Would you continue doing your current job if the pay was lowered?

Psst…. Don’t tell anyone but…. Yes! Heck, i would do this work for ⅓ of the salary.

I’d have to find a new job if I was going to lose 30% of my current pay. With my husband staying home and our budget the way it is right now, that would be a significant loss. I love my current job, but I love that my husband can be home with our children. The only way I’d get to stay at my job with a pay cut like that would be if he got a job to make up the difference (plus the cost of child care).

I would update my resume, begin applying for new jobs immediately and look forward to the future with a different employer. We need to be realistic about our budgets, especially when there are people dependent upon us.

I will just throw in another part, lets say you do find a new job and it pays more or is adequate enough. However you are miserable. Even with continuing efforts to find a better job you are stuck with that new one. Granted it does pay more yet everyday is a drag for you and there is no real known idea of when you will find something else.

How do you handle that?

Yes, I would definitely. My current job is pretty much not like work at all.

At my part-time job, if they paid me any lower then I’d be outta there. I’m not a fan of the way the place is run anyway, but it’c convenient and paying for the time being.

Only if I was allowed to run over car drivers ,but if not I would start looking for a new job with a 30% loss of income.

I work my ass off and earn every penny that they pay me. All my decisions there are focused on raising profits, reducing cost, or just making things a little bit better (selection, wine education, store layout, training- everything can be improved). People throw around the phrase “value-added” all the time in the professional world, but I actually do it. 30% pay cut? Fuck that noise.

I will just throw in another part, lets say you do find a new job and it pays more or is adequate enough. However you are miserable. Even with continuing efforts to find a better job you are stuck with that new one. Granted it does pay more yet everyday is a drag for you and there is no real known idea of when you will find something else.

A job being a drag and me being miserable are different things. Is the job unpleasant? Is it just boring? Are the bosses dicks? Do i get the least respect and decent treatement a human being is owed?

I can do dull, no problem, i can’t do working with dicks.

There would have to be an awfully good reason for lowering my pay and they better be willing to divulge internal information in order to prove it. The dark secret is that I would work as a nurse for nothing, and have, but pay is more than just a paycheck in America. It is not only how much your employer values your services, it is respect.

The importance of pay and how much one is paid is taken to ridiculous extremes in this country. Look at how teachers are treated in the press in this country as opposed to even the most corrupt Wall Street investment banker (Michael Milken) or a millionaire sports star who also happens to be a racist bully (Richie Incognito). Milken, a millionaire many times over as a result of his crimes, does his prison time and ends up as a professor of economics at USC. Incognito’s career remains essentially unaffected and his fans never blink an eye. I don’t fool myself. If I had done what Milken did, I would still be in prison. If I had ever harassed a fellow employee with the vehemence of Incognito, I would have been arrested and charged with cyberstalking and criminal harassment.

The difference is pay. If you allow an employer to shit on you by lowering your pay, you better be prepared to accept new status as a chump. It is much better to take your skills elsewhere, where the initial kneejerk reaction to belt-tightening is not to screw the employees. And if there are no other jobs openings in your field within your commute at this time, leave the field until something does opens up. That is how important this is. Take a job doing something else before you take a “voluntary” pay cut.

I’d be out of there in a minute. I like my job, but I’ve been seriously considering leaving it because I can barely pay my bills. Even with full-time hours, I’ve had to take a second job just so I don’t feel like I’m floundering quite so much.

Yes, and then I’d sue them for paying me less than minimum wage.

I would continue there, but start sending my résumé in search of a more appreciative employer.

I will just throw in another part, lets say you do find a new job and it pays more or is adequate enough. However you are miserable. Even with continuing efforts to find a better job you are stuck with that new one. Granted it does pay more yet everyday is a drag for you and there is no real known idea of when you will find something else.
How do you handle that?

I’d suck it up as long as I had to because I have a family to support. I’d do everything I could to keep work (and the miserableness of work) at work and focus on all the good things going on in my life, especially all the good I am doing for my children by providing for them.

@LDRSHIP – I’ve been at my job for several years. Initially, I worked full-time and often overtime covering two offices. After a few years of that the stress was too much, so I dropped a day, which meant about a 20% pay cut. For me, my mental health is more valuable than that 20%. Like many things in life, it’s about weighing the pros and cons of the options, and striking the balance of what works best for your situation.

The personal fulfillment of one’s work is another benefit that can be more valuable than money. If you can make ends meet in a job that is rewarding as opposed to getting a super salary but being stressed and feeling no value to what you’re doing, I’d say the former is better than the latter.

I love my job and because I love it I am currently doing it for the very minimum amount of pay I can afford. Any less and I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills so no, I wouldn’t be able to continue. It would break my heart to have to leave though.

As a state employee, I took a 10% cut in pay to earn extra time for vacations. While it didn’t seem that big of a deal, when I got my paycheck, I realized it cut into my ‘fun money’. Back full time I went. With a 30% cut, I would be out of here faster than my 1.16 years left on my 30yrs. I only tolerate here because I only have 1.16 yrs before retirement. If I had to do it for 30 % less—I would be out the door so fast looking for another job. I can only be miserable for so long.

After reading most of these answers I am a little ashamed. I feel so fortunate. Fortunate that I enjoy the work, fortunate that I can survive easily on the lowered pay, and fortunate that I can do what I do. I am a lucky guy, indeed.

@LuckyGuy I am envious of you. I really like my job (the work itself) but the dysfunction in state government is so disheartening. I remember back when the agency I work for was the best thing since sliced bread. Now, we are cycling the drain so fast I am afraid to get caught in the flow. I may retire from here but I will always work. I enjoy keeping busy.