Guest Post by Brian Scheur

A couple of weeks ago J. Money did one of his “Would You Rather?” posts where he asked individuals what choice they’d prefer in a given situation.That specific post focused on the choice between an extra hour every day or an extra $100 a week? Most people that commented said they would prefer the extra money (including myself).

Now, let’s twist the sitch a bit. One local organization has tried to weather the dragging economy by cutting all of its employees salaries and benefits by 10%. Now this would suck. In fact, it does suck. But they feel that it’s not in their best interest to totally stick it to their employees. They are also changing their operating hours by extending each day from 9:00a to 5:00p to 8:30a to 5:30p, however they are giving every employee EVERY FRIDAY OFF! (J: I would take it in a heartbeat)

Now, I know the workweek is going from 40 hours to 36 hours (which would equal the 10% deduction in compensation), but I think this is frickin’ awesome! I have a friend that works for this organization and she is terrified of the 10% decrease in her salary. I don’t necessarily blame her, but what would you do if you had a three day weekend EVERY weekend? I feel like I could be productive on that extra day, work an extra job, take long weekend vacations, etc.

Technically, its only 4 hours less a week, but I refuse to look at it that way. It’s a whole EXTRA day! The way my mind views it, the company is asking individuals to work 20% less days and only paying them 10% less. Score! Cha-Ching! Booyah! Is this company hiring?

Now I want to know your thoughts? This isn’t some hypothetical situation as a friend of mine is going through this. Should she be focused on finding a new job with equal compensation or be focused on making the most of her upcoming three day weekends? I say the latter, but try and put yourself in her shoes. Less money and more time, or more money and less time? What do you think?

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Brian blogs over at My Next Buck and is a mighty fine human being. If you like his style, consider signing up to his feed.