Take job for less money but more potential happiness?

vimmie · Dec 19, 2020

Absolutely take it! Happiness is the most important thing and loneliness is the worst. From what you’ve said it seems a no brainier to me. How long have you been in your current position? If you are happier you are more likely to progress and make more money in the long run too.

Neuro Guy NP, DNP, PhD, APRN · Dec 19, 2020

14 hours ago, AnaLong said:

I am currently at a job in which I dread going to. There is very little organization, sometimes I have to work alone, and I am it gets lonely as it is in a very rural area. But I make a pretty good salary.
I have been offered a job at a teaching hospital. I would never have to work as both nurse/lab tech/receptionist/NP, and there is a greater potential to find more people my own age there. BUT, the pay is $3500 a year less.

What would you guys do?

Most likely, you won't notice a loss of $3500 per year. It's a loss of $134.62 per pay check. And if this does pose a challenge, consider cutting back on elective purchases, but my gestalt is that it won't matter.

AnaLong, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Dec 20, 2020

14 hours ago, vimmie said:

Absolutely take it! Happiness is the most important thing and loneliness is the worst. From what you’ve said it seems a no brainier to me. How long have you been in your current position? If you are happier you are more likely to progress and make more money in the long run too.

Thank you so much for your reply. I’ve been with this company for about 5 years and they are steady piling on things for us to do despite no staffing.

13 hours ago, Neuro Guy NP said:

Most likely, you won't notice a loss of $3500 per year. It's a loss of $134.62 per pay check. And if this does pose a challenge, consider cutting back on elective purchases, but my gestalt is that it won't matter.

Really? I hadn’t thought of it like that. I guess that doesn’t matter as much.

Hoosier_RN, MSN · Dec 20, 2020

Believe me, happiness is worth that slight money loss. If it were 30grand a year, I could see your hesitancy. You will learn to rebudget. You will get raises. You may be able to pick up OT. Go for it! Good luck!

AnaLong, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Dec 20, 2020

2 hours ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Believe me, happiness is worth that slight money loss. If it were 30grand a year, I could see your hesitancy. You will learn to rebudget. You will get raises. You may be able to pick up OT. Go for it! Good luck!

That is so encouraging! Thank you for your help.

vimmie · Dec 20, 2020

If you’ve been there 5 years that’s plenty of time at one job. When I was burnt out at my job , the best thing I did was get out of there and find something more fulfilling. Good luck!

staphylococci, NP · Dec 21, 2020

To echo previous posters, your happiness is worth more than a small decrease in salary. We spend some much of our lives at work that it isn't worth it in the longterm to be unhappy and unfulfilled, professionally. I recently switched jobs for similar reasons as yours and did have to take a small pay cut to do so, but the new job's benefits more than outweigh that small drop in pay.

JBMmom, MSN, NP · Dec 21, 2020

You've already received the same advice, but I absolutely agree that the small decrease in weekly pay will absolutely be worth the daily increase in happiness. If you're working 5 days a week, it comes out to $13 less a day! Your happiness and job satisfaction are worth WAY more than that, I'm sure. Best of luck in your new ventures!

beachynurse, ASN, BSN · Dec 22, 2020

In my pursuit of happiness, 16 years ago, I took a much larger, more significant pay cut. If I had to make that same decision today, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I left a job that I made plenty of money, but was miserable. I cried on my way to and from work, and sometimes during. It was an awful, toxic environment. I took a leap of faith, and moved to the job I am currently at. It took a while to adjust to the decrease in income, but my happiness and sanity are and have been worth it. I love what I do now, and can't even imagine doing anything else. Go for it, it's only money, you can't take it with you!!

AnaLong, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Dec 22, 2020

3 hours ago, beachynurse said:

In my pursuit of happiness, 16 years ago, I took a much larger, more significant pay cut. If I had to make that same decision today, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I left a job that I made plenty of money, but was miserable. I cried on my way to and from work, and sometimes during. It was an awful, toxic environment. I took a leap of faith, and moved to the job I am currently at. It took a while to adjust to the decrease in income, but my happiness and sanity are and have been worth it. I love what I do now, and can't even imagine doing anything else. Go for it, it's only money, you can't take it with you!!

I have decided to take the leap of faith! My Heath will probably improve as well, thank you for sharing your story.

beachynurse, ASN, BSN · Dec 24, 2020

On 12/22/2020 at 12:26 PM, AnaLong said:

I have decided to take the leap of faith! My Heath will probably improve as well, thank you for sharing your story.

I'm happy to hear you are going to give it a shot! I can tell you that my health, both physical and mental improved significantly once I made my job change. You can't buy that with money. I learned a valuable lesson from that. Good luck, and I wish you the very best!