That stinks kchayfie!
Do you even get work done while at someone elses office as opposed to being at your own desk? I would think that productivity would go do with a relationship like that. Do the clients even like it? Sounds like your boss is saving his money while passing off the little expenses to his clients. (office space, heating, cooling, electricity, ect). He sure is presumptious to expect his clients to house his staff. I can't see how this is a positive venture. Just a thought!
ah no - its worse than that. we're here at the clients insistence and he's charging us extortionate overhead for the privilege of having desks here! and as you say, productivity has plummeted. Although maybe I don't need to spend an hour catching up on the gossip from the office back home everytime I call with a 5 minute question!
Evaluate your current situation and determine how badly you need this additional money. Also look into how many years will it take at the current company to earn extra $10k.
After taxes, this increase amounts to around $500 to $600 per month.
How much of the after tax 10k is going to be left after the cost of the commute, parking etc., not to mention the emotional cost and maybe even a drop in work performance if the stress of the commute is high.
Oh, I worked it out all right... After all the taxes (live and work in different states with city income taxes), it comes to a raise of about $2 an hour - or $16 a day - or $80 a week - or about $300 a month.
The raise would be unseen; in fact, the added commuting costs would result in me being able to save less than I do now.
BUT - the work would be interesting. Would I be able to capitalize on that and dive into it, inconvenience be gosh-darned? I'm leaning towards not thinking I would.
Those who value the money over quality of life, did you ever meet someone who on his dying bed was complaining:
sh.. I wished I had spend more time at the office!
There is no reason why you shouldn't have both; tough to achieve, but if you ask the question this way then you set yourself only two possible choices; one or the other. This creates a mind set that makes the other, unspoken options, more difficult to achieve.
In fact there are in fact four options:
the first two the question presents:
poor and happy
rich and unhappy
and the two it hides:
rich and happy
poor and unhappy
Knowing all the options enables you to address all the options. If you only address the presented options then your thinking is blinkered and you fail to address the other alternatives.
Examples of this kind of thinking is found in Edward De Bono's book, "Lateral Thinking".
When my son was born eleven years ago I was unemployed, and I took the first job I found, as a computer trainer on Windows and MS Office. I loved that job and did it for five years even though it paid a pittance and I am still in debt from that time. However, I was home most of the time and when I finished work, I could leave.
I have since moved up the salary ladder, and I would say that, although I am glad for the experiences I have had, money loses its importance with respect to time only beyond a certain threshold, below which you can't live off what you make. Money may not buy happiness, but it is easier to be happy when money pressures are not among your worries.
That is true, but if in the mean time you are to much occupied making money, you can miss the boat.
Consider this:
He climbed the highest mountains, explored the deepest seas, fought with sharks and did the most dangerous sports to to show his wife how much he loved her. She left him for another man, because he was never home...
vooter I suspect that you are young (not that I am old and wise ) but I suspect that you do not have yet the responsibilities (family, kids etc..) that older folks have.
Why? because you should be asking them instead of here in this forum (no offense)
The choice is yours, we cannot live your life for you. When I started my only "assets" were a wife, a 5 month old daughter, $1,500 and my degree.
If I capitalize what I have now, I would say I made it. Still there are some things I would have done different, if I had the possibility to do it over again.
I love my job, but I would not trade my time-off for the money and sacrifice my social life.
"Money can't buy happiness, but it could sure let you choose your own form of misery...." - Old Orion Pirate Proverb
I think we need to stay flexible throughout our careers, and I think we are fortunate that we work in a profession that allows this flexibilty.
I used to work at a firm, made GOBS of money, but travel a lot and long hours kept me away from family. A point in my life came up when I was needed at home on a regular, and "predictable" basis, so I changed jobs. Took one that only required 40-42 hours a week, hardly no travel, and I was home at 4:30 every evening. It was a BIG cut in pay, but the other "benies" made up for it.
But now, things have changed, kids are older, and my wife would be comfortable once again if I couldn't be home as much. So we're "looking". Got a few very good possibilities that will pay a lot more than what I'm doing now, but will require more of my time. But at this time in our lives, that will be ok - because our requirements have changed....
I think the key is to stay tuned to YOUR most immediate requirements. For me, it's "family", followed by "family", then "family". Making gobs of money is high on the list, for sure, but certainly not in the top three.
Hah what a question... Scientific research has pointed out that winning a major (multi million) lottery prize makes you happy during two weeks. After that, you become as grumpy as you always used to be and discover that more money means more problems.
Quality of life is everything. Eat well, drink well, mow your lawn, move your butt at least once a week and be gentle with your loved ones.
I'm in the process of changing jobs and my decision was two fold, quality of life and quality of work. Turns out that there appears to be little difference in the quality of life between my current job and the new job I am taking, and I am pretty happy with my current quality of life. But the quality of work on the new job looks to be much improved. Not to mention a nice improvement in compensation as well, but believe it or not the main reason I am moving is the improved quality of work.
It will be interesting to see how good my due diligence was.....
There's nothing more pathetic than somebody who works 40-45 hours / week whining about why they're getting passed up by others who work more and devote more to the career. While "nobody ever lied on their deathbed wishing they'd spent more time at the office" makes a better Hallmark card, there are consequences to the alternative to long hours and hard work.
Sure, the consequence is having a REAL life. I've yet to be passed over on something that I wasn't given the right to first refusal.
It's a bit smug to crow about putting in however many hours that you do, when there's no objective measure of whether those are productive hours or simply hours put in for crowing about. I had a boss whose sole purpose in going to work on Saturdays was to call other people at home to let them know that he was at work. Frankly, he was a real loser.
It's likewise smug for you to assume that someone who doesn't put in your hours is slacking. It may be that they're simply much more efficient and focussed.
