Early retirement, one day at a time!

[illy5603]

I just wanted to share that I recently negotiated a 4 day (8 hours per day) work week with my employer! I am getting a 10% raise on my hourly wage (I am probably the only hourly network administrator in the world) and I will work one maintenance day (Sunday) a month and will get at least 2 hours OT per month for a monthly application update. Another item I negotiated was reducing my unpaid lunch from one hour of sitting in my car listening to music to a half hour which lets me leave before the heavy traffic.

After all of the math I will be down about ~ $4000 a year but up a whole 40 more days off. This is probably a wash because of the commute and I may take on some other money making activity (or not...)
 
Anyway, super excited about getting a taste of the good life!

 

[HumanAfterAll]

Awesome!  Congrats!

[Mrs MM]

Excellent!!  MMM and I were just chatting about this at breakfast... that more people should ask their employer for what they want.  Enjoy!

[lauren_knows]

Wow, congrats. That sounds so much better than what I asked my employer for: instead of 5 8hr days, I asked for 4 10hr days so that I can watch my son on Friday's at home.

The longer days are crappy for family life.   I feel like asking for less hours and the same salary wouldn't work too well for salaried employees of a large corporation.

[PJ]

Wow, illy!  Sounds like you had a GREAT meeting with your employer - more pay per hour, less hours, a better commute.  Not all companies realize the value of personalizing an employee's contract like that, but that seems to be starting to change and your situation is a good example of how to structure work in a way that works for you.  I hope you'll keep us updated as you settle into the new routine; let us know how it goes.

[illy5603]

Wow, illy!  Sounds like you had a GREAT meeting with your employer - more pay per hour, less hours, a better commute.  Not all companies realize the value of personalizing an employee's contract like that, but that seems to be starting to change and your situation is a good example of how to structure work in a way that works for you.  I hope you'll keep us updated as you settle into the new routine; let us know how it goes.

Well the key was actually having another job offer on the table. Funny thing is, the job offer was farther away and would have required a lot more of my time. The only advantage the new job offer had was keeping my skills sharper as my current employer is on very ancient computer operating systems / technologies but I can sort out how motivated I am about fixing that later.
 
Funny thing is that this job search started after I read a facebook post by MMM where he was answering Ramite Sethi's question about flying somewhere for something. In a weird ying / yang sort of scenario, I brought my ERE ethos from MMM and applied a bit of Ramit's negotiation and interviewing techniques and ended up with a perfect blend of more money (per hour) and more time.

[carolinakaren]

This is exactly what more people should do...you sound so happy!  I changed to part-time work several years ago and have never regretted the decision.  It does so many good things for your attitude and personal life that you won't miss making a little less money.  Great step toward the life-style that is right for you!  Congratulations!

[Kamikaze Emu]

Good job illy.  The price you got those days for is insanely good.  Nice move on your part, be sure to enjoy!

[CarolynM]

I've been thinking about something like this!

I used to be hourly and then they switched me to salary but asked me to be in during regular hours to be available even if there wasn't any work. I miss the freedom of the part time. I'm thinking about asking to go back to hourly and part time, but be "on call" if they want me for errands or whatever. (I'm an office manager/secretary/gopher/HR person for a very small company).

I'd like to have more time to devote to writing books.

[Taylor]

Great job! I tried for a four-day workweek (4 10-hour days) a few months ago with my employerand got SHOT DOWN :( Glad to see someone is able to do it.

[lauren_knows]

Great job! I tried for a four-day workweek (4 10-hour days) a few months ago with my employerand got SHOT DOWN :( Glad to see someone is able to do it.

I managed to swing a 4 10's schedule with my employer a few months ago after my wife ended her maternity leave.  This means that I get to watch my son on Friday's, which is awesome.  However, the super long days are not so awesome for my family life or free time.  After this thread, I'm considering bringing up switching to 4 8hr days during my next review, with hopefully less than 20% pay cut.

[James]

Wow, sounds like a win in three big areas in one negotiation!  You must have proven your value to them over time, glad it is paying off.  Sounds like good priorities to have and glad you went for it instead of just settling with asking for one or two of those items.

[illy5603]

Wow, sounds like a win in three big areas in one negotiation!  You must have proven your value to them over time, glad it is paying off.  Sounds like good priorities to have and glad you went for it instead of just settling with asking for one or two of those items.

I am not going to pretend that I am the William Shatner of job negotiations but it was pretty awesome. I accepted the other job and just threw a hail mary "If you guys want me to stay, I need this, this, this and this." and I'll be damned, they gave it to me. Yes, I do good work for the company and the position takes a long time to train someone for. It also helps that it is not particularly heavy on busy work and I can easily get all of my work done in the 32 hour weeks.

[thrifted]

Excellent! A little inspiration goes a long way. Thanks for posting this!

[MsSindy]

It also helps that it is not particularly heavy on busy work and I can easily get all of my work done in the 32 hour weeks.

This is an important point in whether switching to less days would work.  My job is more focused on getting things done, rather than being there for the sake of being there.  So, I've been able to "work from home" on Fridays.  I just make it a point to get the majority of my work done Mon - Thur, so Fridays I might have to spend only a couple of hours working - and some Fridays, I don't even work.  But this means that I'm very efficient during the week (no standing around the water cooler for me)!  I've thought about going down to 4 days, but I'm practically there now, and I don't have to take a 20% pay cut.  My Manager works 4 days, and only 3 of those are in the office, so I know that if I ask, I'll be able to do it - makes it suck less knowing that I have options.