I received an offer from a huge insurance group located 2 hours away by car/train from home.
Would you accept the offer?
I am 32, I am fully qualified actuary with a mixed 3-year experience as Life actuary.
These are the activities:
Calibration of the mathematical models for the financial markets used for the Partial Internal Model - Assessment of financial risks in the regulatory context, stress test and in the context of company management uses
Calculation and verification of Market SCRs, both of standard formula and internal model
Support to processes related to Solvency II (ORSA, annual calibration report, stress test Eiopa, Data Quality on market historical series, annual policy review, operational risk assessment related to office processes, test execution IT related to the development of IT procedures, execution of activities linked to the Minor and Major Changes of the internal model)
Development of an internal model for calculating Life financial risks, with the related ones document drafting and representation activities to the Supervisory Body for obtain approval
Support for the ECL calculation process in the context of IFRS9
Support to top management in defining strategic asset allocations, limits operational investment and investment, liquidity and ALM policies
Development and management of links with Finance and Bank
You going to commute? If so, then no, I would not accept that offer. Iâm old and four hours not doing things is unacceptable. If you have nothing to do, then sure. But I have things to do that I would rather not wait until the weekend to do.
You going to WFH and not move? If so, then yes (depending on everything you omitted, which, I assume since youâre asking, are not a no-brainer), I would accept that offer.
They gonna move you? If so, then yes (depending on everything you omitted, which, I assume since youâre asking, are not a no-brainer), I would accept that offer.
I did close to a 2 hour commute for about a year. I just couldnât keep it up longer than that. Unless I were WFH at least two days a week, I wouldnât consider it. I do know others who have gotten a second apartment close to work so they can stay by work during the week and not have to commute every day.
You included a lot of irrelevant information and forgot to include the relevant information.
Will you be working remotely or commuting every day or some mix? Or moving? If commuting, what are the benefits - is the salary or growth potential far above average compared to local jobs? Is the alternative that you are unemployed, or do you have a job now? Whatâs going on in your personal life - do you have kids or hobbies or other commitments that 4 hours of daily commuting is going to make difficult? If moving, is this a place you want to live?
If they turn out to be that ornery that they want you to come into the office 5 days a week to do that sort of work (which to me sounds ideal for a WFH/Hybrid role) do you really want to work for them?
Iâve had a job about 2 hours away (5 minute walk, 90-105 minute bus ride, 10 minute walk) from home for 15 years (fully remote since early 2020; remote 2-3 days a week before that).
I usually use(d) the bus time to read or nap. The times I HAD to go in every day in a week were awful, but it has otherwise been OK for me, given the remote opportunities.
You have 16 waking hours in a day. That commute is taking 1.25 of them away from you every week. Every year you are losing two months of living. If you do this for 30 more years, that is FIVE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE just getting to and from the office.
And thatâs assuming everything is on time.
I would not be willing to go in the office more than one day a week under those circumstances.
Or just move.
if required on site every day and you arenât moving - would need to make BANK and assume that I was quitting ASAP to endure it. Not enough time in my day or life. there is no cashierâs window at the end where you get that time back. even for those who make the best of it, reading, napping, working, movies, whatever - the list is really constrained by having to commute that much time every day.
full disclosure (and hard to tell, I know) - I hate commuting. car time is the worst way too.
so evaluate very carefully why this is so awesome, and how much time is required in the office for real.
On days I have to go into the office, I rarely log on after work. My laptop is in my work bag, Iâve spent a total of 1.5-2 hours commuting, and Iâve given 8 hours of my day to my company, even though it was almost certainly a less productive 8 hours than if I was WFH.
On WFH days, Iâll pop back online after the kidsâ bedtime, or I will respond to emails on my phone after dinner, etc. I donât know why my company is so resistant to the WFH model; they get much more of my energy and it doesnât even come with too much resentment.
I like to go into the office, but not so much to spend 4 hours a day. On the other hand, the work activities are very interesting, so I want to âexchangeâ my personal time to have such an important professional opportunity.
In my country employers are greedy; the employer said they would offer a âconsistentâ remuneration for the time spent in commuting. Nothing more specific for now.
If driving it? Agreed. Zero chance Iâd stomach driving time that Iâm not getting compensated for. [I hate driving].
But when I was using my commute to just get 3 hours of reading in a day? Eh, it wasnât awful. Over the pandemic Iâve been⌠reading 2-6 hours a day, in general. Obviously reading in my chair or bed is more comfortable than a seat on a bus. The only real difference in quality of life for me when not commuting is sleeping in til 9 am instead of 5:30 am. And hoo boy I am not going back to the 5:30 get up if I can help it.
Basically we will be in the same boat.
In my case, my manager wants to work on site in that city (2 hours away) even if they have another building in the city where I live. Maybe itâs a political issue, I donât know.