Turn down the raise.
…a rather radical concept, isn’t it?
What if, instead of working tirelessly at lower returns, we asked for the same pay, but fewer hours? (Yes, dear economist, the purchasing power of money goes down over time…but that aside!) Do we secure happiness by working incessantly for marginal wage increases? Or, would we be happier as a society that works less to value our families and leisure time more?
Matthew Warner suggests this paradigm shift in his blog, “The Radical Life.” Work provides for essentials and reflects man’s creative potential, but Warner challenges how and why we labor.
A 5% raise would mean a 38 hour work week instead of a 40 hour work week. In time, instead of doubling your salary over 15 years, you would cut your work week to 20 hours. I realize this would require a huge shift in the way we think about work, structure our companies, compensate, etc. But maybe it’s worth it.
At the end of your life, are you going to wish you had had twice the salary? Or twice the time spent with your loved ones helping each other become the people we were made to be? That seems like an easy answer to me.
While few of us will take this path, it begs serious questions about where we lay our treasures, whether we value the fleeting or the transcendent.
So, about that raise?
