Planning to leave but heard of redundancy so should i stay

Highway

I'm in a good job in Dublin for ten years now but am moving west shortly.
Was expecting a big pay cut in any new job, and I've found a potentially good one, but with about a grand a month less pay.

I've just heard that there "might" be a chance of redundancy in my current Dublin job, but in a years time. Redundancy money would be great, but no guarantees. This new job is pretty good for the area, so i'm looking for opinions.
After moving west, commuting to Dublin 3 days a week would be required to keep current job, journey time approx 3 hours per day. I could stay over for 2 nights, etc, but family don't approve of the whole thing, due to stress, time away from young son, etc, etc during week.

The role is IT related, and as such quite unpredictable (if something breaks, I have to make sure it's fixed, day or night), so getting home predictably would be hard to guarantee.

Family don't want me to do it, but the potential money would be of great benefit to us long term.

Curious as to anyone elses opinion/experience in regard to above.

Highway.

Nody

Short answer: Leave.

Long answer: Might be redundancy in a years time, so you're talking one year of stress/grief and that lovely 3h commute for a potential 21 weeks salaries. While nice keep in mind that is only potentially upcoming money which could then be delayed further or not apply to you due to being someone they need to keep etc. Also as you said the new job don't mean that big of a pay cut as expected but there is nothing that says a similar position will be up if that redundancy comes through and you may end up actually losing money over it.

Hence keep your sanity and keep your growing family happy, you will be thankful for it looking back one year from now.

dade

id say leave anyway, my father in law was told 3 years ago that his place would close in about 6 months and they still are in work every day playing cards and watching TV, they found out last week that for definite it will close at the end of July.

I agree the redundancy would be a great help, but there's something more important at stake, your family life and your health. a 3 hour commute to Dublin, over night stays Who's going to pay for all that? never mind the time away from your son you wont ever get that back

jester77

Leave.

Quality of life is more important than any money. Get your priorities right, family should come first and if you are doing that sort of commute then it will only put severe pressure on you which will have a knock on effect towards your family. Life is short and you will only regret not having more time with your son once you get older.

rebel.ranter

"A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush"

From what you say your new job is good for the region you are going to. You are planning to go to the region irrespective of the redundancy. I would take the job as at least you have a known quantity, something that you are interested in.
If you hang on the redundancy may not happen, you might spend a long time finding something interesting & your family are not keen on the idea of you staying on.

leeroybrown

Is it really worth that much to sacrifice your quality of life on the chance that there 'might' be redundancies, which you 'might' be able to apply for, where theres a chance they 'might' be oversubscribed and that your managers 'might' want to tell you that you are not allowed to take it. Unless you're an awful lot more certain that this will happen than you sound it's probably not worth it.

The one thing I will say is that if you do decide to leave do it knowing you have written off that money in your mind. I've seen people get quite annoyed at having left a job prior to redundancies.

pow wow

Leave.

My dad hung on for a couple of years for an 'offer' that was about to come. After 21 years service he left anyway. And the offer never came to his colleagues.

kmick

Leave now. Say if your commute in your new job is one hour.
Therefore you save 2 hours per day.
Say 250 days work in the next year=500 hours.

Minimum wage is (around) Eur7.50
500 x 7.50= EUR3750

So the opportunity cost to you of staying in that job is Eur3750.

Probably around the same you would get if you stayed there and you would be no better off.

DublinDilbert

I think a year is a bit far off to hang around waiting for something that might/might not happen... Don't get me wrong If i was told i would be let go in a years time i would stay around for it and telecommute ect...

I think someone made a valid point, that if you decide to leave you should write off the money in your mind... people can be very upset a year after they leave their jobs seeing all their friends getting big cheques...

I know of a cooper ( barrel maker ) who worked for guninesses who went to hand in his notice (about 30 years ago )... his boss tried to talk him out of it, saying to stay on for another month ect... he got pissed off and went anyway... a few weeks later he realized what his boss was trying to do, the company were making all of the coopers redundant as they were moving over to the aluminum kegs, all his co workers got massive payouts ( at a time when money was hard to come by).

Best of luck with the decision, i know its not an easy one to make...

Highway

Thanks to you all.
I am impressed to have gotten so many responses so quickly, and it seems you all know which side your bread is buttered on! I guess I might be considered greedy, but we are really trying to get out of the "both parents have to work" scenario. When both my wife and I were growing up, we both had at least one parent home all the time, and we both really feel that was a great asset to us. We want to do the same for our family if possible, and this change will still do it, but be very tight on funds.
At least i know there is noone else doing a job like mine, so I know i won't be in a position like seeing a bunch of my colleagues getting a big cheque in a years time.

I rang the "new" boss today, negotiated a slightly higher pay, and he is very anxious to meet me soon, so i guess things look good overall.

As one of you said, you cannot get time or health back if it's lost, and they are probably worth the amount of redundancy.

Thanks again,
Highway.

leeroybrown

One thing I'll add is that even though all that potential cash sounds very nice if you really need money theres always the possibility of doing a few bits and pieces on the side from a home office rather than spending that much of your week away from your family and commuting.

rebel.ranter

To be honest I think that I will be made redundant just after Christmas (the reasons whay should be apparent from another thread in this forum).

I am thinking that while a pay out would be nice, more importantly a job that I lke and one that is available in the region would be far better. I would rather be working than having a lump sum with a year out of the workforce.
Best of luck to you in whichever you decide.

the_syco

Leave. The place where I work now was meant to have finished up a year before I started. It didn't, and has since expanded.

Also, when you do get redundancy, you're f*cked, as you won't have a job. Its better to leave one job and walk into another, than spend your redundancy package on living, whilst getting a new job.