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Working Moms
Would you take a 20% pay cut to work from home?
I recently resigned from my "job" to pursue what I consider a "career".
The pros to my "job" were : decent money and benefits. The cons were : long commute, sitting in front of a computer and not very flexible schedule.
The pros to the "career" were : more satisfaction/fullfillment, more flexible schedule. The cons were : less money and no benefits.
Well...the day after I resigned I was approached by the VP and asked if I would be interested in a work-from-home gig.
The pros are the obvious "work from home" benefits in regards to flexibility and scheduling and also maintaining benefits. But it also involves sitting in front of a computer and doing even more mindless stuff than I was doing before and for 20% less than I was making.
Part of me feels like the answer is obvious but I was wondering if there are any women out there who have been in a similar situation and any insight they can offer.
Thanks in advance ladies...this working mom stuff is not for the faint-hearted!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Would you take a 20% pay cut to work from home?
Have you already accepted a position that is in your field of choice? If you haven't I'd give working at home a shot. I disagree with the PP saying that you won't be any better off working at home, honestly if I worked from home that would give me and extra hour and a half at home with my kids each day (I commute 45 minutes each way). I could see them go to school, and be home when they got off the bus etc.That alone would make it worth it for me, but everyone is different. Not to mention, no mileage on the car, gas prices, and all of the other expenses that come with working in an office.
I don't think working at home would make you love your job anymore, but I can see the other "benefits" that come from working at home. If you still want to crawl out of your skin after a while, you can find the right position in your field of choice that maybe pays better (or at least has benefits).
How controlled is the WAH position? Will you be tied to your computer and phone all day, or can you go out to run errands and make up the time in the evening?
I WAH, and there are days it is tedious, and I can't stand it for another moment, but those are the days I take a 2 hour lunch to clear my mind and try again later on. There are also days that I can get things done relatively quickly and take off a little early. I love the flexibility, and not having to take vacation time to meet a plumber.
I also think alot of it depends on your personality. I love it, but I am not much of a people person. DH also has a flexible schedule so there are many days he comes home early - it helps me feel not so isolated. I have some WAH coworkers that don't feel the same way, but they aren't in the same position (DH home alot, little kid, family nearby).
Lastly, when you are running the numbers be sure to include less gas, less dry cleaning, less clothing, less eating out, more groceries, etc. I think I figured I would have been able to take a 15% pay-cut when I was considering this position.
My twins are 5! My baby is 3!
DS#2 - Allergic to Cashew, Pistachio, Kiwi
DS#3 - Allergic to Milk, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nuts and Sesame
I think WAH would be a form of torture I would not want to endure. The benefit of no commute/lunches with kids/etc would be overshadowed by the complete lack of adult interaction. 20% pay cut for more work to do a boring job sounds even less desirable in this scenario.
Take it as a compliment your employer tried so hard to keep you and move on.
Yeah- you need to think long and hard about if you would really be able to WFH. As you can see by the responses, some people love it, some hate it.
Based on the job I do now, I know I would love to WFH. But in previous jobs, I liked going into work and seeing my coworkers, etc.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
No I wouldn't WFH with a 20% pay cut. But I only work 10 minutes from my house, so commuting isn't an issue for me.
My biggest concern with WFH is that I would never be able to leave work, it would always be there calling me to come deal with it.... I like being able to walk out the door at 5pm and not look back until I get up in the AM.
This is what I am wondering, too.
I would consider countering: offer to WFH 4 days a week with that pay cut. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing the different perspectives!
The reason for the pay cut is the new position is in a different department within our company. Instead of doing project management I would be doing customer service tasks (responding to e-mails, etc).
I have countered their offer and I think I will give the WFH position a try if we can agree on the offer.
My husband works for himself (and makes the majority of our money) but the issue of losing health benefits is hanging over my head (one of the other benefits that my company has is a 20% discount on groceries as I work for an all-natural/organic grocery store retailer and since I have been there for 6+ years they are matching my 401K).
I didn't even consider the adult interaction aspect of WFH! Thankfully we have a store that I can work from periodically that is closer to my home than the main office.
Thanks ladies!
Wait, what?! You'll be losing health benefits if you take the WFH position?? If that is the case, then I would keep working in the office.
No..I would keep my benefits if I take the WFH position and stay with the "job" at my company.
I would lose my benefits if I pursue the "career" position. We would have to carry private insurance.
Keeping my position in the office is not an option at this point...for a bunch of reasons :-)
Some people love working from home and can be very productive, other people end up hating it and have a hard time working. I think it totally depends on your personality and they type of work you do.
I've been working at home for over 4 years and I love it. I don't really like my job, but I have a lot of flexibility. I have a typical corporate 40 hour/week job, but as long as I'm available and can my stuff done, who's gonna know that I do laundry or take my dog for a walk.
I do spend much of my day on conference calls so at least I get to talk to people. And once every couple weeks I do have to travel. Sometimes I miss the adult interaction, but not having to commute and being able to work in my yoga pants makes up for that!
I quit my job to have no insurance (I'm not eligible under DH's plan). I pay for private insurance. It's actually not that expensive if you're young and healthy. I get the premium rate for being a nonsmoker/not overweight/no health conditions and it's pretty comparable for what I paid under group plans.
If if were me, I'd WFH with a pay cut, as long as you can still make ends meet. I WFH 2 days/wk now, and find the flexibility to be well worth it. I can get DD off to the sitter in the morning. I can throw in laundry at lunch, run the vacuum or even do a few errands during the day. This frees up my time with DD on the evenings & weekends.
I figure, it's worth the sacrifice of doing a job that I don't LOVE. DD will only be young once. I can get a "career" job in the office once DD is in school.
DS: 10/11/14
It's not always expensive though. A lot of times group plans can actually be quite expensive depending on the usage of the members. Sure, if you're 50lbs overweight with a variety of medical conditions (which is sadly a large demographic of the population), private coverage is not going to be cheap.
A simple web search can give you information on what the premium rates are for what type of coverage. It's something to research/take into account when making decisions like this.
From what I'm reading KC (please correct me if I'm wrong) you pay for just yourself, DH and your kids are eligible under your DH's plan. Family coverage is vastly different than individual coverage. In this case the poster would no have coverage for anyone in her family because her DH is self employed. While I agree that some healthcare plans through companys aren't cheap, when you look at them compared to private family insurance (which around here is $800 per month for the cheapest plan) you are better off with the company insurance.
I just peeked at Blue Cross' page and the plans for family start at $400/month-the most expensive insurance is $770 a month (in HCOL area). Blue cross tends to be the highest cost, so I'm guessing with peeking around to a few other sites I could find even cheaper. Very comparable to companies I've worked for in terms of cost.
ETA: those are not premium rates either
I'm not really sure how you're seeing it to be that much. I went to ehealthinsurance, searched for family plans available in VA, and found rates starting at $185/month.
You can get a $750 deducible/30% coinsurance (which is a very decent plan) for $480/month through BCBS. If you're willling to go away from BCBS, you can get a plan for $205/month for 20% coinsurance ($2500 deductible which is a bit high, but nothing outrageous).
Those are the basic rates, and if you can prove you're in good health, you can get premium rates as well.
$130/month for a family plan is ridiculously cheap and practically unheard of nowadays (unless the coverage is total crap). We paid that a week at my DH's old job. Hence why it's impossible to say individual is expensive and having group insurance is necessary.
I think we're both on the same page about plans being individual, shop around-I get it.
You (and another poster) were trying to say that the bottom of the barrel plans for individual plans was $760-800/month, my plan being so low cost was unique, etc and that information is just totally inaccurate. That's where I'm disagreeing with. I think it's a common myth that individual plans are attached with these outrageous monthly costs.
I blame my kids for being unable to think straight.
Chiming in as the other poster. I had commented on a family plan being around $800 per month (for what I call a basic plan) not an individual plan, obviously individual plans are a lot cheaper. IMHO anything with "co insurance" isn't good insurance, you are always footing a percentage of the bill (until you hit the "catastrophe" ceiling), even after meeting your ridiculously high deductible.
I've never had insurance through my jobs, but through DH's jobs the lowest monthly fee we have paid for our family was $150 (it had a high deductible of $4,000 but the employer kicked in $2000 to an HSA which made it a lot easier to bear the high deductible) and the highest was $400 per month, and that was a soup to nuts plan (no co pays on well visits, $10 for everything else, no referrals needed. I think my entire maternity bill was $250). Maybe there is much crappier company insurance, I just haven't seen it.
For ME I could deal with jumping through hoops to see dr's, but I'm not short changing my kids health plan for anything.
When I referenced "individual plan", I meant a plan that a person was paying OOP to the insurance provider directly and not through an employer sponsored group plan.
I used to work in HR, and I had a report from Blue cross who was our insurance provider that the "average" health insurance plan in the US had a $1000 deductible. Things like coinsurance until you meet your OOP max is a normal insurance thing.
Having insurance with a deductible/coinsurance until your OOP max isn't bad insurance. Nor are you short changing kids with having that kind of coverage. On the contrary, it's much smarter financially to choose a more "middle of the road" type plan. I used to find it silly when people would pay outrageous monthly premiums so they didn't have to pay a penny to go to the doctors.
Say you have 2 health insurance plans-one has a $3,000 OOP max while the other covers everything but is $60 more a week. You're far better off going with the cheaper plan (assuming you have enough in the bank to cover the OOP max). If nothing catastrohopic happens that plan year you have an extra $3k in the bank. You go a few years without anything major and you've got an extra 5 figures in the bank. If you have to choose solely from a financial standpoint whether it's better to have a better paying job with a high OOP max insurance plan or a lower paying job with insurance that covers everything...well if your take home pay is more than the OOP max of the insurance plan, you're better to take the higher pay in the long term by far.
People get all worked up over deductibles/co-insurance but forget that the majority of insurance needs don't require them.The only time I've ever hit an OOP max was when I had a c-section. A sick visit or an emergency room visit generally comes with a copay that's unrelated to your deductible. Unless you're hospitalized or get sick to the point you need lots of testing, you're not going to utilize the deductible at all.
If you hate what you are doing, working from home will make it a little more tolerable, but it won't erase it.
I WFH and while I didn't take a pay cut, I do feel that I sacrificed moving up and promotions. I work harder due to not being face to face anymore.
I love WFH and don't ever want to go back into an office setting and would gladly (but I'd cry about it) take a 20% paycut to continue doing this.
I cannot help you with the insurace concern I saw come up later in the post- my benefits stayed the same where I am.
I do understand that private health insurance can be very expensive though.
I completely agree. I have been offered the option to work from home one day a week and hopefully I'll be able to do more of that.
Plus, private health insurance is SO EXPENSIVE! You'd be working to pay for that. At least while you baby is little, I wouldn't give up the job... you can go for the career once they're in school.
5 DIUI - BFN
IVF#1 - BFP - AJ 7/12
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Tough situation!
Going the career route, you're creating a future for yourself, I presume.
The work at home route, you're just earning money. If you were building something for the future, I'd say grab the work at home position. What about starting an online or offline business and use the earn money job to achieve your goals?
Or would that be too much?