Is it worth it?

[MT_Chad]

Brian, as others have said I would start with counseling and talk with you superiors if you feel comfortable with that. If you are only 4 years from retirement and you have been in your current position for 4, you will at least get your highest three year salaries for retirement. I would probably take the pay cut if your superiors wont step up to help you out.
I also work for the state, I have avoided several minor advancement opportunities to stay out of management and help maintain my sanity. I wouldn't blame you one bit for stepping back.

 

[Shangobango]

The demands of my job sound similar to yours. I am basically on call 24/7/365 unless I am on PTO. Middle management is one of the toughest jobs in any organization in my opinion. You catch it from all sides.

Best advice I can give is talk to the person you report to and/or the most dependable person that reports to you and see if you can arrange some relief when you need a break. I am lucky enough that when I need a break my boss and one of my employees are both understanding enough to pick up the slack when I need to disappear for a day or two.

If you can’t make arrangements for relief then you have a decision to make for sure.

Good luck.

 

[Steelsearchin]

Gramps always said "If you're 2/3s sure, you gotta go for it. If you wait until you're 100% sure on anything, too much time will be wasted." He also said, "Do stuff when you can. When I had the time, I didn't have the money...now I've got both and my body won't do it anymore!" He's been gone 22 years and I still think of that advice.

Toss some prayers up and good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[RidgeRoamingRichard]

As a state employee, I get it. Budgets keep shrinking, positions get eliminated, and we are expected to do the job that 3 people used to do. That's not changing anytime soon, unless people all the sudden decide they love paying taxes. So it comes down to the value it brings your life. My job makes me feel like I make a difference, so that offsets the low wages and large work load. Does your job do that for you? If not, no use going down with a sinking ship.

 

[Bc1992]

Praying God gives you the wisdom to make that choice. Tough call for sure.

 

[bobbydean]

I retired.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

Work, family, social life. All 3 must have some balance. When the balance is shifted too heavily in one category the others will suffer.
If you were my brother, based on your post, I would look at you in the eye and tell you it's time for a change.
Stress is a silent killer in more ways than one. IME, when you leave a stressful situation as you describe, after the dust settles you will ask why you didn't do it sooner.
Money isn't worth it IMO.

 

[LopeHunter]

A big part of job satisfaction is your manager. I have seen employees love a crappy organization when they had a great manager. I have see employees leave a good organization when they had a crappy manager.

Your manager should be able to compartmentalize your time off so you are not the go-to person 24/7/365. You either have a crappy manager or the organization is very crappy or both to enable a toxic situation you have.

I put up with some crap at work when had young kids as I felt providing for family was more important than taking care of me. No way would I tolerate toxic today.

My wife is the go-to person for a tech company and is compensated very, very well for shouldering that responsibility and sacrificing the ability to have a day or week to recharge. She vacations but stays on the grid and daily still has scheduled conference calls, interviews manager candidates, etc, then then often talks peer managers back from jumping off the ledge on the weekend while she is catching up on expense reports, emails, etc.

Our son helps run a PICU as a pediatrician where children unfortunately die at times and arguably he has less stress than my wife. I definitely have less stress as head of sales for a company.

Sounds like you are shouldering a similar level of stress as my wife. You were initially willing to use your passion for making a difference to rationalize when things began to decay. I understand why you are burning out or now burnt out. Giving up $5/hour is $10,000 gross comp a year then more impact if retirement matching. If you become disabled on the job or injured by someone then unable to work then your award will be less due to that earnings decline. SSI will fall a bit.

I have only worked in private businesses so not sure how things work in a government agency. Private industry rarely allows someone to ask for reduced responsibilities and remain in good standing. Same result if complain about a crappy manager or toxic workplace. The best strategy is to have a poker face as you find your next job at a different company then give notice. Government or union workplaces may be different.

 

[Cornell2012]

I think the answer will really depend on the specific company you work for (and your manager, and their manager).

It costs companies a lot of money to lose good employees. Many times they'd rather keep a good employee in a different role than lose them altogether. They may not be super happy about your desire to move, but it sounds like you've been solid for them and I would wager they would rather see you take a lower-paying job and keep your skills in the company than lose you to another company or see you drive your personal health into the ground. Just be careful that you don't take a pay cut and also wind up maintaining your current 24/7 support duties. Once you transition, make it clear that that is no longer part of your responsibilities.

As mentioned earlier, re-evaluate your success metrics. At this point in your life, would you rather make an extra few dollars an hour or have a sane family life (and potentially live an extra few years due to reduced stress)? Is your primary goal to make as much money as possible or enjoy what you have now.

If money is an issue, you can potentially work a bit longer at a lower-paying job to make up the difference in retirement savings. Personally if I were in your shoes, I'd rather work 6 years at a lower paying job that doesn't crush my soul on a daily basis than 4 years at a place where all I do is stare at the door and desire to leave.

 

[Carbon]

I think my main problem is I just can't get away from it, or turn it off anymore. The Saturday before last I was up on a mountain top with my bow and binoculars, just happened to get cell signal up there, and wouldn't you know it, I get an emergency call from our on-call Officer. So there I was on a mountain in a cold drizzle, talking through a situation and calling others that needed to be informed. This past Saturday, similar thing, but at my son's birthday party. I could just turn off my phone, but there are some unwritten expectations.

Being that youre from Ramsay, I'll bte I was in the same cold drizzle that you were that Saturday. I'd bet I was within 10 air miles and it was BALLS cold, boarderline hypothermia country, after the week before with high 80's and smoke every day. I wish I had some good advise for you, other than making a good living is difficult in MT and we're pretty lucky to be here. Most of my friends had to leave MT after college and a lot worked their way back over the years. I stayed after graduating from Tech and worked for less, but wouldn't trade my life and decisions for anything. Sometimes standing back and looking at our blessings help put things in perspecitve.

Good luck withe the decisions and chioices you have to make!

 

[manitou1]

4.5 years is a looong time in a overly stressful position. I took a large promotion for my last (coincidence) 4.5 years of employment. I average 3 hrs sleep a night, I seldom have the time or energy to exercise any more, and actually feel I have aged 20 years in the past four.
On three weeks vacation right now (WY hunt + moving wife to WY) and feel so mich better once I am away from it, but it takes a good four or five days to begin to unwind. Not worth it brother. Money is no good if your health fails, your happiness is at stake, or even possible marital damage. Money isn't everything. What's left of your time on this big spinning ball... that's what is important.

 

[brnsvllyjohn]

Most of my years working I was in charge of the crews I worked with for a variety of reasons. Pay was certainly one of those reasons as well as not wanting to work for others who knew less than I did. As time went on I had issues sleeping and other health issues caused by stress. I got to a point where I could afford to step back so I did. A year or 2 before I retired I took a 20% pay cut and and started working for some of the people I had trained. I actually enjoyed just doing the task I was assigned and going home and not worrying about tomorrow or next week.

 

[BearFoot]

What excites you most? What is exciting? Scared and excited are the same thing. I suggest you move toward what excites you the most. What excites one, has many unknowns, and many opportunities.

 

[Fullquiver]

Remember the parable of the trapped monkey and the peanut. The monkey reaches in and grabs the peanut through the knot hole and is trapped by his own unwillingness to let go of said peanut.. His fist with the peanut in it is too big to get back through the hole and he won't drop the peanut... It doesn't end well for the monkey..

Sometimes we trap ourselves with the inability to let go of the very things that will destroy us.. I was in a very similar situation years ago. I will say this unequivocally let go of the peanut...

 

[DouglasR]

Don’t be afraid to use that vacation time if you have any.
And go far away imo 1000mi+

 

[hank4elk]

12 yrs ago I was in a similar situation.
5 yrs to 25 & almost full pay for retirement. Promotion given to another ,again,who I was constantly doing their job for them or get done at all... & mine.
I asked for a transfer to another area and took over lake operations, a full step up in responsibility without the promotion that usually went with the task. I did the job better than it had been done and was of course given more work....others who could not get their job done.
Then like magic, the County offered early retirement with a signing bonus.................gone. Done deal.
I'm living on half of what I was making now and have no debts. I make more than most folks working full time here.

 

[JEL]

Have you talked to your administrator or boss? Honestly if you were my employee and I valued what you do I would want to find a way to help you find a balance between work and life. Also, for what it is worth I have been down this road. Part of climbing out of it including allowing myself to unplug on occasion, learning that it is ok to delegate and then finally being able to hire help.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Retirement is highly underrated.

 

[Europe]

Once you retire nobody will remember or care what you did for work but your family will remember what kind of mood you were always in. Also, the extra time it is costing you will never come back.

I am unable to relate as my husband and I started our own business early in life. Although we traveled extensively and constantly on business, since we owned our own business we took our children with us a lot. I mentioned the part about the children to illustrate and/or expand on the post I quoted above. Almost all conversations about the past with children and grandchildren involve "what we did together"

SFC B is correct on both points. Nobody and I mean nobody, but your family will remember --or care.

And his second point is just as important. You can never get yesterday back, but you can certainly make choices today regarding the future. " It is not the years in ones life but the life in those years "

Salmonchaser : Amen brother, amen. I am so grateful that we sold the business when we did and retired as he was gone a few years later.

Salmonchaser has a tough life : he fishes and chases bears in Alaska for a few months, then returns to Oregon and chases Elk and when all of that gets boring he bird hunts. He has some beautiful dogs. Tough life but somebody has to do it !

 

[FlatlandHunter]

I am dealing with the same type of issues your having and I am a little over 3 years until I can retire from a LE career. I went and saw my Doctor and had my blood checked. I have some things that are out of the normal range and I am working on it. What has seemed to help me is working out/running/hiking, I started cutting as much sugar and processed foods as I can out of my diet and use MountainOps slumber when I feel that I am not getting enough rest. Since mid July I am down 12-13 pounds, blood pressure is down and I am sleeping better. I am also passing on a promotional exam that is up coming because it’s not worth the headache this late in my career and I have zero desire to go back to straight midnights.