Which job would you take?

[marlfield]

I have the possible option to change job and I don't know which is best.

I have two children aged 6 and 2 and I work full time.

Job 1
Highly stressful and can be long hours. This is my current job and I dream daily about resigning.
2 hour commute which costs £7k a year
... but you can work from home 3 days a week
On the days I commute I see my children for a few minutes only which is not great.
Pays £105k a year plus bonus (usually around £18k)

Job 2
Not stressful
15 minute walk from home, but you can only work from home occasionally
9-5 with paid overtime
Pays £75k a year with no bonus. This would cover my costs but leave little left over for holidays, treats etc.

Additional complication: I have a 2 year old and we are not entitled to free hours of childcare under job 1. This is worth an additional £6k a year.

I have around £50k in savings that could cushion us for the next two years until 2-year-old starts school.

My heart is telling me option 2 but I am worried about taking such a big pay cut. We have a hefty mortgage.

WWYD?

So job one ‘costs’ you 13k after tax, so 18k after tax. So that wipes out your bonus.

so it’s a 25k pay cut - meaning 15k a year in take home after tax.

you are basically losing 1250 a month- is that worth it for less stress? And less hours? And can you afford it?

id be tempted to keep the higher paying job, but that’s because I’d love a pay rise! I can see why you you’d be tempted for less hours and stress.

Thanks @Adhdorlazy, that's a good way of looking at it. I've only had the £104k salary fairly recently so it doesn't feel like standard income levels yet, before that it was £97k.

My monthly outgoings are £3500 at the moment because of mortgage, nursery and all the other various bills. The extra money I'd be losing is definitely the "fun" money - the holiday budget, the panto tickets etc.

I worry that 5 days in an office would actually feel less flexible to me even though it's a stroll away. It is nice to be able to pick my son up from school on a Monday for football etc and i'd lose that.

Just don't think i can keep doing the horrendous commute. Jobs round here don't pay as well unfortunately - I've managed to keep London cost levels somehow.

Do the local job. Your children and little and you don’t need the stress and commute.

I'd stay where I was and look for a job 3, as neither 1 nor 2 seem suitable. I definitely wouldn't give up wfh and take a significant pay cut. 5 days in the office with no flexibility is my worst nightmare!

Thanks @NotARealWookiie and @Teenagequeenwithaloadedgun

I think my unhappiness in current role is colouring my decision-making for sure. I think it's going to be hard to find another role which pays the same but only wants me in the office twice a week - they will all be London-based where the trend seems to be 3 days now. I get so bummed out not seeing the kids on the commuting days. Perhaps you're right and I should keep looking.

Job 1 pretty much wipes out your personal tax allowance as well doesn't it? So essentially costing you another 5 k a year in tax (unless you are offsetting this by hefty pension contributions?).

Is there any wiggle room on the new job for which? Could you negotiate one day a week?

Oh wow @Littlebelina I hadn't even thought of that. So yes effectively I am losing tax allowance and free childcare hours as well as the commute costs.

I am thinking also about asking to drop to a 4 day week in current hellish role. This would mean (with slightly higher pension contributions) that I'd be under the £100k mark and would give me a lot of extra time with the kids that could make up for the other days. I could just do this for a year or so while I look for another role. Maybe I could also cut down to one day a week in London. Food for thought. Thank you for being my sounding board on this!

I think that's a good plan, OP. Better the devil you know in this situation I think.

Agree that sounds like a plan op. Am just about to go back to 5 days after working 4 for a while due a job change. That extra day at home was grear

I was about to suggest negotiating fewer hours in current role too. It's something I did a while back and it improved the job for me quite a lot - though it took a lot of effort to reduce my workload enough to fit in with the new hours and work out who would take on the stuff I was dropping. I did a bit of process improvement work too, ie challenging whether everything I was doing was actually essential and worth the effort.
I do a 4 day week but not fixed days, so I can flex the hours around my home life. Sometimes I work 5 short days, sometimes I work 4 normal days, and occasionally I work 3 long days.
Good luck.