Opinions On A Potential Job Change

PurpleHaze

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 10, 2019
Hi all, I thought I would seek some outside opinions on a potential job change I am looking at and struggling with. Let me give you a bit of information to show where I find myself. I am 47 and been in my current job for 3 years. My current company is what I would consider to be midsized. I like all of my coworkers, I like what I do, and I consider my compensation fair. On the other hand, my commute is long and my office is in a bad part of town. Based on our location getting out to run errands at lunch or just getting out for lunch is difficult. My company doesn't do annual merit raises and as a result I havent had a raise in three years. My current company also has a poor 401k matching program. Basically once a year they put a lump sum amount into my account equal to 2% of my pay.

I am close to being offered a position with a larger company with a nice office building in a suburban area that I would feel more comfortable in. The work would be pretty much the same. The new office would cut down on my commute but not substantially. Again, I dont have an official offer in hand but expect a slightly higher salary. The major draw to this new company is the retirement benefits. As I said earlier I am 47, and due to poor planning and mistakes earlier in my life my retirement savings are not where they should be and my current company doesnt really help out. The new company will match dollar for dollar the first 5% of my contributions, and also contribute 5% of my salary to a dedicated retirement account no matter what I do. I would be fully vested in three years.

On the surface it seems like an easy choice. Here is the difficult part. The people I interviewed with, and I appreciate their honesty, told me the job is a grind. They routinely work 50 to 55 hours per week, and usually a Saturday every 5 or 6 weeks. Then during the busy season (a 3 to 4 month stretch in the fall) it can get up to 70 hours including most Saturdays. Currently, I work hard when Im at work but I have zero job stress and work my 40 hours. other than answer a few emails or some minor catch up work I dont work weekends. I know the retirement package at the new place sounds great and I need that but would i be giving up too much. Again, Im 47 single and my kids are older. I like having the ability to come into my office on a slow week and on Thursday ask to take Friday off and then go on a long weekend trip. Im a college football fan, and the idea of working many fall Saturdays hurts. I like being able to have flexibility in my work schedule.

I guess the question is, is the ability to provide more benefits and security for the long term worth giving up the stress free flexible work / life balance I have now. I know this has been long but thanks for your input.
 
Important: I am neither 47, nor in anywhere near the position you are, so take my advice with a heft heaping of sodium.

I would do neither of these things. If keeping the job isn't getting you the security you need, you shouldn't continue the slog where you are undervalued, even if the work is "easy" or less stressful than other opportunities. But I ALSO wouldn't take a job where, in order to earn your retirement, you are required to work outside of the hours that you enjoy doing other things in life. Even for a short time, that will weigh on you.

I would instead take any offer that Company B gives you as a sign that YOU ARE GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO and worth shopping around for other opportunities. Unemployment right now is low which means companies looking for skilled workers are looking primarily at people who are already employed. Seize on that, talk to other companies, talk to employment recruiters, start putting feelers out that your skills are being undervalued at Company A and you are interested in seeing other packages/offers.

You might even take all these offers and approach Company A and see if they are interested in matching or getting close to the kind of contract you want. Don't be surprised if they consider negotiating a contract with you that is different than everyone elses.

I am sure you know this but business and employment are not just cutthroat,it is down right manipulative. A company you work for WANTS you to believe they are the easiest and best option, that staying will be safer and simplier than chancing it on a new job, that is how they keep you there without increasing your earnings. Don't buy into the "we are a family" hype and take your services out to market, you might be surprised at what you find is available. I guarantee if one business is interested, there are at least a few others that will be too.
 
On the surface it seems like an easy choice. Here is the difficult part. The people I interviewed with, and I appreciate their honesty, told me the job is a grind. They routinely work 50 to 55 hours per week, and usually a Saturday every 5 or 6 weeks. Then during the busy season (a 3 to 4 month stretch in the fall) it can get up to 70 hours including most Saturdays. Currently, I work hard when Im at work but I have zero job stress and work my 40 hours. other than answer a few emails or some minor catch up work I dont work weekends. I know the retirement package at the new place sounds great and I need that but would i be giving up too much. Again, Im 47 single and my kids are older. I like having the ability to come into my office on a slow week and on Thursday ask to take Friday off and then go on a long weekend trip. Im a college football fan, and the idea of working many fall Saturdays hurts. I like being able to have flexibility in my work schedule.

I guess the question is, is the ability to provide more benefits and security for the long term worth giving up the stress free flexible work / life balance I have now. I know this has been long but thanks for your input.

(Bolding mine). The bolded would be the reason I couldn't do it. I am a couple years younger than you and married, so my situation is a little different (altho our retirement isn't where it should be either), but it looks to me that you would be going from "working to live" to "living to work".
 


I agree with everything AllyReggie says. Honestly, both of your options are not ideal. As someone who is 55 and has saved as much as I can for retirement, I think your retirement concerns are valid. However, quality of life is important also and I would not be wanting to do regular 50-55 hours weeks, even with no other responsibilities.

Some people use other job offers as a bargaining tool and you might want to try this with your current company; however, to do that means you have to be totally prepared to leave if they don't match or get pissed off.

This is a tough choice because retirement savings is important.

Since your company does so poorly with the 401K match I do hope you can take some of your money and set up savings outside of your workplace.
 
Hi all, I thought I would seek some outside opinions on a potential job change I am looking at and struggling with. Let me give you a bit of information to show where I find myself. I am 47 and been in my current job for 3 years. My current company is what I would consider to be midsized. I like all of my coworkers, I like what I do, and I consider my compensation fair. On the other hand, my commute is long and my office is in a bad part of town. Based on our location getting out to run errands at lunch or just getting out for lunch is difficult. My company doesn't do annual merit raises and as a result I havent had a raise in three years. My current company also has a poor 401k matching program. Basically once a year they put a lump sum amount into my account equal to 2% of my pay.

I am close to being offered a position with a larger company with a nice office building in a suburban area that I would feel more comfortable in. The work would be pretty much the same. The new office would cut down on my commute but not substantially. Again, I dont have an official offer in hand but expect a slightly higher salary. The major draw to this new company is the retirement benefits. As I said earlier I am 47, and due to poor planning and mistakes earlier in my life my retirement savings are not where they should be and my current company doesnt really help out. The new company will match dollar for dollar the first 5% of my contributions, and also contribute 5% of my salary to a dedicated retirement account no matter what I do. I would be fully vested in three years.

On the surface it seems like an easy choice. Here is the difficult part. The people I interviewed with, and I appreciate their honesty, told me the job is a grind. They routinely work 50 to 55 hours per week, and usually a Saturday every 5 or 6 weeks. Then during the busy season (a 3 to 4 month stretch in the fall) it can get up to 70 hours including most Saturdays. Currently, I work hard when Im at work but I have zero job stress and work my 40 hours. other than answer a few emails or some minor catch up work I dont work weekends. I know the retirement package at the new place sounds great and I need that but would i be giving up too much. Again, Im 47 single and my kids are older. I like having the ability to come into my office on a slow week and on Thursday ask to take Friday off and then go on a long weekend trip. Im a college football fan, and the idea of working many fall Saturdays hurts. I like being able to have flexibility in my work schedule.

I guess the question is, is the ability to provide more benefits and security for the long term worth giving up the stress free flexible work / life balance I have now. I know this has been long but thanks for your input.
I wouldn't find such hours acceptable unless I was paid hourly with overtime. If it was salaried, there better be some equity, as I’ve really only heard of regular hours like that at startup companies. Of course there are some periods where I get that long hours might be expected for a short period, but it sounds like this company or division is overworking people to avoid hiring more people.
 
A big definite NO.

I have no idea what you earn at your current job and what you think you would be earning at your new job.

But, for purposes of the hypothetical, let's say you're earning $50,000/year at the current job and will earn $55,000/year at the new job (a 10% increase in pay) and are exempt from overtime at both jobs.

Current job:
$50,000/year @ 2080 hours (40 hour work week, 52 weeks a year) = $24.03/hr (not calculating commute)
Calculating commute: $50,000/year @ 2210 hours = $22.62/hr
Benefits: 2% year lump sump for retirement = $1000
So, we go back to calculating your current salary at $51,000/year @ 2210 hours = $23.08/hr

New job:
$55,000/year @ 2860 hours (55 hour work week, 52 weeks a year) = $19.23/hr
$55,000/year @ 3120 hours (60 hour work week, 52 weeks a year) = $17.63/hr

Benefits: 5% year = $2750 + 5% of your contributions. Let's say you put the maximum $18,000/year, that's $900 = so $3650
So, we go back to calculating your salary at $55,000 + $3650 = $58,650 @ $2860 hours = $20.51/hr.
or $58,650 @ 3120 hours = $18.80/hr

In either scenario, the benefits at the new job, coupled with the extra hours that you have to put in weekly do not outweigh the first job, even if it's not at an ideal location. I don't even know that, with the new job, you'd even be able to get out at lunch time since it sounds like they are working their employees too much.

Obviously, all this is assuming that you work that many hours without any vacation/holiday time off. If you take that into account (let's say both jobs give you two weeks off and there are about 9 days off for the holidays (New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving + Black Friday, Christmas) - these are the days I had off in my private job before my current job, but my sis only has 7 of those 9 days off at her private job, it would be different but not that much because you'd reduce the number of hours by the same amount at each job.

At age 47, you can put $18,000/year away for a 401K. Consider a Roth-IRA too. At age 50, you can do a catch up provision of an additional $6,000/year.

I am not sure what you currently work as, but if it's something that can be used to work for a government (state, county, or city), I suggest you look into that avenue for a "better" retirement.

Frankly, at the potential new job, I would be surprised that it actually has more security than the first job.
 
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Nope. If they are admitting those hours interview reality is probably even worse!

I would keep current job and open a Roth IRA myself with some of my earnings.

And probably keep job searching for a better job that isn’t going to make you live to work. The leaving at lunch thing shouldn’t be a consideration as a lot of people end up eating at their desks to leave on time. But commute, retirement and flexibility are all real things to consider.

Stay there and just keep your feelers out.

You will burn out in other job and not worth it, even a couple years. Especially not if it is not doubling your salary! And remember money doesn’t solve it all.
 
Nope. If they are admitting those hours (during the) interview reality is probably even worse!

I agree. It sounds like they are understaffed and expect their employes to make up for their poor planning. They need to hire more people and/or have contract employes fill in during the busy times instead of expecting their current employes to work excessive hours. No job is worth that. Overtime pay for salary employes is determined by job classification and how much of the time is spent managing others.
 
I appreciate all the input form everyone. The fact that everyone seems to be on the same page here reinforces my gut feel that, as important a good retirement package is, the cost may be more than I am willing to pay right now. I'll still gladly here any official offer they may make but I think I know what my decision would be.
 
Wait till you get the offer, take it to your existing employer and try to get them to match it. If they say yes, take the extra money you will be getting it and put it in your IRA account. If they say no, tell them you will give it some thought.

I wouldn't take the new job though if you aren't committed to those hours. Quality of life is important. You only get one life.
 
I wouldn't do it. Jumping from the frying pan into the fire. There was no mention of additional compensation, sot that is an unknown. But knowing that it can be like that would make me think twice. I do work some weekend and nights, but its my personal choice. I am very vigilant to keep up on my staff team that they are not regularly working excessive hours. That said the second job has a better retirement package but without knowing how its managed that's tough to give comment.
 
Here's another vote for not taking a job with Company B. I worked a job that had those kind of crazy hours and it wears on you quickly. As soon as the economy improved I moved on with no regrets.
 
I would also spend time looking at the 2 companies as a whole. Not just the retirement benefits and work hours. I work for a very large company, and my benefits outweigh a lot of things. There is a lot of opportunity for growth. I took a position when I started at lower salary and definitely below my level to shove my foot in the door, and have since moved up a couple of times (first time was in under 3 months when someone left and they saw how great a worker I was). One of my earlier positions here did cause stress and more hours, but right now, I am on a fabulous team and work very little OT.

I agree with others that I would be seriously turned off by the long hours and a lot of OT, but if I knew that I had a chance to get into a better fit within the company within 6 months to a year with great benefits, I would take it.
 
Yeah, one of the guys I interviewed with, the one that was upfront about the hours, was also upfront about it being a flat company and not much room to move up.

Maybe its just me but Ive always been hesitant to use a job offer to better my position at a current company. In my mind I feel like im advertising the fact that Ive been looking at other jobs and my boss' views on me would take a negative turn. Even if I got more money he may always be thinking in still looking or not fully committed. Again, Ive never been anyones boss so It may just be my thinking is off.
 
Yeah, one of the guys I interviewed with, the one that was upfront about the hours, was also upfront about it being a flat company and not much room to move up.
I've been interviewed where some of the people interviewing me were basically telling me that it wasn't worth it. Maybe not completely upfront, but where they were strongly hinting that the managers were lousy and the company/division might not last.
 
Just be careful about taking the offer back to your current employer to look for a raise, it sometimes backfires.

I agree, unless you are serious about taking the other job offer, trying to use that as a bargaining chip can be risky. Some companies might immediately terminate you if you try to imply you have a better offer elsewhere and want a raise. If you truly don't want that other job, you might end up with no job.
 
Stick with your gut. After a certain basic level, time is more important than money!
 

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