Cost of Living - Can I Still Change Jobs?

All the effort and resilience that goes into looking for a better job, finessing your applications, and thinking about who you are and what you want can be difficult in the best of times. You may have noticed, but these aren’t the best of times. 

This month we are putting a special focus on the cost of living crisis. Costs are rising and people are stealing themselves for what might be a difficult winter. Over the years, newspapers have come up with a lot of innocent-sounding euphemisms for times like these such as, ‘tightening belts’ and ‘feeling the pinch,’ but what it really means is that people have less money to spend on things they need. 

You may wonder if moving into a job that really excites you but is at a smaller organisation is sensible, or if taking a pay cut for a job that wouldn’t feel like it's wasting your life is unjustifiable right now. Maybe you’re even thinking of flipping your goals completely on their head and are looking to go into a well-paid but soul-crushing corporate job. 

It is all so understandable. However, money and job worries seem to bring with them a unique form of panic, often even guilt. 

These are huge decisions and we want to ensure that you are taking the full picture into account, including your health and happiness and ensure that no one feels guilty about wanting to do good in their lives.

Can I improve both my salary and do meaningful work?

Yes! There’s an oversimplified assumption that goes something like: evil job = loads of money, good job = no money. 

However in recent years people no longer only start companies with the sole purpose of making money no matter what. With the rise of B Corps, we have seen the realisation that business can do good and can step up where the state is absent. Take a look at Patagonia’s recent pledge to make mother nature its sole stakeholder. B Corps are companies that have pledged to put their ethical and environmental responsibilities at least on par with profit. We’re a B Corp ourselves at Escape and we’re a big champion for them. Click here to see a list of B Corps who are hiring right now!

There are more and more ways to earn a comfortable (or better) living while doing work that helps people and the planet. Just look at our list ofEscape 100 exciting and progressive companies, making the world a better place and paying you properly for it. 

The modern progressive companies that we champion aren’t about squirrelling money away to a couple of cat-stroking board members, they want to improve the lives of people, and that starts with their employees. We’ve seen some incredible benefits from our companies, from new hirees being eligible for a one-off cost of living support payment to reducing the work week from 5 days to 4 days at no extra cost, allowing a much-needed break or another day to earn a little extra money on the side.

It’s never as simple as saying that to enjoy your job you need to sacrifice financial stability. It isn’t true. It might take a little more hunting and patience but the rewards are worth it.

Want to know more about B Corps, read what is a B Corp and why are they amazing places to work?

Don’t corporates pay better?

Yeah, I bet they do. If you are, say, a communications manager, will you earn more if you work for McDonald's than if you work for a charity? Yes, you will. Would you earn more at Shell? Yes, you would. But there are other costs. There’s a certain amount of dehumanisation that working at a corporate does to a person, and reducing us to paychecks is a crucial one. 

Other costs to consider include our time. How much of our social lives or ‘real lives’ does the job steal from us? How much do we get to see our children, our friends and family? What is the cost of our job on the planet? What are the human costs of the decisions our corporations make? What is the effect our corporate job has on our mental health? When we get to the age where we start to look back at our life, will we think this job was worth so many years of our lives?

These are huge questions that must be weighed together with the numbers on a paycheck. We also understand that some people may not have a choice, but If you’ve found us here at Escape the City, chances are you want to use your skills and talents to make the world a better place. We understand the difficult financial responsibilities people may have. But the idea that corporations are the only way to become financially stable is a myth, a powerful myth, the kind of myth that makes people sacrifice many years of their life to damaging organisations. 

What harm is there in looking?

If you are unsatisfied with your job but are worried about sacrificing some salary for a job you’d love, there are a couple of things we’d advise.

Firstly, there is no harm in asking. If you find a job that sounds great but it doesn’t quite match up to your salary expectations then why not call up the hiring managers and have an honest conversation? They may be willing to raise the salary or help their employees through a range of benefits. 

If you find a job that excites you but would involve a pay decrease then we would advise sitting down and crunching some numbers to see what’s possible. A reframe is really important here as well. Rather than feeling like you are cutting back on something, see it as making room for potentially one of the best decisions you’ve ever made! Check out our article with Octopus MoneyCoach which covers this. 

Don’t I need job security at a time like this?

Many changes in the job market have been good, such as more flexibility and more socially and environmentally conscious businesses. However, some have been bad. Amidst proclamations of drastically falling unemployment, the dirtier truth behind those stats is the rise of insecure work. While people may nominally be ‘employed’, this doesn’t guarantee them enough money to live. 

Most of us will have been raised with the myth of going to school, graduating university and then landing a ‘secure’ job at a good company. The story goes that we rise slowly through the ranks, earning pay rises to match our life milestones such as starting a family or buying a house, and that this corporation would be the everpresent rock that we build our lives around. 

Well, sadly it isn’t true. We’ve heard many stories from our Escapees who have managed to flee bruising corporate jobs. We’re told that there is such a long line of well-educated and hungry graduates behind them that those who are shown anything resembling loyalty are those who can cast aside their ethics or those who work themselves into the ground. It’s unsustainable, corporate burnout is rising even faster than costs are and more and more people are finding themselves fleeing their ‘secure’ job. 

If you want a truly 'secure' job, you need a company that cares about you and sees you as a human being rather than just a resource.

Are these crises not proof that we need more meaningful companies and jobs to make the world a better place?

Yes. The world has some problems and if enough people dedicate their working lives to solving them they will be overcome. Difficult moments call for people who are willing to stand up for what they believe in. 

We know that this isn't possible for everyone, but for those of us who can, we can help create a future where people don’t have to choose between money and self-worth.

#AskEscape

At Escape, we’re here to help you create a future that you’ll love and get a job you care about. Right now, our futures need as much support as possible and we want to help. We’ll be running monthly #AskEscape campaigns where we’ll be taking questions from you on a range of topics from money and savings to interviews and CV tips. We’ll seek expert responses from our army of purpose-driven companies. This month we are focussing on the cost of living, if you have any questions, please get in touch with us onTwitter, Linkedin, Instagramor by email at tim@escapethecity.org

Send us your questions!