who has taken a pay cut, willingly

Nurses General Nursing

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Just curious as to how many people took a pay cut to switch to a job that has better hours or is more enjoyable or closer to home?

How much of a cut did you take?

I was offered a job that would be nice, in a plastic surgeon's office but the pay cut would be $16-17 an hour. It's also further from home. So I declined.

I would happily take a pay cut of say $5 and hour, maybe 10 but no more than that.

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Specializes in Clinical Documentation Specialist, LTC.

I have but it turned out to not be worth it. I took a break from LTC and took a $3 an hour pay cut to work in a clinic. Awful experience. I recently took a head nurse position in an Alzheimer's assisted living home and am only .50 under what I was getting paid before I went to work at the clinic.

If I took a $17 per hour pay cut I would only be making $2.50 an hour lol! BUT I am a LPN so my pay is about average for my state.

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Well, the reason it is such a paycut is I get in lieu of benefits, pension contribution, higher vacation pay. The new job offers nothing but 4% vac pay.

These things add up. I believe the base pay difference is around $10 an hr.

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Specializes in ccu.

I took a $5/hr pay cut (base pay, not counting differentials) to go from hospital nursing to school nursing.

I don't love the 5 days/week, but I can't beat being home by 345 every day, the ability to take a break MOST days, and the weekends, school breaks and summers off w/my littles :)

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Well sort of. I took an offer that was fully 1/3 less salary, with a less attractive benefit package and 0 sign on bonus compared to a 20k sign on bonus simply because the people at the place with better offer didn't smile much, and I didn't want to drive 15 minutes to get there when I could drive 3 minutes (or walk!) to a place where people smiled a lot and genuinely seemed to like each other. Some people thought I was crazy, but my partner understood perfectly and was very supportive. I sent back the contract for the better offer, took the lousy offer and have loved my job ever since.

It paid off. In less than a year, a major corporate restructuring I never could have predicted brought me up to more than the other place was offering and institution of a bonus program more than made up for the sign on money I walked away from. I bought in to the practice and am now part owner instead of just an employee.

The moral of the story is forget the money. Work at a job you love with people you like. Trust your gut about taking the right position, everything else will fall into place.

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Specializes in ER.

That makes me feel better :)

I took a pay cut of $10.65 an hour for my new job. I left the hospital working 3 overnights (with at least one weekend day a week) to take a Mon-Fri no weekends and no holidays job at the Health Dpt. I'll work Mon Wed Fri 7:30-4:30, Tue 7:30-7, and Fri 7:30-1:00. I'm pretty excited about the schedule. Now that pay cut includes night shift differential so I thought to myself, if I had moved to days (which was a goal) the pay cut would have only been $5 an hour difference. So I try to just think of it as $5 instead of $10 LOL! But truthfully not being a zombie around my kids is going to be worth it.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

I've done it too. Usually it turned out to be a little give and take here and there. I don't remember the salary numbers specifically, but I once did switch from the private sector to civil service. Lost a little in the money area, but oh, the benefits .... Benefits in civil service are usually unparalleled and were well worth the dollar$ difference. But to OP - your numbers sound way too big to lose to me.

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Thank you everyone sooooo much!! This was helpful!! I've been looking for a new position for a really long time to get out of the terrible one I'm in now. The place I'm at now... I could go on & on forever with the cons... The place that just offered me a position seems to be everything I'm looking for minus the pay I'm accustomed! I think the trade off will be worth it!! It's really about the patients anyway...:) love this site:)

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Nursing is one of the few professions where the phrase "life's a ***** and then you die" can seem apt. I think, once you realize this, you know you have to make a drastic change to stop the "die" part that is coming whether it be your emotional or physical health, if you know what I mean.

I think that in many cases taking a tremendous pay cut, and maybe then doing two jobs can even lead to better things. I often read here that so many nurses are in the "depths of Mordor" and we all know that the stories don't even include the really bad stuff that goes on. So much is all the same regardless of workplace in nursing sometimes. You really do have to step out of the "normal" and off of that crazy train.

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Wow! I can't believe how timely this post is...I just last week made the decision to leave my current job for less pay, about 7.50/hr less. This will be an adjustment since I'm the primary earner in my family, but it's with the health department and the benefits are great. My husband keeps telling me I've made the right decision...I don't actually start the new job for another week. Time will tell!

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I took a job that pays about 60% of what I was making before, but I love it, and my boss is great. It was completely worth it, and my family agrees, even if we do have to pinch pennies a bit.

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When I moved from acute care to public health I took a 12% pay cut Totally and completely worth it.

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