Not to toot-my-own-flute, but I did call 2024 “the year of the hybrid,” and it’s nice to suddenly have some data to back that up. When people who currently own gas-powered cars are going into the market, some of them are buying EVs, but way more are buying hybrids of all varieties. Hybrids offer a lot of advantages, and I’m guessing the biggest one might actually surprise you.
Speaking of surprises, Ford was surprised that their own survey shows that a lot of people would take a 20% pay cut for a little more work/life balance. You know who might want that 20%? People with college loans to pay, which is about to be an issue both in the upcoming election and for people in the business of selling cars.
And, finally, The Morning Dump will end with one of the greatest firings of all time by an F1 team, and I ain’t talking about Guenther Steiner. He’s still alive. Another F1 team literally pulled the plug on one of its employees and trust me, it’s deeply amusing.
The Stat About Hybrids That Surprised Me This Morning
Hybrids have made quite the transition in the last few years in the eyes of consumers and enthusiasts. There was a time when many of us derided the miserly, hair-shirt nature of Prius ownership. Then something happened. I’m not sure if it was the rise of electric cars or the vast improvement in hybrid technology, but enthusiasts are starting to wake up to the idea of hybrid ownership.
My next car, I think, will be a hybrid. Plenty of enthusiasts I know are enamored with the idea of the new, sleeker Toyota Prius.
I said that 2024 was going to be the Year Of The Hybrid for a number of reasons, including the fact that the electrification adoption curve was beginning to slow. Choice, also, was a big reason. Both in that consumers have great choices like the Toyota Corolla Cross and, at the same time, don’t have a choice when it comes to the new 2025 Toyota Camry (which is going all hybrid). There are also some exciting cars on the horizon like the upcoming Honda Prelude Hybrid.
So, here are some good reasons why people buy hybrids:
- They want to be green.
- They are unsure about committing to an EV or unable to
- Hybrids, especially Plug-In Hybrids, are better than they’ve ever been
- The car they want might only come in hybrid form (like the Sienna)
- They want to spend less on gas.
All of these reasons have led to quite an important moment in history: ICE households are switching to hybrids at a record rate of 9.9%, compared to just 5.7% for pure electric vehicles according to this S&P Global Mobility report that looks at purchases between January and October of last year. That’s an interesting stat, but that’s not the one that caught me off guard this morning and I think explains a lot of what’s going on here:
Year to date, gasoline households who acquired another gas model have an average monthly payment of $675 on their new vehicle, according to AutoCreditInsight by S&P Global Mobility and Transunion. Those who bought a full hybrid pay $670, slightly less than their gasoline counterparts. However, households who opted for PHEVs have a higher average monthly payment of $798, and those who chose an EV pay the highest at $828. The data suggest that cost considerations could be a significant factor driving the preference for hybrids over other EVs.
That’s a huge deal. The sense was growing that price parity between hybrids and gas-powered cars was coming, but now it’s clearly here. Look at this little graphic:
If you’re going from a gas-powered car to a non-PHEV hybrid you’re probably paying less per month than if you went with a gas-powered car. You’re paying more for a PHEV and a lot more for an electric car.
This may sound unlikely, but it makes sense when you start to consider what people might otherwise purchase. The cheapest version of the Ford Maverick, for instance, was a hybrid for a while and even if it costs a little more now, I can imagine people buying a Maverick Hybrid instead of a new, more expensive Ford Ranger.
The two most popular non-PHEV hybrids among owners of gas-powered cars are the Honda CR-V Hybrid and the RAV4 Hybrid, both of which start within 5-10% of the non-hybrid models. If you’re stepping down from a Honda Pilot or a Toyota Highlander and choosing then you’re not losing that much space and gaining a lot of efficiency.
Looking at the chart, it’s clear where the trend is going. It’ll be interesting to see how long that trend holds.
Ford: 52% Of People Would Take A 20% Pay Cut For More Work-Life Balance
Ford, in its attempt to understand humans, did a global survey of about 16,000 people to find out what they care about. It turns out that they care about having a work-life balance.
You can go to the microsite to see all of their discoveries, but the biggest fact that stood out is that 52% of workers would be willing to take a 20% pay cut to “achieve a lifestyle that prioritized my quality of life.” Without getting into too much detail, that’s sort of what I did to come work here! No regrets.
Unsurprisingly, there’s a generational aspect to this. Here’s the breakdown of responses to that question from American respondents:
- Gen Z: 56%
- Millennials: 60%
- GenX: 43%
- Boomers: 33%
There is a bit of me that feels like Jodie Foster and I want to scream: THE KIDS ARE SOFT. But I’ve burned myself out and seen my friends burned out over a job that, frankly, didn’t care about them. Also, it’s not a surprise that Millennials feel this the most, as many are at a point in the middle/upper management part of their careers where the striving is highest and the responsibilities match. I have friends who have to take care of themselves, their kids, and their parents all at the same time and balance is something they seriously lack.
My guess is that many GenXers are filling up retirement accounts and reached a professional level where the work might be hard, but they already either balanced it out or died trying. Boomers, obviously, are maybe retired so it’s not as relevant a question.
Also, 51% of people are afraid of AI according to this survey.
It’ll be interesting to see how Ford uses this data, but here’s a clue from a Detroit Free Press report on the survey:
“It shocked us. I’ll be honest,” said Jen Brace, chief futurist at Ford who coordinated the 2024 Trend Report and its findings. “A 20% pay cut is a big deal. I didn’t think we’d get the level of response in terms of number of people; 52% is huge. If you look generationally, and if you look in the U.S. in particular, you saw our younger generations being even more willing to give up money for a better quality of life.”
So if you work for the company and want to work less, maybe offer to trade one day for 20%.
Of course, there’s a real privilege built into this. If you’re working minimum wage the reality is you probably don’t have a great work-life balance and there’s no way to achieve more balance by having less money.
36% Of Consumers With A Student Loan Took An Automotive Loan While Repayments Were Paused
As part of this country’s response to the pandemic, federal student loan repayments were paused. During that time, about a third of consumers with federal student loans took out an automotive loan.
That’s not a big deal except, with car prices hitting record highs during that period, those buyers likely still have those car payments.
The combination of overall increased costs and debt is straining young consumers, said Travis Bowie, general manager of auto finance at insurance company Jerry. In a December survey using Pollfish, Jerry found 28 percent of 1,268 Gen Z respondents said they were more than 30 days late on a debt or rent payment because of the cost of car ownership.
“I don’t really see an option where this gets any easier, at least until the car prices start to come down,” Bowie said. “I think we are probably going to still see elevated delinquencies and defaults in the months ahead.”
As of May, 40.6 million people had student loans totaling $1.6 trillion, according to TransUnion. The average student borrower has about $35,000 in debt, and some consumers have monthly payments of over $500.
I’ve talked before about loan vintages and how there’s a particular set of vintages from the pandemic that people in the industry are worried about because of the bad combination of super high prices, increasing interest rates, and the sudden depreciation of vehicle value. Well, just toss student loans on the pile of reasons why even a soft-landing-style recession might not be great for the auto industry.
Additionally, this could further damper car purchases in 2024.
Mahindra Kills Its Global AI Ambassador
In what has to be one of the most amusing and quick own-goals in racing history, Mahindra has killed its just-launched AI influencer. It all started a few days ago when Mahindra Racing, which competes in Formula E (the traveling business conference dressed up as a racing series), decided that it needed an influencer to talk about “positive change” and be the company’s “Sustainable Tech Champ.”
How using a computer brings about sustainability and helps save energy is… uncertain. There’s a sense that everyone needs to be an AI company and use AI because, frankly, many of the people who work in the C-Suites at major companies are just as dumb as we all are and their whole job is not to create any value but seem like they’re creating value for equally dumb venture capitalists and so nonsense like this prevails. [Ed Note: Jeez, Matt, tell us how you really feel! -DT]
Should Mahindra get credit for killing its AI influencer? Nah, that credit probably goes to our old pal Devin Altieri, a motorsports PR professional who pointed out the obvious in a tweet:
Mahindra creating an AI team ambassador that is a woman instead of simply hiring one real, actual woman to fill that role is so incredibly messed up.
After that death blow, which went viral around the racing scene, Mahindra had no choice but to end Ava’s life, stating: “Your comments hold tremendous value. We have listened, understood and decided to discontinue the project.”
Don’t feel too bad. Ava isn’t a real person. Her death means nothing other than Mahindra listened to people, apologized, and moved on, which is about all you can ask.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
“New Blue Sun” the weird, wonderful debut solo album from Andre 3000 that’s just him playing the flute. I’m serious.
The Big Question
In reference to Ford’s study: Would you take a 20% drop in pay to have more work-life balance?
Re: Andre3000 – Key & Peele predicted this with remarkable accuracy:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5U9rMkgoGL8
Why does your breath smell like birdseed, Matt???
Another rarely mentioned benefit of hybrids; fewer trips to the gas pump. It’s really nice to drive 500+ miles between full ups.
This is by far my too reason for switching to PHEVs for my last two cars (the dailies that is). Avoiding the errand of going to the gas station is awesome. If gas cars had bigger tanks I may have never done the switch 😉
Here to simply note that small cars and crossovers tend to be sold as hybrids, whereas many pure gas vehicles are likely 3 row SUVs and trucks. This, more than the powertrain tech, would explain why monthlys are cheaper on hybrids.
A 20% pay-cut now? Oh nononono, not for this GenXer. My work/life balance has never been great, but my wife and I were extremely fortunate to both luck right out of the Covid era with some fat raises and I’ve discovered something about having a bit of actual, “disposable” income… it’s pretty sweet!
Gosh, or just the ability to save a bit more. Things are WAY less stressful when there’s some savings to fall back on in case anything happens.
Plug in hybrids make the most sense. Get the efficiency of an EV for short trips. For longer trips, no charging station worries. And the (in theory) the best fuel mileage possible since you’re only using what’s needed to actually move. And I wonder how the efficiency compares to an EV in the grand scheme of things. Since with a hybrid you’re creating electricity on the spot, where as an EV gets electricity that’s traveled long distances and been through many conversions, each time there’s a loss.
Pay cut for better life? Guess I already have it. The saying up north is “half the pay for a view of the bay”. Even though I’m miles from any view of the water, people pay big money to get out of the ratrace of the city and visit here.
My son has a Volt, I don’t think you could get him out of it at the point of a gun. He reports going 2000 miles and more on a single fill, cheerfully charging up every 20-30 miles, one commute at a time.
But if you don’t have a place to plug in regularly, you can’t really use it to its fullest all the time. A lot of apartments (mine included) and workplaces don’t have chargers, home ownership doesn’t automatically mean you have a place with dedicated/off-street parking near the house to plug in. A lot of condos or townhomes in my area just have parking lots. Skip plugging it in and just drive as a hybrid is fine, but the premium for a PHEV is more like 15% or more vs. the 5-10% that some hybrids are over the nonhybrid.
I’m on the older end of Gen X at 56, I’d take 20% off if I could have a four-day work week.
Full disclosure: I’m cheating a little. House is paid off, kids are moved out and married, both cars work, no loans or credit debt. But I worry about saving up for retirement, so it’s not a concerns-free existence.
But yeah. I’d take an extra day if I could have it. I use up all my energy for others and have nothing left for myself at the end of the day, and spend the weekend trying to be something/someone else.
Showoff.
(I’m just being cheeky here, I’m 53 and have a 10-year-old, if I was in your position I would be trying to do the same)
…did anyone outside of a very specific subset of dweebs actually buy into that? Every single claim made by Elon Musk and his companies deserves extreme skepticism until proven. While yeah, a lot of these are situations would catch any other stock truck out, there’s an element of schadenfreude for the rest of us to watching Elon’s claims get knocked down a peg.
It also feels like every redneck Jim Bob ‘n’ Cleetus out there claims his truck could eat this thing for lunch, which is the other group giggling at Cybertrucks In Predicaments.
I really feel like that “Cybertruck is the most invincible!!!” opinion was limited to the most insufferable, highly online, Elon-stan reply guys. Maybe Tesla’s claims caught some gullible folks out, too, but I don’t know if the general public really thinks about it that much, much less buys into Elon’s overblown claims about it. I’d imagine it’s like a lot of supercars: car people have Takes, but to most folks, it’s just another expensive thing that looks weird and goes fast.
Elon the Turd is the Trump of the auto industry.
Not credible, and most shit he says is bullshit and lies.
This 20% paycut is pure bullshit.
The ones who are willing to take said cut are living at home with no expenses. Who, in their right mind, can afford a 20% paycut today? Certainly not the family of 5 with 2 cars, a mortgage, high energy costs, high food costs, etc…
Notice how the higher the risk and responsibility comes a big giant NOPE on the 20% paycut??? The cost of NOTHING is going done. Only those with NOTHING are willing to give up something.
The only this that would do is come back and bite said person on the ass once they get real responsibilities and bills.
Pure, utter, bullshit.
Those parameters for a 20% pay cut are awfully vague.
Since my job is more based on getting projects done than just being available, I would guess my company would love to cut my pay 20%, “reduce my hours”, then give me the same amount of work to do. Then likely remind me that I may have to stay late to get my work done (I’m salaried).
That being said, I would still consider it, especially if it involved chopping entire days off my work week.
Losing a work day is the only way it makes sense for me. Each day of the week is 20% pay, so eliminating one = a 20% cut. Now if someone was just talking about 5 slightly shorter workdays, forget it. I still gotta leave the house and spend 2 hours in the car every day. On that note, I’d probably rather work 4 x 10’s than 5 x 8’s, especially this time of year.
I think you are hitting right on the head. slightly shorter work days doesn’t really do much to improve work life balance.
It depends on the situation. Eliminating a commute day would be great for me.
However, I’m not interested in taking a pay cut for longer hours on 4 days instead of 5. I have kids, and if I were to spend any more time at work on those 4 days, I’d hardly see them at all during the week.
Now, a 0% pay cut and long hours for 4 days a week, I could probably make do somehow. But for a 20% pay cut I need a day eliminated, and my total hours reduced, not one or the other.
Oh yeah, of course. A 20% pay cut and longer hours are definitely two separate things. For me, a 20% pay cut better equate to 20% less workdays.
If I’m working 4 x 10’s, there will be no pay reduction, I’m still putting in the same amount of hours and the same amount of work.
A coworker was recently telling me about a company that has a schedule of 9 hour days Mon-Thurs, an eight hour day on Fri, then every other Friday off. Over a 2 week pay period that still equals 80 hours.
But I assume that isn’t at a pay reduction. Having a three day weekend every other week doesn’t sound half bad.
My company offers this schedule (I dont use it) and there is no difference in pay.
No, no reduction as it still works out to two 40hr weeks per pay period.
Young Gen X (45) here. I am ALL IN on the 4-day workweek. If I could afford it, I’d give up a day’s pay in a heartbeat for that. My 40 hour workweek is really 50 thanks to commuting, and the weekends go by way too fast. I’m usually too wiped out to do anything much on Sat, then spend most of Sunday stressing about the next day being Monday. Also, my dad started showing signs of dementia around 65, 66 years old, so I’m potentially looking at twenty years left before I have to punch out? I’d rather enjoy my own life then work for someone else’s stockholder price.
Studies show that the option of 40 hours pay for 32 hours worked is actually effective and has many benefits for both employees and employers. There was a big study done in the UK last year, companies involved in the study effectively gave their employees a 20% increase in hourly rate and removed 8 hours of work, and productivity and profit IMPROVED, as well as employee satisfaction and retention going through the roof. The UAW was definitely on to something when they asked for this.
My company has this initiative that they want to be the employer of choice for possible candidates. I’ve been screaming from the rooftops about a shortened workweek as being very attractive, but apparently that’s a bridge too far.
The 5 day/40 hour workweek is arbitrary. In the 30’s they expected it to be shortened again, but then WWII happened. There were experts that predicted by the millennium that advances in tech and productivity would have us working about 16 hours a week. Instead, all that extra productivity went to the top, and people are arguably even worse off.
Sad truth for me though is that rentflation finally caught up to me, my rent just went up $400 (though it’s actually still reasonable in the current market), I’d need a 20% INCREASE in pay just to get back to where I was in 2020.
I can’t afford a 20% pay cut. My happiness and joy isn’t going to put food on the table.
“I am sorry kid, but here have a helping of dad’s happiness and wellbeing” isn’t going to work.
For real. Can companies just pay people enough to live on and offer them better work-life balance? Novel frickin’ idea, that. People will probably work better during work hours that way, too.
Something like that would only be possible if worker productivity had absolutely SKYROCKETED in the past few decades!
It’s hard to be as productive as possible when you’re burnt the hell out. Work itself isn’t the only source of burnout, either—maybe your company goes through multiple rounds of layoffs and you’re constantly worried about being next, or your salary’s not keeping pace with rising costs of living. That financial precarity really drags on you.
As far as the excuse of “oh no! paying workers enough might cost too much!”—I’d argue that a lot of companies have an obvious place to cut costs if they actually care about the long-term sustainability of their company. Executive pay is out of control. Pay executives less, and pay the rank-and-file employees who keep the lights on more.
If folks aren’t making enough, they don’t feel like their job is secure, or don’t feel like their work is valued, good workers will flee as soon as they can Get/Out of there for greener pastures. (Case in point: why the heck do you think so many of us left Jalopnik?) Your competition is the only winner when you try to cheap out on labor or treat employees like they’re expendable.
Here’s a twist on the current discussion.
My wife made great money for where we live. And worked about 60 hours a week for 35 years. Then a new ass wipe bought the company she worked for. All he did was bitch about the number of hours she worked, and her pay scale. A year later he laid her off, said it was slow, and needed to cut costs.
A while later he hired two women in their early twenties, and paid them LESS for two workers than he was paying her for the work of one person.
He soon realized that the two younger women had no ability or intention of matching her benchmarks of production, and income for the firm.
Offered her the old job back at 20% less pay. She promptly said Fuck Off.
Good for her. I wouldn’t have taken such an insulting deal, either. I hope that guy eats turds until he figures out that he’s the problem.
As you referenced above, after she left, the entire staff of 10 people all left on their own within 3 months. And now the turd can hardly cover the cost of keeping the lights on.
Some folks don’t know when they are well off.
Wow, I should have put a “/s” indicator at the end of that. *facepalm*
I totally agree with you. I’ve been in the corporate world for about 10 years and survived 4 layoffs so far. It fucking sucks.
Ha, yeah. Also, yeesh. I wish companies would realize just how much morale tanks (and how many people start looking at better options) every time they decimate headcount. Hopefully you’ve landed somewhere stable by now.
Sorry, it’s only grown at 3.5 times the rate pay has increased and the board wants new vacation homes, since they’ve grown bored of their current ones. If we’d just had productivity grow 7 times faster than pay, they might have approved a 10% increase this year.
Productivity could increase by a million bajillion percent and it would still just be an excuse to “reduce headcount.” 🙁
True. 🙁
I got your sarcasm. There’s a study that shows that if worker pay had kept up with productivity gains since the 70’s, everyone would be making at least an extra 1,200/month. Instead, the gains went to the top, to the tune of 50 TRILLION dollars.
In addition to hybrids being slightly cheaper than their ICE counterparts per this information, you will also be saving money on gas…and while gas is cheap-ish right now the last few years have shown how volatile prices can be.
For better or worse there are a lot of people out there who don’t really think about big picture stuff and more or less see the world based solely on their own personal interactions with it…and even if many of those folks don’t care about the environment having to pay more to fill up their cars is absolutely something that affects them directly and sticks in their mind.
I think hybrids now appeal to those folks and people who just want to save money even more than they used to….and with hybrid versions of most NPC cars available they’ve quickly moved into “fuck it, we might as well go for the hybrid” territory. I think that’s great and while a lot of folks are firmly in the “anything other than full electrification is a waste of time and resources” camp I personally think more hybrids is a good thing and that every little bit of reduced emissions helps.
My wife and I are pretty firmly set on a new CRV hybrid for her next car, and having a hybrid of some sort is literally her second priority behind only space. She doesn’t give a rats ass about cars despite my best efforts…but she cares enough to be set on hybrid.
Anyway, this is a really difficult question for me, especially this week. I’ve had an uncharacteristically difficult week at work and my depression has been flaring up for numerous reasons. Work has been sucking mondo ass and I definitely feel it right now, so my answer may be biased.
In the fall of 2022 I literally left a job I was pretty happy with and had been at for 3 years to take a more prestigious, more highly compensated position with my current company. I forget what the exact math was but I essentially got a 20% raise in the process and a director title to go with it.
And you know what? If given a do-over I would absolutely not make the same choice a second time. My day to day stress has gone way up, I have easily twice as much work and responsibilities as I did at my last job, and I’m constantly having to juggle management responsibilities, clinical responsibilities, programmatic responsibilities, etc.
The extra money and fancy title are nice I guess, but neither have really made a significant difference in my wife and my day to day lives. With how terrible inflation, the cost living, etc. have been as well as the fact that the Fed’s super fun interest rate raising party has absolutely kicked the value of our homes, cars, etc. in the nuts repeatedly, it’s made virtually no difference.
At the end of the day it was purely an ego thing because I went from the upper reaches of five figures to a little ways into six figures and after getting passed up for a promotion because of some absolute bullshit I wanted to finally have my big boy title.
And it was dumb. I regret it everyday. I would gladly take my old job back and give the raise back. Who cares? Money is fake and unless you’re making $200,000+ in this day and age you’re not living like a king or queen anyway. Plus my old job didn’t care about THC use because it’s legal in DC and my current job very much does and has the harshest substance abuse policy that I have ever seen.
I’ve mentioned I’m currently a sober many times but despite quitting booze and drugs in 2020 I did still enjoy an edible every now and then and I found that it helped my anxiety tremendously. It would be really nice to just be able to have a gummy on a Saturday, put my nice headphones in, and go walk 5-10 miles on a nice day again.
My man, you have got to get away from the expensive city. Not that anyone around me lives like royalty, but things are just a little easier all around away from the bright lights and the rat race.
My wife and I are seriously considering it as our next move and as of now are planning on either getting something well into the Virginia burbs or relocating entirely.
The way to go IMO is a small to medium sized college town.
The educated population often means some of the same vibes and amenities of a larger city plus almost always good schools. While you might pay more for housing than in similar sized town without a college, it’s nothing like a major coastal city.
This is what I did and 10/10 would recommend
Wow it’s like we are the same person today. 100% agree.
I went small. Like 10K people in a valley 15 miles long. Its an odd place at this point though. Its been hicville farm country for 100+ years, but in the last 10, its becoming an extension of a nearby resort town. so there’s old farmers, and multimillion dollar second home owners living in gated communities. I moved here for the old farmer lifestyle, so I’m not biggest fan of the gated community folk.
I grew up on the other side of the border in the MD suburbs close to DC, and when I got the opportunity to choose where I went to college, it was somewhere much more rural in comparison, stayed nearby post college, and couldn’t possibly be happier for that exact reason. Enough stuff to do for someone who loves the outdoors like me, very reasonable cost of living comparatively, and decent enough job opportunities that means I can be comfortable. Screw city living, there aren’t enough amenities in the world to offset the cost of living
I live in frickin RHODE ISLAND and it’s unaffordable here. The average income is now not enough to buy a median priced home, and in the town I live in, 64% of real estate transactions in 2023 were out of staters buying 2nd homes.
Whereabouts are you? I’ve got to get out of here, it’s too expensive, and worse, too crowded. Lately everything is flooded, there’s endless road construction, and people are getting pissed off and nasty. I’ve noticed dangerous and aggressive driving is way up, even being on the road is stressful.
I live in a college town about an hour outside of a major Midwestern city. We have our own issues, but vacation home buyers are not typically among them.
As long as people can put up with the weather, I recommend the Midwest wholeheartedly for its good people and low cost of living. We probably get colder than Rhode Island, but at least you’re used to snow.
What’s the job market like? I’ve looked at other places, and “low-cost of living” also comes along with low paying or lack of jobs.
I’m sure it depends on what field you’re in, but at least for now unemployment is low around here and we have enough of a manufacturing base left to provide jobs there which supports good jobs in other industries as well.
I currently work in the QC at a mfg company, so hopefully that’s generic enough to have some opportunities. I don’t mind snow or the winter, it’s these humid and ever-hotter New England summers that kill me.
Sounds like TN might be up your alley. I thought Knoxville was a really neat town, plus the whole no state income tax thingy.
I’d add you need to put in time in a big city to build up enough career cred to then bail, at least this was my experience as a software dude.
We have so much alike it’s amazing. I have a similar story, but my only gripe with my new job is my less than stellar boss, and lack of any future product development due to new owners. I feel hoodwinked.
I took at 20% raise as well, without any responsibility increase, and it’s been great. I could definitely tell the increase, and I would cringe if I was still making my old money with these new increased costs everywhere. Simply put, it would suck. I bet you’d think the same if you were still making that less money.
No dice on the hybrid for me though. I’m skipping hybrids if I can, and going straight to electric when I can. Not sure when that is going to be though. Years??
Find a new job. We spend 1/3 of our lives at work, it’s important to not hate it. The job market is still on our side too. Now you’ve got experience at that new level, and you can put it on your resume. My New Year’s resolution was to get a new job, even though I’m only 1.5 years into this one, when I like to commit 10 years to a job (I’m on my 3rd job out of school at this point).
Good luck. Eat a gummy. Fuck ’em.
I don’t know where you are. But in most of the US the job market has become shit again. And where we are the bastards are now offering pre covid pay checks. That’s right, live on the wages of 2019. And you better be thankful to get that.
Jobs are tight again. And lots of folks are looking.
I took the opposite path. I took a 50% pay cut for significantly better work life balance a few years back. I was working on back to back litigations for years and it was not sustainable. Sleeping at the office many nights and in 7 days a week for months at a time. New job was working for a startup that was much more rationale, 45-55 hours a week. It is much harder to buy the next house now, but my sanity was worth it.
Also, your income bracket matters to a humongous extent. 20% reduction from minimum wage is impossible. I was fortunate to be in a different position where I could make the choice I did.
And I 100% would do the same thing again. I actually know my kids now.
Thats a rough go. I can’t imagine trying to live and be happy in a place like DC. I live in a fairly small town about 45 minutes outside of a 1.2M people metro area with much lower population density than DC. I freaking hate it there. I drive down a mountain to get there, and its like going underwater. The deeper I go, the greater the pressure. I can feel the pressure of the people. I moved out of there 4 years ago now, and man I love small town life. I commute 3 days a week, an hour each way. No regrets. I know not everyone functions like I do, but man getting away from the speed of life in the city is amazing.
Absolutely. I think if you don’t have a lot of money that extra 20% can buy a lot of happiness, if you’re super wealthy then 20% could be a significant amount of money. For a lot of people in between, though, that extra 20% is only going to buy more material things and the value of those material things often don’t outweigh the benefits of having time.
Really sorry to hear about your situation. I spent a lot of my career chasing the money or title (or both) and I feel you on the regret.
My situation may give you some perspective; I’m a bit older than you by the sound of it but fairly similar in state of income. Last year my company announced another re-org with layoffs etc. My team was already announced to be dissolved but we did not know if some of us would be mapped to other areas of the business or have to apply for other roles inside the company. The re-orgs there were like that a lot. Reapply for your own role or any other roles that post as part of the re-org.
Anyway, I was convinced they would eliminate my position as they had already changed the scope. They were offering a voluntary separation package that was about 20% higher than what you would get if you were just eliminated as part of the re-org. Keep in mind you had to decide before you knew your status, which I think is a really dick–move but whatever.
So I took it in large part because the skills and knowledge I had were very much in demand as part of eCommerce operations coming out of COVID so I just knew I could find something else more suited to me and have that sweet severance package.
That was last March. I’ve been doing freelance and some contracting but the roles just aren’t there. I’m hopeful comes up soon and I have money in the bank to not be too worried about losing my house or anything but it’s damned frustrating. The kicker is they mapped my position and my contractor now has my old job (but I am really happy for her).
The TL;DR version: Don’t make rash decisions without having all the info. I get where you’re coming from. If I still had my old job I’d trade some income for longer weekends or whatever. Of course I would also be suspicious of my company expecting work on weekends or something after I gave up that income. But that’s a slightly different subject and I’ve rambled enough.
It’s a lot of words to express that while I get your state and regret. I’ve been burned out for a while myself. I expect a little later this year the job market will come alive as companies solidify their ’24 budgets and come up with their execution plans. So start getting that resume together and we can both go out looking!
And boomers who are not yet retired are often trying to ensure they can have a comfortable retirement and may be willing to take a tradeoff of longer hours for a couple years to ensure they don’t have to work during their retirement.
Also, in my experience, the tradeoff of money vs work/life balance is virtually never there. Higher-paying jobs tend to offer the most time off and greatest flexibility. I’m making more in my current job than my last one, and I am no longer discouraged from using my vacation time. I’m also under less stress, both at work and outside work (funny how money reduces stress, huh?).
It makes me wonder if some people would have answered differently if given more specifics. If 20% less pay is one more day off for a person working 5 days, that’s 20% less pay for 20% less work…unless you still have to get the same amount done, but you have to cram it into fewer hours. If it’s 20% less pay for an extra week of vacation or the ability to choose which 40 hours you work, it’s not a good deal. 20% is a lot of pay to put on the line for a nebulous “balance,” and it’s certainly not going to work out for people who barely make enough to get by.
It seems a lot like a study that they’re going to use to underpay people by offering less money for the same work, but with flexible schedules. But I might be more cynical than is necessary here.
I don’t typically like to be cynical, but I have to admit I had a similar line of thinking. With the UAW’s push for a 4-day work week during the strikes last year, this study feels like something Ford et al. to refer back to here in 4 years or so.
Honestly, that was my first thought as well. I think it’s healthy to be skeptical of company claims, regardless of whether they’re about a car’s performance or labor trends. The context of the UAW strike gives me plenty of reasons to do a double-take as to why Ford would run this study in the first place. It really looks like they’re fishing for another way to pay employees less.
What exactly is an “AI influencer”? Is it someone who manipulates the data set? Fills it with racist/sexist garbage?
On another note. Seriously Honda, make with the Prelude already.
I spent the weekend car shopping with my in-laws. They ended up picking a gas powered Rav4 with the TRD package in Green! They were interested in the Hybrid version, but my MIL works from home and doesn’t drive too much, so even the small $1300 premium would have take 5 or so years to recoup.
The student loan payments are going to be a huge part of the economic picture moving forward. The rate of people not paying right now is huge and is very underreported.
As soon as it is finacially feasible I will be taking a step back in my career for a better balance or at least trying to make a 4 -10 schedule work to give myself 3 days off a week
I would say no, I don’t want a 20% cut for a better work/life balance. I already have a pretty amazing balance. But if I didn’t have the benefits I do now, yes, I would take it in a heartbeat.
If I buy a new car, yeah, it will probably be a hybrid. Just to save money on gas.
I’ve been looking at Corollas. (Don’t judge me). The base gasser is only $1450 less than the Hybrid (and the Hybrid has slightly higher content).
According to the EPA, the Hybrid will save you $450/year in fuel costs. It only takes 3 years to make up the MSRP difference. You’d almost have to be a fool to buy the gasser.
edit: I guess fleet buyers might pick the gasser
They’re great cars, nobody should be ashamed of being pragmatic! Also I assume most people that don’t get the hybrid are either 1. Avoiding markups on the hybrid due to popularity or 2. Can’t find a hybrid so they end up in a gasser instead
Corollas are good! No judgment about wanting a Corolla. And the hybrids seem like a great deal. I’m looking at a Corolla Cross right now as a replacement for our Forester.
If I didn’t want/need a truck, a Corolla would be at the top of my list.
Matt, do you often… toot your own flute?
Don’t answer that.
I’d love for a better work-life balance. I can’t even afford it and I’m nowhere near minimum wage.
I’m also in one of the highest areas for housing in the country, though. Sooooo….
That’s part of my newly found work-life balance.
Sounds like the yoga is paying off
I suspect that a 20% pay cut would the very thing that negatively affects my quality of life, so no. Not me. That’s a huge hit to the bottom line.
I did once take an 11% pay cut to move down to a role with less responsibility – but, in so doing, I eliminated a 50 mile/1 hour one-way commute and gained a company car with a gas card, so in terms of reducing wear and tear, maintenance, and fuel use on my personal vehicle, it actually wasn’t that significant, especially since the job also had about the same performance bonus structure as the old one, but the goals were a lot easier to hit so it actually paid out in full. Also went from 6 days a week to 5, which was nice
In general, I’m not looking to lose money, but there are certain situations where the salary isn’t the entire story
I’m a GenX and would definitely consider a pay cut for more balance, 20% would be tight though, the economy is not a fun thing at the moment, and I would like to enjoy my retirement.
Gotta wonder how much the respondents are making. Like I think $50k is basically lower middle class now, so for them to make only $36k, that’s starting to get into can’t pay rent territory.
Maybe the respondents figured ‘as long as nothing else changes’, I keep my house and my car and pay the mortgage and payments, and can still go out and enjoy myself. Could be why the youngins said sure, as us older folks understand where our moneys going lol.
Or could be I chose the wrong life path and all Millenials are making like $200k, so only making $160k is livable.
I would be very surprised if more than 5% of Millennials make $200K+.
Some of us are midcareer in management or chose lucrative fields like software engineering, law, or medicine and live in expensive cities, but the median Millennial did not graduate from college and makes something like $50-60K.
“Old” Millennials are over 40, now.
The younger ones are late 20’s. With the number of 30-somethings I know still living at home with their parents: it seems many have given up any idea of home ownership. Not having to directly pay for housing is a massive expense that you don’t have to deal with (though, constantly rising rent costs for those not at home isn’t fun either).
Rising rent costs is exactly why we bought a house again, had to do a short sale in ’14 and swore never again, as when we’d rented before it went up like $10 a month a year, maybe, if that. This time rent was going up $50 a month every year, after 4 years we were paying over 20% more a month, got a house and a mortgage and paying at least $200 less than we were renting, it’s crazy. All investment companies buying up rentals now, it’s not housing, it’s just another tab in the portfolio to them.
I mean; look at that Prelude! It’s bringing sexy back.
This comment was a nice interlude.
I’ll approach the question a little differently, as I already work from home most days and have some flexibility with my hours.
How much of a raise would it take to entice me back to a full time in-office job?
I’ve considered the question before in the course of career searching. At this point in my life with a spouse who also works full time (in office) and three small kids, I’d obviously need to factor in the cost of after-school care, plus the reality of seeing them much less each day. I no longer have a vehicle suited for commuting, so I’d either need to drive something that gets <15 mpg to work every day or buy another car. I’d no longer be able to take “working vacations” where we travel and I work during the day from wherever then enjoy time away in the evenings.
All in all, I doubt I would go even to a hybrid schedule for much under a 25% raise, and a full time in-office job with a real commute would need to be something like 50%. By that point, I’d start to wonder exactly what I was piling up money for if not to enjoy my life.
I’m right there with you. Working from home is sooo valuable when you have a house and kids.
Sometimes I think about the money I would need to balance things out timewise like afterschool care, a house cleaner, etc. But then I remember that I left a law firm (for a pay cut and more free time) because LIKE to do most of that stuff. If someone offered me money to outsource my home life in exchange for more hours at the office, that would be a HARD no.
The other thing I forgot to mention in my first comment was that assuming you’re married, one spouse working from home gives the other the chance to go for that big promotion.
Last year my wife left her WFH position to take an executive role which was close to a 100% pay raise over her former job. She was able to do that without a lot of hesitation simply because I’m home most days and can pick up kids, start dinner, etc.
Spot on with the reasoning. Biggest two being They’re better than ever (seriously, after driving a new CR-V hybrid I have no idea why anyone would buy a gas-only) getting better with performance (I just leased a Hornet R/T and I am having a BLAST driving it)
Enjoy the good times with the Hornet, cause it sounds like they may not last long.
I love it when people take time out of their day to point out something negative whenever someone is happy with their choice.
If it turns out to be a lemon, oh well. Even with the payment, I’m saving around 150 a month over driving my gas hog, and it’s way more interesting to drive than any other hybrid I’ve tried. If it spends a little time in the shop, I’ve got other things to drive. Life is too short to drive boring stuff!
I do seriously hope you enjoy it, and that the reported issues don’t happen to you. Fun cars are important, functional fun cars are even more important though.
Check engine lights are the spice of life my buddy lol
The big question? No, quite the opposite, I need a 20% increase in pay for a better work/life balance