What I'd also consider is if you're happy to take a 10% pay cut, if you wait around you might be able to find somewhere with more work from home days which with your commute will make a big difference if you can get it down to 1/2 days in the office.

Thank you for your comments. Keen to hear more