Hellobee Boards

@T.H.O.U.: I think making the leap totally depends on the company you move into, and probably your position (in case there are industry norms or whatever). The first corporate career job I had a longer than 40 hour workweek was expected. They didn’t have insane expectations though (I worked between 40 and 50 hours a week), and there was still a decent amount of flexibility – at least in my department, we all could work from home when needed, etc.

The company I work for now, I think some areas work insane hours and are expected to, but again, my team doesn’t, and plenty don’t. I work 40 hours; maybe a bit more a few weeks a year when we are really straight out on work. The parking lot clears out often before 5pm. In fact, we are heavily encouraged (company-wide, and department-wide) to really have a healthy work-life balance. You are encouraged NOT to work on weekends, unless it’s a true all-hands-on-deck situation, and you are encouraged to use PTO. I can WFH when I need/want, within reason.

But, I’m sure that others haven’t had as “nice” of a transition, and there are definitely perks to staying in some public-sector or nonprofit jobs. So much depends on the specific company – which is hard to always know about before you get in there.

Since I've been out of college I've only worked for two company's. One I was at for 7 years, started as an intern and ended as an employee. While my salary increased during that time it just wasn't enough to justify the commute and the time away from my family. So a few months ago I went out and found a company closer to home, better pay and better work life balance. However the benefits suck and the atmosphere is so different than my last company that I'm having a really hard time adjusting. I may stick it out here for another year since we do want to have another baby soon but my mat leave might also turn into a job search.