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Discussion Would you take a pay cut for a more stable government job?

Would you take a pay cut for a more stable work environment?

  • Yea

    Votes: 11 57.9%

  • Nah

    Votes: 8 42.1%
  • Total voters
    19
  • Poll closed .
R

Ray00101

Guest
I currently work for the private sector as a field engineer. We’re a third party, so we’re contracted by construction companies to handle quality control. The work can kind of be physically demanding from time to time (I work on resurfacing jobs mainly and it’s lots of walking up and down mountains with 60-70lbs of equipment on top of 200°+ asphalt) and the schedule can be weird (lots of out of town work, lots of night work as climate change happens and days are effectively too hot to work in) BUT the money is good. I typically bring home $5500-$6000+ a paycheck during the season. I also basically have all winter off unless I want to work in the lab or go out of state.

But I recently interviewed with the department of transportation for a desk job doing drafting, writing proposals, some design work…and while I thought there was no way I’d take an 18K/year pay cut, here I am contemplating it. I have a newborn son and the fact that I’d be home by 6 every night is alluring. They made a good pitch, basically saying the work/life balance is great. The benefits are fantastic. (cheap healthcare, you get a pension, all major and minor holidays off, 4 weeks vacation a year, 4 weeks sick-leave) and I’d be out of the heat/elements, working out of an office at the capitol complex.

The amount they offered is livable for my area, I just don’t know if I can justify the loss of income. Help!
 
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My job doesn’t really have the luxury of that type of a schedule; it’s typically on me to balance my job and my life.

But tbh? That sounds like a slam dunk for you. Based on the numbers you provided, the pay cut isn’t that severe at all. Plus benefits and all that paid time off? I hope you’re verging on taking it.
 
Christo750 said:
My job doesn’t really have the luxury of that type of a schedule; it’s typically on me to balance my job and my life.

But tbh? That sounds like a slam dunk for you. Based on the numbers you provided, the pay cut isn’t that severe at all. Plus benefits and all that paid time off? I hope you’re verging on taking it.
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I am, honestly. They asked that I resubmit my application with my other degree and work experience (Communications and some retail management/advertising…stuff I left out because I assumed it wasn’t applicable) because it would help increase my pay, though not by much. A couple thousand a year. They made pay increases seem really structured—they have a series of levels and steps that increase the more certifications/course hours/work experience you get which makes career planning easier. They also downplayed every perceived deficit of mine when I brought it up. Like, I have very little experience in drafting and they offered to send me to school for free, something I’ve not experienced working in the private sector.

I’m edging toward taking it though because of the looming recession. I can see a scenario where most state/public work is moved in house as a cost saving measure (might be talking out of my ass, I didn’t work in this industry during the last recession)
 
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There are 2 things in the world that money cannot do.

1. Get you a new body
2. Get you time

If your job is physically demanding, you are putting strain on your body. You might be able to keep up with this job now, but imagine you are over 50, and your private company certainly wouldn't make any accomadations. You might be able to miss having a nice retirement too. My dad is a plumber getting close to retirement, and he can really feel it now.

The time aspect is what is key too. You have a son now! You can be able to spend time with him, get good paid vacations, have federal holidays off, and every weekend off. That in itself is priceless. Structure is super important for kids too, and for planning stuff too. I'd say go for it if you can afford it.
 
Money can't buy your time and peace of mind.
 
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I did do that, though it wasn’t that much of a pay cut. Totally worth it for me, the job is fairly easy, plenty of time off, stable, tuition reimbursement if I want to go for my master’s degree, and a pension if I stay long enough. I’ll probably not stay too long though since I know I’ll be leaving money on the table after a few more years of experience, but for now it’s pretty great.
 
Yes. My wife has a government job, and while she can make more in private, her PTO, set working hours, comp time, benefits, and future pensions make it more than worth it. She works 8 - 4. Like any job there may be a late day or random meeting with constituents on a week day or a weekend (not often), but she works what she was hired to work. Only person she will answer a call for after 4 is her boss if he needs to ask her a favor or a reminder for something he needs to do.
 
I’d go for it. I’ve been going for a government job for years now cause I need the stability for my mental health
 
Depends on the scope of the pay cut, but I also have no children. I can see the stability and the consistent work schedule having a lot of upside in the scenario you described.

The size of the current pay cut sounds like a bit too much, but as always it's not my opinion that matters.
 
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Depends on the pay cut. I'd lean towards no because I feel like I could find something that pays better and is more stable/has less crazy hours than what I'm doing right now.

I basically lost a job opportunity several months ago because I asked the recruiter on the position if they were willing to offer the position at a higher salary, they basically said that if they did it probably wouldn't be aligned with the salaries on other people on the team, and then ghosted me. It wasn't a government job but it was a situation similar to the OP one where the job was more stable, less stressful, and had more typical hours. At the time I regretted it, but I'm currently interviewing for three positions now and two of those three are offering pay significantly superior to both my current position and the prior position I interviewed for.
 
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Lozjam said:
There are 2 things in the world that money cannot do.

1. Get you a new body
2. Get you time
Click to expand...
This is so incredibly important to keep in mind.

My dad once told me “no one on their deathbed has ever thought ‘I wish I had spent more time at work.’” This quote constantly reverberates in my head as I get older and I sometimes spend time I don’t need to spend working.
 
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That's what I decided to do while I was in school/training. I've been in my job for almost 4 years now, and am only just now making what I could have been making out the gate in the private sector, BUT I've had better/cheaper health care, better retirement matching, am 1/5th of the way to some sort of pension, and have so much time off that I am am in July with 3 weeks of "use it or lose it" leave I need to take before the end of the year, with another six weeks to carry over to next year. I am a health care provider, and leave every day on time, which is wild. Last week I had to stay late because of an unusual patient situation, and I immediately was approved for extra pay or comp time. I always feel respected. I can't say enough good things about my government job.

It does suck that some decisions get made on high by folks who have no idea what they're asking for (i.e. congress), but that's probably true at every job.
 
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I did. My life got so much better. Plus, the job is way more varied and fun then the shitty private company sectot.
 
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Always depends on the amount of money you wouldn't get anymore and the benefits.
I don't know the laws in the US but cheap halthcare and pension sound like something where you wouldn't
loose that much money over the long run, plus the benefits of having vacations outside of winter and
sick leave.
 
Yeah I’m doing it. I just sent an amended application and included references and the voicemail I received stated that I was hired pending references. (All solid)

Say hello to the newest highway engineering associate for the West Virginia Department of Transportation.

Thanks for the input everyone.
 
Ray00101 said:
Yeah I’m doing it. I just sent an amended application and included references and the voicemail I received stated that I was hired pending references. (All solid)

Say hello to the newest highway engineering associate for the West Virginia Department of Transportation.

Thanks for the input everyone.
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Congratulations!

I totally understand your initial hangup about the paycut. I'm paid quite well myself, and got an offer recently at an even bigger paycut than yours. Even with the stock options they offered technically bringing my net pay up, I still declined it. For various other factors as well, but still. Sometimes it just feels good seeing that base pay number go up and up, but if that's all you look at, you can end up feeling trapped at a place.

I think you made a great decision for yourself. There are always the less tangible benefits to consider, that can definitely make up for pay gaps sometimes.
 
It depends on how big of a cut we're talking. I'd say a 20% cut would be acceptable if it meant I got much better QoL, insurance, pension, etc.

Sounds to me like you made a pretty solid choice. And most important of all, you seem happy with it.
 
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So uh. Update.

I had to decline. They called today with their full offer. Apparently the HR person I was talking to miscalculated my Level/Step and the yearly package and compensation was reduced by another 9K, which put it out of feasibility for me. It’s disappointing. 😞

I instead accepted an offer from my backup, which was around a 7K/ year increase as Quality Control manager for another firm. I won’t need to do any heavy lifting, so that’s a plus, just watch technicians do testing and sign off on their paperwork. The bad part is the project I was mainly hired for is deep in the southern coal fields. I know my state gets branded as just a bunch of hicks, but the southern part of the state may as well be a different country with how heavy the accent can be. Think ‘The Wonderful Whites of West Virginia’, that’s close to where this is going to be.
 
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Oof, sorry the government job didn't work out.

But at least with your backup you're getting more pay and you don't have to do heavy lifting anymore, so that still sounds like a win in my book.
 
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Getting away from the heavy work is a huge step forward, work like that really takes it's toll on your body. I've seen too many people with back problems and the like from wear and tear with heavy jobs.
 
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Now? no way.
Not to toot my own (beep beep!) but I got a whopping 27% raise this year.
And I work in Higher Ed, so I have a very stable job already, which I love.

So at this point in my life, nah....
 
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