Salary cut for more flexibility?

[That Is Nice]

Who here has taken a salary cut for more flexibility? ...either by choosing a position beneath your position/experience level, out of your field, or to attain part time status?

5 years ago, I made with $5k of about 10 women colleagues that I know (we're all in the same field).

I took the most time off (2 years) for maternity leave and now I work slightly less than full time (about 35 hours wk). I make the least amount of any of these women.

They are making $10k to $30k more than me, but with significantly less flexibility and not as good (but still pretty good) benefits.

What is your experience? I need the flexibility but being paid this much less than what I could earn is making things tight. I mean, I made more money per hour 10 years ago. Sad, right? And on top of all that, I'm paying daycare expenses. I feel like I'm just treading water so I don't drown before kindergarten when I won't have the daycare costs.

[Neuromancer]

I'm not a mother (yet), but I did this 6 years ago. I switched from salaried non-profit work to hourly work (at a much lower rate) because I was being overworked. I also cut back to 30-35 hours a week. I have benefits, but the package is not quite as good. I never have to work weekends or past 7pm unless I want to.

Money is definitely tighter, especially since my husband left a high-paying job to go freelance, but it's worth it. I hope we don't have to make a change when we have our first child.

[LittleBattleAxe]

Hey Neuro! (I was in your DDC until I had to drop out -)

I've worked "beneath" my skill set/education so that I could have time with my children. I've worked halftime at substantially less salary in order to spend the bulk of my time with my children. My work environment was very positive and upbeat, and all women, and it very much felt like family. Because of my credentials I did get promoted several times but really never did earn what I could have if I'd gone back to fulltime work at a public school.

The money DID make a difference, in that although I liked the work very much, I always felt underpaid (because I was!) and had to reconcile that fact to myself. No regrets, though.

[meemee]

it isnt just about pay. one of the reasons why i took a position lower and cut my hours was because of the stress and hours i had to put in. i enjoyed all that before i had my dd but afterwards i just didnt want that level of stress anymore.

yes the others who were making lower than me when i left went on to make more money. but they also see their kids less. they also put in a great amount of time into work going in on the weekends. and they in general lead extremely stressful lives esp. with the economy being such.

i do go thru moments when i wince a little - esp. since mostly all of them have family help with childcare, but on the other side i consciously chose poverty, less stress (kinda) and more time with my dd. i dont regret my decision at all.

[major_mama11]

After graduating college, I was making good money (for our low COL area). Our income more than doubled when I graduated, which was awesome. However, I decided that the money just wasn't adequate compensation for the stress and exhaustion. I was miserable for all but 1-2 days a week when I felt somewhat normal.

So I quit that job and went to PRN status, which meant zero benefits, but amazing flexibility. It was a great decision. Basically, I was a mostly-SAHM, but with my foot still in the door at work.

Recently, I increased my hours again due to a financial setback. It's nice to have benefits again. Still part-time, 12-24 hrs per week. You just can't beat that flexibility, especially when you have small children.

I do feel inferior sometimes around full-time coworkers, because they're more adept and faster at their work, since they just plain do this stuff more than I do. But I also think I am less stressed than they are, and get more time with my kids.

[1jooj]

I did. I gave up my benefits to go to a totally flexible position. Now, I'm not held to a minimum number of hours per week or anything, I can choose to work in the office (where I have a full desk area just like anyone else in my department) or telecommute, I more or less make my own hours, and I can dial my work up or down.

What is strange is that I feel sort of misunderstood by some coworkers. The "highest" level of the bunch in our org seem to think in black and white terms, and don't know how to categorize me, because I am not a freelancer, but I am also not a FTer. They can conceptualize PT, but it seems that only makes sense to them if someone shows up at, say 9:00 daily and works 4 hours or something.

What's funny is that the "groundlings" all seem to get it.

I work in a woman-dominated workplace, and I guess I'd have expected more empathy about work/life balance. But it's totally hit and miss.

When I do the math, I make about the same in $$ but get no paid time off, which sucks. But I don't have the childcare expenses, which had been over $10k for me, with 2 kids.

The only way I'd ever go back to FT is if I had to, financially. Right now, I am coming out ahead.

[CatsCradle]

I work at 80% pay for my level but have billed the same number of hours for the past two years that most of my colleagues have. I work at 80% pay for the flexibility, not necessarily less billable hours. I can do the work, but I like the flexibility of doing certain things when I can budget time according to my family's needs. Despite this, I still make a very large salary by local and national standards, so 80% is not a sacrifice. I am grateful to my firm, though, for this option. It eliminates a lot of stress.