A coworker is leaving at the start of January for a job that pays about 20 percent less than what he earns now. He said that it's more important to him to gain autonomy from a micromanaging boss and achieve a better work-life balance than to chase money. I could never do that. I don't enjoy my job here, but I work for my pay. Leaving for lower pay is going backward instead of forward, in my opinion. I think he's making a big mistake. But that could be just me...
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Better a job test pays 20% less than no job that pays nothing.
If you're job is making you miserable, It doesn't matter how much the company compensates you. It's not healthy either.
Better to be happy and underpaid then making the big bucks and still hating life.
You either live to work or work to live.
I would take a 20% cut for work to live.
My children once told me that they wished I had more time for them. When I heard that I realized it was time to move on. Leaving a Intel for a 20% pay cut (same base salary, higher 401k employer contribution, but no stock compensation and less annual bonus) was the best thing I ever did as the work-life balance and lowers stress has afforded me more time with my family (work normal 40 hour week now) and a a huge boost in my emotional health (lower stress)!
Everyone searches for purpose & meaning in life. If the company vision and/or your boss don't help you derive a meaningful purpose then look elsewhere. Higher pay is no substitute if it comes with a miserable existence.
When I was 20, I got a full time job with my university. Benefits, state retirement plan, free tuition, free on campus parking, and $45k salary (not bad for 20 years old with a degree in progress in the late ‘90s).
A year later management changed. Job became awful. Decided I wasn’t making enough to be that miserable & left for a $12/hr cashier job in a totally different industry. Ended up traveling the world during school breaks with that gig, being given the opportunity to build an $8m/yr line of business from scratch, discovering I really like (and am good at) business operations, had my MBA paid for, and spent a while at Intel seeing how the big companies run.
Now I run my own business. It is 3 yrs old and I personally pocketed $6m last year.
A salary cut isn’t always a step back. Sometimes it’s a step on to the right path.
Sometimes the long view is informative. If your current job isn’t good and the prospects for your employer (and your continued employment) are worse, jumping to a lower paying but better job will certainly be more healthful but could also net you more $$$ too!
It should be obvious, but people have different opinion on all of the factors that keep that at a job or prompt them to take another. Many factors go into it... do you believe in the strategy? Is your boss a good leader? Is your work challenging / fulfilling? What am getting paid now? What am I worth on the open market. Many factors. No right answer.
Well many people at Intel face this reality. Many grade 9s won’t get the 220-280k Intel pays them on the open market. This is the only reason they are still at Intel!
A reduction in pay is the least I would do to leave this hellhole.
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