Pretend it’s possible for this to work, even if your particular occupation would not allow for this.
Would you take a pay cut if you could work any 40 hours of the week you chose? That is to say, you could still work 8 hours/5 days but show up at any time, or 5.75 hours every day, or work 1 hour every 4 hours all week, or even 40 consecutive hours; it’s completely up to you. Your only requirement would be you had to put in 40 hours a week.
How much of a pay cut would that be worth to you, if any? And if you would do it, what kind of hours would you work?
Well considering that if I could work whenever I want there would be zero reason for me to go into the office so I’d be 100% flex time and 100% telecommuting…20% sounds about right.
I’m not really the work from home type, and my job hours are flexible enough to meet my needs already. While not as flexible as presented in the OP, I am salaried and my position is such that as long as the work gets done my bosses are happy.
Would and did. Took an almost 50% pay cut. Would I like to make a little more? Sure, but the time home with my family, and not travelling 20-odd days a month, is totally worth it. I’m not the master of my own domain, work when and where I want, and am trusted to do what needs to be done. I love my job.
I have a pretty flexible schedule, too. I have a reputation for working more than eight hours most days, so my boss lets me ‘sneak out’ when I need to.
I started with my employer in 2007. There were no raises for seven years. Last year we got 2% raises. But I’ve had ‘virtual raises’. The office is 115 miles from my home. This was a mite costly when I was driving the Cherokee; not so much in the Prius(es). Over time, I’ve been allowed to telecommute; first one day per week, then two days per week, and now three days per week. When fuel prices were high, it could cost $25 just in fuel to get to the office and back. Parking was $12/day. Since I leave so early in the morning, I wouldn’t have time to make lunch and would have to eat out. That averaged about $12/day. I might spend $3 or $4 for breakfast on the drive down. I have routine maintenance on my car, so the added miles meant I was paying for it more frequently. When fuel was expensive and the office was downtown, it cost between $45 and (depending on lunch) $65 per day.
Now fuel is cheaper. Yesterday I filled the tank for under $12. The office has moved, and now we have a parking lot where I can park free. I can run up to Trader Joe’s to get something for lunch. Still, it costs about $20/day, and that will go up as fuel prices rise – not to mention having to get up at 0430. So telecommuting three days a week is like getting a $3,000 to $6,000 per year raise (again, depending on fuel costs).
Here’s the thing: We’re not getting any new members yet. I’ve already written the programs I need for the ones we have. Now I’m just running the programs and processing the data. I have a fraction of the number of records to manually clean up in Excel that I had when I started, but I still have a ton of work. (I joke that the first four weeks of each month are the busiest. Actually, it’s only the first three weeks.) Without new programs to write, and data verification reports after I send new data, my job is becoming a bit boring. Not boring enough to look for a new job closer to home, though. For one thing, I probably couldn’t find anything that pays as well in this area (or even doing what I do). For another, I like jumping out of bed, getting a cuppa joe, and starting to work immediately. I like being able to ‘get ahead’ on weekends and holidays if I want to. I like wearing my PJ bottoms and a T-shirt to work. I like the flexibility.
So I already have most of the flexibility I want. I wouldn’t mind telecommuting full-time, but after a very small raise after three quarters of a decade, I don’t want a pay cut.
I’m another who already has such an arrangement. I can work as many or as few hours (there is no requirement that I work 40 hours a week) as I want to as long as I get things done. If I stopped getting things done I would be fired.
If I’m working 40 hours a week, I’m still working 40 hours a week, so don’t think a pay cut would be fair unless it affects some crucial part of my job or makes me somehow less valuable.
I would be more than willing to take a pay cut, however, to work fewer hours. I currently have a fairly flexible schedule, but mostly because I’m often expected to work holidays and weekends - I’ve been working every day since Christmas day, so I’m generally allowed to work where I want, though I usually go to the office, and often leave early to get my children since I’ll just log on later after they’re asleep anyway.
So no, if I’m still working 40 hours and have the same responsibility I expect to be paid for it.
This is basically my position, as well. I can and do get spot assignments done from home, but I am definitely more focused in the office. And my position already allows me a great deal of flexibility in my hours. I’m keeping my money.
Thirded. I’d choose to work the core business hours (10am-4pm) anyway, and as long as I get in my 80 hours per pay period my employer doesn’t really care how/when. I can generally come in earlier or later than usual as needed, take a long lunch from time to time, etc. There is also a lot of telecommuting flexibility: like you both said, I’m not much for working from home, but it’s nice to have the option when I have a repair appointment or when the weather’s bad, or if I’m feeling a little sick but am not bad enough to take the day off.
The downside to my profession is that it regularly requires overtime: as a salaried, exempt employee I don’t get paid for overtime, and sometimes there’s no opportunity to make it up by leaving early/taking a day off before the end of the pay period. But I figure that’s why I make the big bucks.
I don’t currently have a 40h/wk requirement and spend quite a bit of face time as is, in between days of too many meetings and flurries of activity. But - my rate for jobs where I sleep in my own house every weekend (not even every night) is half of what I’m currently charging for working some 5K km away from it. For jobs where I worked out of wherever my ass happened to be and the requirement was to fulfill objectives (no more 5h meetings, nobody giving a shit if those in-between times are spent reading, doing my nails, going to the supermarket or tending to those pets I currently can’t have), I’d be happy to take the rate down to 30% the current one.
Zero. My work needs to happen when the Firebug is at school and before/aftercare. I can’t take advantage of the flexibility that’s already available to me.
Also, as long as I’m having to work, I do better with a routine anyway.
I did that at one time. All our parents were alive and getting older and it was nice to be able to flex everything at the drop of a hat to help them. Once the need was gone it sucked big time. Friends expect you to flex for any reason they think important, other relatives take advantage, constantly changing your schedule affects your health and mood. And in my case total and absolute boredom from working 95% alone.
Now I have almost no choice about when I work and I’m happy as can be. I may not stay here forever but its a 100% improvement from where I was.
Nope. Got tons of flexibility already. What I do can’t naturally be broken into one hour chunks. When my wife had eye problems and I had to work at home in order to take her to the doctor, I could do that already.
I currently work four 10 hour days, and while I really like it (I took Wednesdays off, so I never work more than 2 consecutive days), I hate getting up early just to have to sit in traffic during rush hour. If I could sleep late and go in after 10:00a (and go home after 8:00p) when the traffic is gone, that would be amazing.
