[ThalesX]

I recently had a chat with my direct supervisor. I told him I would like to start working flex time 8AM to 4PM and cut my lunch break to 30 minutes, eventually working 8AM to 4:30PM. He had a talk with his boss, gave me the O.K., I requested it in a written e-mail.

Since then, I come in at 08:00AM every morning, I get two and a half hours of productive work until people start coming in and the meetings start. Then I eat lunch and work for 3 more hours and I head for home. I never care about the looks I get from other people because I CMA.

What I want to say is that, as long as you have a Cover Your Ass document, you shouldn't care about how others negotiated their position.

I also requested extra days instead of a pay increase. Should I feel bad about that also?

[mstade]

This. Whenever I tell people to get stuff in writing to cover themselves, they think I'm just being a stickler and that doing so would just set a bad mood in the working relationship. But I've never found this to be true. Just be professional in negotiations and make everything crystal clear, because you can be sure that anything fuzzy or muddy is coming back in your face later, one way or another.

Also this:

> I also requested extra days instead of a pay increase.

If your extra days are paid (I'm assuming they are given the latter part) then it may well be a smarter deal fiscally even without the pay increase, particularly if your marginal tax is high.

[awfgylbcxhrey]

then it may well be a smarter deal fiscally even without the pay increase, particularly if your marginal tax is high.

How could that possibly be the case?

[gcp]

Because more free time without a meaningful decrease in income increases quality of life?

You can also run your own company and earn extra during the off time.

[awfgylbcxhrey]

Because more free time without a meaningful decrease in income increases quality of life?

I was asking specifically about 'fiscally' and, in particular, the mention of marginal tax rates.

[mstade]

You're extracting more value by working less, freeing your time up to do other things. Those other things may well end up netting you more money over time (working on your own company, for instance.) As well, depending on where you live and work, you may also end up paying a different tax rate on holiday pay over regular pay. If so you may be able to accrue those holidays and eventually receive a lump sum payout that is in effect "cheaper" than regular pay. The difference can be significant, particularly if your income is in the upper brackets.