More pay or less hrs? what would motivate you more?

bigmike20vt

bigmike20vt

bigmike20vt

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This came up in another thread but rather than me derail there i thought i would ask here.

Generally at my work most people are constantly hoping for pay rises... And i know there is a minimum, and at some point if you do not get that minimum you NEED more money... but i am wondering at what point reducing hrs and emplying an extra person would be more beneficial to morale and output.

7 years ago we had a child, and along with contract issues at work, combined with me wanting to have a day to spend with my baby I chose to take a 12% paycut and hr cut and work 4 (longish) days a week.

Without having a child and without being told there would be a job loss unless between us we cut some hrs I never would have done it........... But now i have it is one of the best work decisions i have ever made, and if i have my way i will never work another Friday again.

For me my Friday off is far more precious to me than £300 a month.

Am i in a minority? perhaps i am just not ambitious enough.
 
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interesting to see i am definitely not the only one...... I wonder why in general then that the argument in the office (our office at least) always tends to be towards pay rises rather than hr cuts.

maybe it is just what we are used to, programmed to always look onwards and upwards.
 
Jono8 said:
Actually, I just want to clarify a possible exception to this - if you are lucky enough to do something creative which your are massively passionate about as a job then more hours might not be a bad thing.

If your job is fairly repetitive and soul destroying/not what you would choose to do in your free time, then definitely less hours.
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true.... for those people i am truly envious.
 
smeemi said:
Im 28, working 9-6 most days, sometimes it can be 9-11, sometimes even 9am-4am, no joke.. I'm on almost 80k but I would prefer to work less, Fridays off and 60k a year and I'd be happy.
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i wont lie........ part of me would love your salary .......... but not for those hrs. life is far to short (for me at least, to each their own)

i am fortunate that my wife earns a comparable salary to me (a little more actually) which is actually a much better situation than having 1 high earner and 1 low earner - we both float a gnats pube under the 40% tax threshold...... which combined makes a nice salary, esp as we paid our mortgage off a few years ago.

we are not going to be buying a yacht or living in a mansion, but we have enough to not have to worry about bills and have a couple of holidays a year, as well as put a little aside each month for our lad.

like i said to each their own i guess.
 
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Hagar said:
I worked until I was 65, retiring with a comfortable pension and savings. In my view 55 is too soon unless you have plans and resources to fill all that time. Work is also a social project meeting new people.if you live to 85, you have been retired nearly as long as you were a productive worker in your job.
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my grandad retired at 52 with a golden handshake pension from ICI. he passed away at...... 92-94ish a few years back
he had the most amazing life the likes most of us will be unlikely to get to do, spending more of his life retired than working. he didn't get bored either. during his retirement he built 2 houses (getting family muck in) stripped and rebuilt some cars went on a lot of holidays and after my grandma.passed got in with one of the professor's at Bangor uni marine biology and tagged along on the field trips.
if I was to be critical his generation arguably buggered it up for us lot.... but its not his fault. if I do half the stuff he did I will consider my life a success.
 
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