How much is better working conditions and shorter work day worth to you?

PatrickBrown

Active Member
Thanks everybody for all of your points and opinions. all great info. in all honesty, I do think that I am going to pursue the new job after just a little bit more investigating.
 

Blair

Well-Known Member
Being the devils advocate for the sake of it, Cash is king, if business picked up you could be back at 25k plus right? Conservative estimate, 15k avg over 20 years is 450,000, any other benefits to consider? I'm not in the flexible pay situation so I'm not sure how much it flexes.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Conservative estimate, 15k avg over 20 years is 450,000, any other benefits to consider?

15,000 x 20 = not 450,000

Once you're sure about the other job see what the NY dealer is willing to do to keep you. It may be nothing but its always good to way all options.
 

THATmanMANNY

Well-Known Member
Being the devils advocate for the sake of it, Cash is king, if business picked up you could be back at 25k plus right? Conservative estimate, 15k avg over 20 years is 450,000, any other benefits to consider? I'm not in the flexible pay situation so I'm not sure how much it flexes.
Worst post ever
 

walter

Fourth Party
Cash is king, i

maybe, if you are single and responsible, but all that extra money doesnt mean a hill of shit if you never have the time to help lil Billy set up that train set you bought him.

I have a good job, my wife has a better job. She has a set 9-6 schedule, I don't. I start at 5 am and work until im done. Some days its 4 oclock, most days its well before 2 pm. I work in a union environment and turn down almost all overtime that is offered. For me, there is no better feeling than callin the MIL and saying, "I'll get the girls from school".

I'll trade the 15k for homework and milk n cookies in a heartbeat.
 

Arwen's Mom

Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains
I am going to be really sappy and goofy here, but it warms my heart to see so many men choose family time over money. I have seen too many men in my life that the almighty dollar was most important and it is sad. I thank God I have a fella now that puts family time first. Sure it is great making more money, but not to sacrifice the time with family to do it. Live a more modest lifestyle and spending more time with family makes one a wealthier person in a greater sense than just your bank account.
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
Minimizing the amount of time spent to/from work really means more time for living. (better yet.. riding!)
 

mike_243

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
maybe, if you are single and responsible, but all that extra money doesnt mean a hill of shit if you never have the time to help lil Billy set up that train set you bought him.

I have a good job, my wife has a better job. She has a set 9-6 schedule, I don't. I start at 5 am and work until im done. Some days its 4 oclock, most days its well before 2 pm. I work in a union environment and turn down almost all overtime that is offered. For me, there is no better feeling than callin the MIL and saying, "I'll get the girls from school".

I'll trade the 15k for homework and milk n cookies in a heartbeat.

That is one of the thing I regret most when I first started working I was putting in 15+ hours a day with no time for anything else in life...I missed a lot for really nothing, I am in the same spot that I would have been if I would have wotked the straight 40 hour weeks and been home for the importatnt stuff...
 

Specialized-Ed

New Member
I always choose time over money. Our time here is finite. Why spend it with people who don't give a rats azz about you, doing something that probably sux? I have passed on jobs making more money for more time with the family.

Work to live, don't live to work.
 

Zaskar

Well-Known Member
I have a different situation as I've worked from home for the past 10 or so years. While I've had opportunities to make more $$ I've passed as those would require travel and longer office hours. Since my kids were born (7 and 4) I can count the times I've missed breakfast and dinner with them. While dinner isn't always the best time to spend with picky kids it's time that we won't have again. Once kids grow up there is no going back and I want to have memories of them as kids. Don't know if this helped or not but I'm trying to add more content :)
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Don't know if this helped or not but I'm trying to add more content :)

Content is good!

I don't think there's a right or wrong choice, but having only a little bit of time with the kid(s) at night is going to be a tough one. I work in the city, but I'm home by 6:00 and my daughter goes to bed at 10:00 most nights. That's a bit of an exception. Many of her friends are in bed by 8:00, and not long ago some of them were asleep by 7:00. Those numbers are tough to come by. But a 3-4 window at night makes my job a lot easier to deal with.

The money is going to be an issue. People like to throw out "don't live to work" but I'm not sure how "working to live" is really anything to strive for. It's a lesser of 2 evils, and personally I don't think applies to this situation. You're clearly not living to work, which is why you posted this thread in the first place.

Carson also has some good points. The grass is always greener. I was recently approached about a potential gig at J&J in New Brunswick. While the commute might be easier, it's also in the heart of traffic, so it could be longer. Would I be able to duck out at 4:15 on slow days? Bag out at 3:00 on Tuesdays? WFH whenever I need (need not want)? A lot of people I know who work very close to home get home 1-2 hours after I do.

The savings on NYS tax (8%?) and commuting costs are good. The extra money spent on your car - gas/tolls/maintenance, is not good. One thing that's generally true about the city is that nobody lives here, so OT is not really expected for most people. The vast majority of us hike in from NJ, CT, or upstate NY. So nobody expects you to be there at 5:01. This office is like a morgue at 5:00. The whole of downtown is like a ghost town at 6:00. So there is that regularity. In your new job, will there be pressure to stay a little longer to get x-y-z done? Will those shorter hours really translate to shorter hours?

Then you need to forward think about the money lost. If it's significant, you're going to wonder if you'll be able to send your kids to college. Don't take that lightly. People can be flippant about what *you* should do with your life. But if you take a new job and then stay awake at night worrying about how you're going to send your kid to college, is that a win?

Workplace happiness is a wildcard, but I assume you factored that in already. From your first post, it seems like you certainly are not appreciated where you are. Not you, per se. But "your kind". Hopefully the same mindset is not as pervasive in the new place.

Then of course there's PB 2.0. An extra 3 hours a day is certainly going to help make that gut go down, the bike go faster, and so on. Obviously you've got some desire to get faster on the bike. The new gig can only help that effort as well.

It's not an easy choice. What you're going to get from most people is the same as what you get with 26/29er debate. Basically: you should pick what I do. I've done it all. I've worked in an office in NJ that was 35 minutes from the house (on a good day). I've worked from home. I've worked in the city. I even worked from Asia for nearly 2 months. I can say that without question, the office in NJ was the worst. The job itself may have had something to do with it. But having to drive the GSP for any length of time was a b-line to insanity.

Every decision will come with the open/closed doors scenario. And every time you open a new one and close the last one, you're going to wonder if if was the right choice. Again, I don't think there is a right choice. You just need to try and weigh everything. Maybe in 6 months a new offer comes along that allows you the same extra 3 hours a day and doesn't come with a pay cut. Who knows.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck either way. And I still have that kid carrier if you want it.
 

Blair

Well-Known Member
15,000 x 20 = not 450,000

Once you're sure about the other job see what the NY dealer is willing to do to keep you. It may be nothing but its always good to way all options.

I was thinking in my situation I'd have 30 years to work, so whatever, multiply the average increase by however many years to retirement.
 

Dr Superb

Active Member
You really need to take job security into consideration. In this day and age, it may be more important than working conditions and length of the work day...
 

ryderX

Well-Known Member
You can always get more money. You can't get more time. Your 4yr old son won't remember your AGI or actually care when he's 20, or 30 or 50. He'll remember the time he spent with his dad.
 

Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
pat are you jumping ship or sticking with the four rings?
btw i'am also down about 8k from last year.
in 2004 i left a job of 13 yrs to be closer to home 26mile drive one way to 8 mile drive one way. best decision of my life.
 
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