Advice: Job offer worth €20K more + bens but travel necessary

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apple1

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Hi, looking for opinions please. Just been offered a role by a prospective new employer. V interesting position but the remuneration involved is equally interesting. Been offered minimum of €20K on top of current salary and all the fringe benefits, none of which I have now. The flip side is that I'll have a 1hr 45min commute each way 2 days per week & the job will require 25% travel abroad/month. Young baby on way & thus only one income shortly in house. Mammy wants to be a stay-at-home mum and while this will place a significant burden on the finances, I respect & support her decision. In fact, I'm glad she made the call. 20K more therefore makes a big difference. I know it is my decision, & I expect many of the responses may be along the lines of "is the additional money worth the time away from home", but I'm genuinely in a dilemna & I would value other poster's opinions, i.e. what would you do in a similar situation? Thanks in advance, apple1
 
I was in a position like your about 4 weeks ago...a company in a different industry offered €25k on top of my salary/perks but I would have a forgo quite a bit of family life and travel more. In the end although tempting I turned it down...to cosy by the fire. Although I don't led a champagne lifestyle my standard of living is good enough to afford all the perks. To me family life is more important than work ....and other offers better suited may come along again. With a child coming along it could be bad timing.:confused:
 
I wouldn't mind the travel abroad if it's only going to be 4 days a month.You say you will have a long commute only 2 days a week how about the other days - will you be working from home or what kind of commute will you have? Is there any possibility that you could move closer to where you have to commute to on the long days? This will depend on what your doing on the other days? Also if your travelling abroad you will have to consider which airport you'll be using and what your commute to there and back will be.
I'd be tempted to take the job. While it is your decision you will need the support of your wife. Its great she is going to stay at home and that will take other pressures off but it will be tough on her if she's on her own too much.
 
Not sure what 20k a year works out at after tax, bus assume it is €12-14k a year
On the basis that you can improve your tax free allowance if your wife is at home and not using hers, + the childrens allowance and the €1k from the Govt, question you have to ask yourself, is it worth it?
other thing you have to consider is whether or not you feel comfortable leaving the wife at home overnight. I was in the same position and took the job and as we lived many miles from home, we also moved closer to my inlaws so if the wife is nervous, she can stay there overnight
Agianst all of that, what happens your career if you don't take it?
 
As long as your wife is happy for you to travel I would take it. The extra money will help to compensate for her loss of salary. I would move house either to be closer to the job/airport or wife's in laws as another poster stated. I speak as someone who has moved house to be closer to work and my partner travels a lot. (At the moment he is away for 2 weeks and we have 3 kids under 6) Money can go a long way to easing the burden of paying for childcare etc. That's my opinion. Your wife may also be happy to support you in upping your career.
 
Do you know what the travel pattern is? One day per week, or one week at a time? Depending on your family structure/support network, one might suit you better than the other. Will this pattern change regularly?
 
Thanks for all the responses. Its interesting to hear different perspectives. Moving closer to work isnt an option. We've only recently moved and began building, so we'll be here for some time hopefully. As regards the travel pattern, it'll most likely be days here & there throughout the month as opposed to one block of 4/5 days. In weeks where there is no travel & I'm office based for 2 of 5, I can work from home the remainder.
 
I travel quite a bit with work and even if it requires a 20 hour day I try to make it home at night if I can.
The fact that you can work from home three days in five will mean that you should still have good quality family time during the week.

Will you be booking your own flights and/or deciding your own schedule most of the time? If so then you will have some ability to work around family commitments. The commute to and from the airport is important as well but the big question is do you think you will enjoy the job? If you do and you will be happy doing it and your wife is happy for you to travel four days or so a month then go for it.
 
I'd worry more about the commute time than the travel. Will you need to get up at the crack of dawn? Will you be able to walk out of the office at 5pm sharp? If not, your chances of seeing baby before baby goes to bed are slim. When baby gets to toddler stage, you will really want to be getting into a routine of a family dinner around 6pm. It's hard to be part of the family if you're not around for dinner and bathtime.

Personally, I don't think that kind of commute is sustainable in the long term.
 
This is very interesting, I've just accepted a job with a loss of about 10k for the exact oppsoite to what you are doing. I am leaving a job with a lot of travelling, an average 2-3 nights away per week, to start a job based in Munster. I hope that it will be an improvement for my family and that we'll be able to do more together during the week. I only made it to one soccer match that my son was playing in last year! The flip side is that we used to have some really good holidays which I think I'll have to cut back on.
 
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