Offered new role dilemma of travel time vs wage increase

[NoobCannon]

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!

 

[NoobCannon]

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?

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.

 

[NoobCannon]

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.

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.

 

[NoobCannon]

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.

 

[NoobCannon]

Ah nice. Kudos to them for admitting a mistake and working to keep you.

Has the new manager been squared away so that you don't have to deal with any flak after upper management fixed their mistake ?

The new manager has been made well aware

 

[NoobCannon]

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

 

[NoobCannon]

I think this is frequently overlooked. Recruiters love spamming the stats about how 137% of people accepting counter-offers leave within 6/12 months but even if that's the case it doesn't necessarily make it the wrong decision. If someone takes a counter-offer then presumably they are getting more money to match whatever the offer from another company was, which means if they then left that job they are probably getting even more money above and beyond the counter-offer salary, so a double pay rise in effect.

E.g. someone is on £20k at company A, they feel undervalued and get an offer of £25k from company B. They take a counter offer of £25k from company A. Then six months later they are still unhappy and hunt around for a new job, obviously they want more money to leave and hence take an offer of £28k from company C. So they are ahead salary wise of where they would be if they just took the £25k from company B. Obviously this is a made up example, maybe this £28k offer never materialises, but if they do end up leaving company A it seems unlikely they'd be leaving for less than £25k. Basically the counter-offer buys you more time to find the genuinely good salary rather than just whatever the first thing that comes along paying more than where you are now.

I turned down a counter-offer this month and have never accepted one, but I would never dismiss it out of hand and would probably have taken one in the past if it was a good enough offer.

Tbh i don't regret my decision of taking the offer to stay, it was the best decision at the time and I was happy doing my job with an wage increase. If the company hadn't decided to shaft me again i would have happily stayed.

I know they are regretting their decision far far more than i am now, I've set up and am admin for the entire remote systems we use, am the only one who holds certificates/experience to complete obscure tasks (tasks that start accruing fines if not completed) and due to my treatment I am refusing to train a replacement (absolutely impossible in my remaining 3 weeks regardless I'm around 15 years into my career)

Ive never worked for a company before in my life that needs you and your skills so badly but refuses to admit it. My industry is very specialised, especially the side i work on and there just isn't enough qualified people around. Evident in the fact that a quick phone call and straight to another company.

Anyway, onwards and upwards to a more senior position and look forward to new challenges and experiences