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...to work evenings and weekends for £24k or work Mon to Fri 9-5 for £18k?
That's the position I'm in at the moment. I'm in a sales job that pays pretty well, but I have to work while 10pm some weeknights and always at least one day over the weekend, sometimes two. To be frank this does my head in, particularly as my better half recently qualified as a Primary School Teacher, so the only time I get to spend any quality time with her is on a weekend.
All being well I'm soon to be offered a position with the same company that's less money, but is strictly business hours. The only thing is the pay's £6k less! We budgeted to survive on me earning £16k (my pay's £16k basic £24k OTC) so we can afford it, its just £6k is a lot!
What would you do? Any advice greatly appreciated!
It's not anywhere near £6k though when you factor out the the tax & NI
9-5, my free time is precious, personnaly wish I could get an 8-4 job.
At least then you can look for another job in works time 😀
Work to live, not live to work....
Better paid, but unsociable hours Vs worse pay & more social hours
If you can afford the pay cut it's a no brainer IMO
£18k job for sure. **** working evenings and weekends for £6k more, whats the ****ing point in that? Working 9-5 is bad enough.
£6k is alot! ??
What do you need the extra £6k for exactly?
work to live don't live to work
Which role has the best career progression? Would doing the unsociable hours role for a year say lead on to more sociable hours with better pay in the medium to long term?
Less money, 9-5. Easy choice.
Actual difference is just over £4K, £11 per day.
I'd take the shorter hours assuming it won't damage your career prospects or do your heid in in some way.
Does the eve/weekend option allow time off during the week? surely you wouldnt work 7 days?
If you get a couple of days off during the week plus evening work may give you more time with your SO during school holidays.
It's not anywhere near £6k though when you factor out the the tax & NI
Its still a substantial sum of money (well to me it is!).
Decision really depends on whether you need or are driven by money. You could work the eve/weekend hours until your wife moves up the school payscale?
Which role has the best career progression? Would doing the unsociable hours role for a year say lead on to more sociable hours with better pay in the medium to long term?
A common trap people fall into?
Having a crap life out of work but being paid more is never the best choice. Decide what is best now, put family and friends first. You'll never regret it unless earning more is a real obsession for you.
Thanks for the quick replies! My current job is a sales job, so the only progression is as an Area Sales Manager which I don't really fancy. That or work harder and sell more, which would probably mean more hours!
The new job is more akin to Account
Management, i.e. somebody else sells the service, closes the deal and I'd make sure the client gets what they want. I've always wanted to do Account Management in the creative industries (I know - I must be mad!) so this role, while not being like-for-like, is nearer to that than my current job.
Does that make sense?
9-5 spending quality time with friends and family is something you can't put a price on.
What's the point in living when you can't spend any decent time with your loved ones?
Do you have the option of doing extra hours?
Take the 9-5 and make it known you are flexible to do the 'odd' bit of OT, working late, one day at the weekend....
so:
Sales job: unsociable hours and you're not interested in career progression to area manager.
Account job: sociable hours, a role you're more interested in but 4k a year less in take-home, which you say you can afford.
Dude, do you really need convincing?
Questions worth considering -
Do you see any risk of you and your partner drifting apart, and would you mind if that happened?
What social life do you have other than contact with your partner - are any of your friends able to do social stuff with you day time on weekdays on a regular basis?
How will you feel about your friends doing stuff at weekends and on evenings that you can no longer go to for the foreseeable future?
How do you feel about your partner possibly doing the vast majority of her social life without you? Will you cope with feeling left out? Do you want to build up a day time social life your partner cannot be a part of?
You might be someone very independent and who loves lots of time on thier own, so there could be a lot of good aspects for you - but if thats not your style, it could get lonely and isolating very fast.
What is your partners view of the changes to how much you see each other and having separate social lives for possibly years? Whats her view on the money front?
rob a bank, then you don't need to work.
Slightly different view :
I cant help but feel your work have managed to get you between a rock a hard place and are therefore trying to leverage your pay lower.
What sort of pay would they give a new employee doing the accounting role ? 18 K.
Presumably they want you because they already know your dependable ?
Put they also know your current job has rubbish hours so maybe they're trying it on to get your pay reduced by tempting you with better hours ?
Maybe they'll get a new salesman in on lower pay ?
I dunno just comes to mind they might be trying it on ?
for instance a new employee to the role might be able to say after 6 months look Im dependable I've worked hard for 6 months is 18K still suitable.
Where as for you they know your a decent worker already. So I would see it as you having less leveraging power.
£6k a year roughly works out at £300 a month, and at a low salary level that is quite a large amount.
But....
The only point of earning money is so you can spend it on fun stuff. If working evenings and weekends mean that you wont be able to spend time with your girlfriend then the extra cash doesnt have much value.
Or another way, would you want an extra £150 in your pocket, or a weekend with your Girlfriend.
There will always be other jobs in the future which will pay more, but there wont be another person like your girlfriend, if the increased hours threaten your relationship.
Hours like that for £24k? You're having a laff, right. I wouldn't do that for £100k...
I did those hours for less money than that when I was about 22, about 20K. the alternative was talking to customers 9-5 for 17K, in the end it was short term and valuable experience for the next job I got, so I'd say do it for a bit
Sounds like the lower paid job might give you better prospects in the long term as it fits better with what you want to do. No point in getting more money and experience in a job you don't want to do in the future.
The higher paid job is a dead end for you it seems - I know someone who went from selling to sales manager and while they got a whole heap of money they quickly went back to sales as they didn't realise the difference in the job roles.
Sounds like the lower paid job might give you better prospects in the long term as it fits better with what you want to do. No point in getting more money and experience in a job you don't want to do in the future.
The higher paid job is a dead end for you it seems - I know someone who went from selling to sales manager and while they got a whole heap of money they quickly went back to sales as they didn't realise the difference in the job roles.
Some good points made, have you asked your employer to raise the basic pay as they know you to be dependable? Perhaps you can get the best of both worlds?