Would you take a pay cut for flexibility?

[popupskeete]

My current role is within an organisation Ive been with for nearly a decade, I am office based with some very low level flexibility (i.e I can work from home if kids are ill/car troubles etc). I have a 45 minute commute. I have a good predicted pension (under 30 so not much use yet!) and some extra perks due to length of service, additional annual leave, paid sick etc. It is a very secure job and easy to move around/progress within the organisation. It's convenient to stay, really.

The other job pays about 8% less, but is fully remote and the hours can be condensed into school hours. It should be a secure role, it's public sector like my current role so it's not easy to negotiate higher salaries.

Would you take a pay cut for flexibility?

I'm fully remote with flexible hours. They'd have to pay me at least 50% more to get me back into the office and on fixed hours. So yes, fo -8% I'd take the job.

Provided that -8% isn't the difference between paying your mortgage/bills and not paying. For some it may be.

I’ve just gone back to a f2f role after wfh. So, I’m doing the opposite really. My f2f role pays more, but with my 45 min commute, I actually earn less than when I was WFH.

but, after 5 years of WFH I felt isolated and lonely. I felt like my identity was all about my child, as my wfh job wasn’t particularly inspiring and I really feel like I lost a lot of my social skills.

I also noticed a big impact on my health- when working from home you have to make a concerted effort to move around and get some exercise. Now I’m f2f my step count is in the 10ks most days. I gained weight wfh and my fitness seriously suffered.

It was great when my little one was a toddler, but I lost a lot because of it. Would I do it again ? Probably not.

It depends on how much the 8% actually is.

It also depend on cost savings generated by remote, petrol, parking, lunches etc.

It also depends on life priorities.

No one can assess it better than you.

It's roughly one months wage - would you survive at current salary if you were only paid 11 months of the year?

Not precisely the same but my Husband didn't go for a a job he knew he was pretty much guaranteed to get because of the lack of flexibility. His current job pays less than the one he was offered but it offers massive flexibility in terms of WFH, flex hours around school run etc. I have various health issues meaning I can't always cover school runs so the flexibility is worth substantially more to us than the money.

Same here! I'm now in the office minimum 3 days per week and loving it.

Everything you said re: isolation, lack of social skills, weight gain and lack of a basic step count is exactly what happened to me.

I have realised I need a whole new work wardrobe though.

If I could afford it, absolutely

I have similar reservations about working from home full time! I'm on my own in my on site office 80% of the time so it's already quite an isolating role but I'm in a bit of a grim office so if I'm going to be alone, I'd rather do so in my own home in a nice space with my podcasts on. I can book a hot desk in one of the two local offices, issue being I wouldn't know anyone but maybe over time I'll build a few connections where I can do that. It's not great for career building I guess, I seem to of got to a certain level and struggling to get higher in my current organisation so I guess maybe there's a possibility I can step up higher here. I'm not too fussed on career building whilst the kids are this small, I guess.

Yes provided I had another adult at home and a good network of friends etc. Working from.home without any of this might be isolating.

No other adults at home, I do have friends I'm hoping I'll have time for a sneaky cuppa with and to work from their sofa for the odd hour or so, but depends how the job is and how busy I am

I 100% agree that if you’re alone in a grim office, you may as well be at home.

I wouldn’t be too hasty about the ‘not really thinking about career building’ thing though. I was consumed with being a mum while wfh and now going back f2f it’s so obvious the gap between myself and my childfree / male colleagues. It’s not important now, but decisions you make now can have an impact when it does start to become important to you again.

one thing I found was that with the extra time not taking lunch breaks and travelling to work and back + the inevitable coffee time chats, I was able to do some qualifications and certs on the side, which has been incredibly helpful when going back f2f (but hasn’t entirely mitigated the inability to ‘move up’ in my field).

Good luck in whatever you decide.

Yes I did. I took a pay cut to take a job in a location that meant I had less commute so could spend more time with my kids.

Before I retired I took time off to care for my parents who were both approaching end oc life. I moved in with them (with DHs blessing) he was working from home at the time and a neighbour called the police for a welfare check as his car hadn't moved for 2 or 3 weeks. He went to the shops early (we had a 24 hour tesco nearby) it only looked like the car didn't move.

At least they cared enough to check.

Yes! As long as it works for you and you can afford it. For me better work life balance is more important than the money atm.

There isn’t a right or wrong answer here. The question is what motivates you?
For me personally, it would be the money and security and I’d trade off a bit of flexibility to have that.

Also, starting a new job is hard. All in I’d say it takes about a year to settle in properly. Of course it’s continuous improvement throughout that year, with the first few months being the toughest. It’s even harder to settle in and build those relationships entirely from home, simply they take longer. Also, speaking from experience all this is made harder by the fact you’ve not done the new job thing in a long time.
That’s not to say any of this is a reason not to go for it, but as they say - often the grass looks greener on the other side, because there’s more s*1t fertilising it.

Would take it definitely. I don’t think long term service in a single company is the norm anyway so changing companies will bring you new learning experiences too.

I’ve mostly been remote since my twenties. Over ten years. Have a 7 year old. I travel to customer site when needed at my own discretion.

There is a mindset you need to adapt too and structure you need to set. It will be a difficult transition but once settled you won’t regret it!

If you’re at the stage of seriously contemplating a move then put in a flexible working request to your current employer first and see if a formal request to wfh 1 day a week is granted. Otherwise, absolutely I would & did leave. For a pay cut to move to a flexible hybrid/remote role. The cost of commuting, lunches, coffees out. alone might cover the pay cut.

Very much yes. My work/life balance is very off keilter