Stay in flexible remote job or change roles for better pay?

[Flowerpotprincess]

In a dilemma about what to do about my job.

I currently work part time (Thursdays off) in a fully remote job where no travel is ever expected. Pay is not great, 27k, but I have 2 DC and it is very flexible around my commitments for them.

DD is in reception at school, and DS goes to nursery Monday to Wednesday. He is with me on the Thursday I have off, and with my parents on Friday. My job allows me to drop them off, pick them up, take them to any appointments they need, and not require wrap around care as I can be at home with them. DH is also the main earner in our household with a very demanding job, so it’s important for me to be able to handle these things.

Everything has worked well up until recently, however the parameters of my job have heavily changed within the last few weeks - we are now understaffed, and I have picked up more and more to the point where I am becoming stressed and unhappy. I also have a real hunger to earn more money and try to progress my career, which just isn’t possible in my current role.

The main issue I am facing is the sector I work in is predominantly fully face to face work, and the only decent salary can be found in London which would involve a 90 minute door to door commute (I also don’t live near a train station, so I would have to also drive and park).

I feel like I’m in a situation where I don’t know what to do for the best. I don’t want to give up my day with DS, and the parenting perks that come with my job, and working remotely makes life easier; but at the same time I’m sick of earning low wages, being overworked and unhappy. We are also hoping to move house next year before DS goes to school, so having a higher wage on my side would increase our mortgage borrowing even further, which is important given the area we live in house prices are high.

If you were in my shoes, what would you be more likely to do? Stay put and get on with it for the DC; or try and find a new job for more money but accept you may have less flexibility and need more childcare arrangements for DC?

To many life variables plus small children: I would stay put until they are older, and move has been completed. Probably not what you want to hear.

I’d be considering whether I could get a big enough increase in salary to cover the cost of the commute, increased childcare costs etc and to also offset the lack of flexibility (eg a cleaner to help keep on top of things, more convenience food etc). When my kids were small I valued flexibility over just about anything else, and even now it would take a very good increase in salary to lure me away from my very flexible, work from home job.

The problem is that once you’ve changed jobs it can be hard to go back if it really doesn’t work for you. I also think once you have itchy feet it’s hard to stay in a job you’ve fallen out of love with.

Certainly take a look but considering the demands of a role, commute, etc - you’d need to do your homework! the brass mightn’t be greener

is there a way to discuss overtime/salary increase (or cutting back to core job)?

Stay in the current job, unless DH can switch to a family friendly role so you can go full time. I’d kill for a job like yours!

Also can’t you go full time if you want more money?

Thank you for replies so far!

I was originally working full time in this role, reason I switched to part time was because once the childcare cost had been deducted from my salary, it worked out that I was actually around £15 a month better off if I dropped the day, plus it meant I could spend the time with DS which I absolutely love.

Salary negotiation is sadly not an option, I work for a sector where salary is set by bandings. One of my colleagues recently tried to negotiate the salary, and was told the salary will not be amended under any circumstances. Only way is if she found a different role within the company (I had a look to see if this was an option, currently no vacancies that would bump me up into the next band).

The main reason the role has become more stressful is sadly because they allowed the person who job shares with me to take a 6 month sabbatical because they felt ‘burnt out’ (which is absolutely fair enough, I don’t begrudge him the sabbatical) - but they refuse to hire someone else in the interim and have said I can pick up his work in his absence! It’s only been a few weeks and I already feel unhappy with an unsustainable workload.

I think I will have to just bide my time and reassess when DS goes to school next year.

@Flowerpotprincess then the increased workload is actually something that you need to take up with management, rather than look to leave.

How can it be sensible for someone to be absent for 6 months and you are told to just work harder? There should be some plan for paid overtime and someone else sharing the load.

Otherwise by the time the absent staff member returns you'll be burnt out!

Could you go back to full time but compressed into 4 days? This will allow you to accommodate the extra work without being resentful and earn more without compromising your day off. Looks like they’d have the money due to colleague being away?

I think you have a workload problem, not a job problem. You'd have to seriously improve your salary to make 3 hours of commuting + added car use + extra childcare + the other expenses which come with (clothes, etc) to make sense financially, and there's no way this makes sense logistically.

You need to speak to your manager right away and sort out the workload issue though - you clearly can't do an entire extra job unless something major changes.