Offered new role dilemma of travel time vs wage increase

NoobCannon

NoobCannon

NoobCannon

Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2011
Posts
6,053
Hi All,

Was head hunted for a new role recently and have been thru salary negotiations to get what i wanted however im still in two minds. I work in a field based role so am paid from door to door

My current role/hours are 0730-1600 and local, sometimes Finnish 5 mins from my house and if home any later than 4pm its overtime(cant be any earlier altho hours are flexible so if home early make up time during the week) however this involves a 1 in 4 call out cover.

Role offered is similar in hours except i have to give up half hour travel in the morning and end of day, i.e leave at 6am and home for 3pm with overtime if late, but theres much more of a “job and knock” type attitude so can be earlier with no making up of hours this role also pays 3.5k over my current role with no call out cover.

I absolutely hate being on call, it makes life hard sometimes e.g recently i finished work at 4pm then was called back from 10pm-2am, its all paid at overtime again door to door so is compensated but can hurt family life. And anything up to midnight your expected in normal time the next day, any time after say 1am then you would start later 0830 instead of 0730, obviously if your out all night then you get the day as rest but come back on call at 1600

Current company really screwed me recently, id spent 1.5 years training for a role and carrying it out successfully, waiting for the current occupant to retire (63 yrs old) but our manager left and the newbie essentially said we have to “work to our job titles” so was back to every day tasks (unless it suits the company) so im tempted to leave just to spite them!

But i also feel like giving up an extra hour a day travel isnt worth 3.5k, i hate being on call, i love working close to home popping home for lunch etc, and have a great relationship with the customer but hate the company i work for. am really stuck between a rock and a hard place!
 
Last edited:
Sheesh thats really a tough one. My rule of thumb with job offers is if it isn’t a definite yes, then I’d turn it down. It really sounds like you hate being on call but I’m assuming losing the OT will cut into the £3.5k rise?
 
Worthy said:
Sheesh thats really a tough one. My rule of thumb with job offers is if it isn’t a definite yes, then I’d turn it down. It really sounds like you hate being on call but I’m assuming losing the OT will cut into the £3.5k rise?
Click to expand...

Going through job hunting I certainly think same. If I don't really want it I say no.

Is the 3.5k a lot? (ie on 20k its a lot. On 100k its not)



If it's a year
 
No more on call, £3.5k increase and getting to knock off early without needing to make the time up if you can get the job done early.
Sounds decent, I'd be gone just to avoid the on call to be honest. Nothing worse as far as I'm concerned and the main reason I left my previous job.
 
Worthy said:
Sheesh thats really a tough one. My rule of thumb with job offers is if it isn’t a definite yes, then I’d turn it down. It really sounds like you hate being on call but I’m assuming losing the OT will cut into the £3.5k rise?
Click to expand...
The on call rate i get (just for having phone on) works out roughly to 3.5k with overtime if i have to go out.

I negotiated to cover this so my basic doesn't drop at all and i still have the option to do overtime if i want but never have to do on call again.

With my current job there is no option to not be on call 1 in 4.
 
Last edited:
Just to throw this in ... what would your thinking be if your current place were to counter offer with the role you were shafted over. Was the older guy replaced by someone else or is he still there ? Is going over the head of the new manager to their boss something you can try - given your previous training for that role.

TBH Its not sounding like a major improvement to move, so even if you do take the new job so as to bin the on-call part, I think you should keep looking around for something better.
 
peterwalkley said:
Just to throw this in ... what would your thinking be if your current place were to counter offer with the role you were shafted over. Was the older guy replaced by someone else or is he still there ? Is going over the head of the new manager to their boss something you can try - given your previous training for that role.

TBH Its not sounding like a major improvement to move, so even if you do take the new job so as to bin the on-call part, I think you should keep looking around for something better.
Click to expand...

The older guy is still here, i think out of respect i will give my current place the opportunity to match the offer, but from talking to the mrs i think the no callout is going to win the day.
 
Thought id update this.

I was given A raise to stay at my current firm, given my old role back officially with the respect and responsibilities, along with apologies from regional management for the mistakes made and acknowledging that changing things about was a mistake.

It worked out quite well for me, im still on call once a month, but back to where i was happy in the first place and with a nice pay bump.
 
Last edited:
To update this further.

Am now leaving this company, i was moved back on to general duties and my complaints went un heard. Have lost all confidence in them and have no interest in going back thru the process again.

On a lighter note, Contacted the company i was offered a job at before, they increased original offer by another 3k (on top of current company's raise) and offered me the job without re interviewing.

I start in July :)
 
cheesyboy said:
Unless what's wrong is that you're not getting paid enough, of course.
Click to expand...


And as above, having a higher salary to start the negotiations if you do decide to leave always helps. Accepting a counter offer doesn't force you to stay, just might help while you continue searching
 
Normally it will be not paid enough, but you'll always have some other aspect of it. Unless you're so badly underpaid, but normally a few K would appeal, which on it's own, isn't normally enough to change for most.
cheesyboy said:
Unless what's wrong is that you're not getting paid enough, of course.
Click to expand...
MikeTimbers said:
what happened to you is why I always advise to never accept a counter offer.
Click to expand...
It's true and there is a stat about this somewhere on how long people stay if they do accept the counter. However, in this instance it seems to be the best scenario. Got a pay bump and then got another 3k on top for this new role, so I'd call that a win :D
 
cheesyboy said:
Unless what's wrong is that you're not getting paid enough, of course.
Click to expand...
even then. If the only way you can get a payrise is to threaten to quit then your position in the company is weakened not strengthened. You are now a troublemaker, who undermined the pay system, who made the company realise they are dependent on the worker rather than the other way round. And the next year, you're unlikely to get any rise at all as the company thinks you got too much already.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom