Time or Money or Happiness - What is your choice

Universidad

It's so funny to hear the argument that "we used to be in the office 5 days a week!" as a justification for gradual return.

Yeah, we did. But how much work has changed since then! 5 years ago you didn't know what Microsoft Teams was, Doris.

michaels

Universidad said:

It's so funny to hear the argument that "we used to be in the office 5 days a week!" as a justification for gradual return.

Yeah, we did. But how much work has changed since then! 5 years ago you didn't know what Microsoft Teams was, Doris.

When I joined my current employer you could come in 1 day a week at most, it is about to go to minimum 3.  Given in those 2 years pay rises are also more than 10% behind inflation I am effectively not only about 7 or 8 k worse off than when I joined but also having to give up 7.5 hours more of commute time....

Plan is to do (quiet quit) the last year but at 60% FTE as at least that will 'only' be 2 days a week in the office.

westv

Universidad said:

It's so funny to hear the argument that "we used to be in the office 5 days a week!" as a justification for gradual return.

Yeah, we did. But how much work has changed since then! 5 years ago you didn't know what Microsoft Teams was, Doris.

I'm on permanent WFH (with very occasional trips to the office) due to the distance but our place has has a 3 day "in the office" week since 2021.

Pat38493

I am supposed to be in the office at least 3 days a week under our hybrid working rules.

I just completely ignored it and carry on making my own schedule - some weeks I am in 4 days, some none, some two, some I just go in for a few hours to do a specific task, avoiding rush hour traffic, but work from home rest of day - nobody has ever pulled me up on it yet and if they do I will just tell them I am financially independent so if they force me to the office 3 days a week for the sake of an arbitrary rule, I will simply quit and it will be none days per week

SouthCoastBoy

About 12 mths ago I moved jobs as wanted to do a couple more years before retirement, but my 3.5 hrs commute (return journey time) 3 days a week was getting too much for me, now wfh full time, it makes it much more bearable all be it I had to take a 30% pay cut.

GSP

warrenb said:

I was just sitting here looking at the spreadsheet I have created about my pension, and the thought crossed my mind.

What target do you set to retire.

Is it a time, so a certain age or year.
Is it a target value of the pension.
Is it happiness levels and work.

Back to the OP.
Just out of interest how old are you? And how many years do you intend working?
What pension do you have, DB or DC? As we know, the latter can shift from one extreme to the other.
Do you have ‘plenty’ of savings?
Some people are ‘minted’, but love their work and workmates. Their world would be empty by giving up work.

There are just so many variables, and there are not too many lives the same. We each have our own story.

Sorry, just asking all these questions as a big thing is we just do not know what is around the corner, with everything and anything.

The only certain thing that will happen is that we all lose time, and you can’t get that back.

To me it’s all about positioning, and mainly circumstances. I was forced out 6 years earlier than expected. Luckily, so far we have enough to survive on, go on some nice holidays, but I still consider myself fortunate.

One thing, the world around us is changing fast. Some would say for the better, though in this country at this time to me it seems to be for the worst.

Whatever you choose to do matey, it’ll be the right choice for you.

Rich1976

Pat38493 said:

I am supposed to be in the office at least 3 days a week under our hybrid working rules.

I just completely ignored it and carry on making my own schedule - some weeks I am in 4 days, some none, some two, some I just go in for a few hours to do a specific task, avoiding rush hour traffic, but work from home rest of day - nobody has ever pulled me up on it yet and if they do I will just tell them I am financially independent so if they force me to the office 3 days a week for the sake of an arbitrary rule, I will simply quit and it will be none days per week

That says a lot about the management of your company then if they don’t know whose working at home and whose not.
at my place we do 3 days in and 2 days at home and anyone flouting those rules is pulled up about it and is always noticed by colleagues when people haven’t done their 3 days in, despite having a valid reason why!

MeteredOut

Rich1976 said:

Pat38493 said:

I am supposed to be in the office at least 3 days a week under our hybrid working rules.

I just completely ignored it and carry on making my own schedule - some weeks I am in 4 days, some none, some two, some I just go in for a few hours to do a specific task, avoiding rush hour traffic, but work from home rest of day - nobody has ever pulled me up on it yet and if they do I will just tell them I am financially independent so if they force me to the office 3 days a week for the sake of an arbitrary rule, I will simply quit and it will be none days per week

That says a lot about the management of your company then if they don’t know whose working at home and whose not.
at my place we do 3 days in and 2 days at home and anyone flouting those rules is pulled up about it and is always noticed by colleagues when people haven’t done their 3 days in, despite having a valid reason why!

That says a lot about the colleagues at your company then if they're taking count of who's working at home and who's not. Sounds a bit toxic to me! 

Universidad

SouthCoastBoy said:

About 12 mths ago I moved jobs as wanted to do a couple more years before retirement, but my 3.5 hrs commute (return journey time) 3 days a week was getting too much for me, now wfh full time, it makes it much more bearable all be it I had to take a 30% pay cut.

Probably apocryphal, but apparently Bob Marley's last words were "Money can't buy life."

I think about that a lot when pension planning. Yes, you need enough, and no you can't know exactly what enough looks like. But the one thing you can never get back is your time.

Pat38493

Rich1976 said:

Pat38493 said:

I am supposed to be in the office at least 3 days a week under our hybrid working rules.

I just completely ignored it and carry on making my own schedule - some weeks I am in 4 days, some none, some two, some I just go in for a few hours to do a specific task, avoiding rush hour traffic, but work from home rest of day - nobody has ever pulled me up on it yet and if they do I will just tell them I am financially independent so if they force me to the office 3 days a week for the sake of an arbitrary rule, I will simply quit and it will be none days per week

That says a lot about the management of your company then if they don’t know whose working at home and whose not.
at my place we do 3 days in and 2 days at home and anyone flouting those rules is pulled up about it and is always noticed by colleagues when people haven’t done their 3 days in, despite having a valid reason why!

I have a long history with the company and I am the IT lead for the UK - I need to travel to multiple sites regularly and I am also often working on projects or topics where I am mainly on Teams calls where nobody on the call is even in the UK, let alone at the same site as me.  It wouldn't make sense for me to drive to a particular office just to sit there on the phone all day, and the activities I work on also means it wouldn't make sense for me to be at the office on 3 specific pre-allocated days per week.

This is one of the benefits of long service and a fairly good record of success in the company - if they trust you to deliver your objectives, they don't really care where you are sitting to do it.

I appreciate that this is a luxury that most people don't have.