Time vs Money – The Old, The New and The Future
The question to discuss is that if on a rating of 1(Time) to 100 (Money) where do you sit?
Now if you answered closer to time you would be in the majority as we really are a society that value our time now, but should we look at if the Time vs Money system is completely relevant anymore as well as if as a society we do what we say in this matter.
Does the system still work the same?
In the past the world was full of self-employed business owners because there weren’t many multi-national corporations. There were no chains or superstores. It was really only production that had more than one or two staff. Now due to this it was a simple theory of the longer hours people spent working the more they earnt as if they were employees they do more hours and are paid per hour. If self-employed the longer they work the more jobs they can do so the more they can earn.
Currently however in the world of corporations people are paid a flat rate for the year. It is true some companies offer overtime but usually the extra hours are just expected as each person is given their work for the week and if they don’t finish it in time they have to do unpaid overtime to get it done.
In fact, quite often now a promotion comes with the unwritten rule that you would be doing more hours and you are either frowned upon if you don’t or the extra work for that role means you will need to. The problem is that if you are for instance earning £30,000 a year on 35 hours a week but you get a promotion getting you £38,000 a year but you have to work 45 hours a week on average, it looks like a great payrise. However, you would actually go from £17.14 an hour to £16.8 an hour which doesn’t look as great. Make sure when you go for promotion that you look at the figures of whether it is worth it or not.
I’m sure you have seen that in America at restaurants they are paid a very low wage because the main income they receive is from tips, which are based on how good a job they have done.
What is being brought in now in some industries is a system where peoples wages are cut massively, but if they hit their targets they will get a bonus. This system works amazingly for companies as if the targets aren’t hit they don’t pay out the money and if they are then that person has earnt them way more than the bonus costs them. This can work well short term for the employee as they can work hard, hit the targets and still earn as much as they were before the change. The problem is that if your target was to hit £500,000 sales one year then the next year they will raise this to £700,000 if you hit this years. As the current system is the work needs to be done, but as you will be financially dependent on it you are even more likely to do more hours which will be growing each year for the same bonus.
Do people really value Time or Money more?
So we all say we want the time and as long as the bills are paid and we get to have some holidays then the money doesn’t matter. That is what I hear all the time, yet when you look at what people are actually doing it doesn’t seem to marry up. If you think about people in high powered jobs that commute to over an hour each way every day, where they could get a job closer that doesn’t earn as much but still enough.
Unfortunately, with the way media has been made it is all about making the most profit and for this we are being convinced that the way to a happy life is to earn more money so you can afford nicer things for your family. To them however what is more important to them, the slightly better TV or the 10 hours away from them it took you to earn it?
A small test for you here. Work out how many hours a week you work and add your commute to it. Then times that by 50 and divide your yearly salary by that. How much are you earning? I have spoken to someone recently that earns £28,000 a year, but travels 1.5 hours each way and works 60 hours a week. This would total £8.29 per hour and working at Aldi currently is £8.09 per hour. Is the amount you earn worth the hours you are doing? More than that is the small extra per hour worth the time you miss out on with your family and loved ones?
Now please go back to the first question and your score. Now score where you would like to sit on that scale.
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