Essay by 謝振禮老師 Jeenn Lee Hsieh

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Some jobs pay higher salaries to employees but require them to live far away from their families and friends, while some jobs pay lower salaries but allow employees to live closer to their families and friends. Which do you prefer? Why?

范文

It is not easy having a job away from home, but it is an essential part of work-family life. Given an option, many employees prefer to make more money to meet the family needs, even though it means being emotionally isolated to a great extent from family members and friends. In case the expected salary is high enough to become simply irresistible, chances are that you would not have to think twice.

When money is more important, it is better to consider money and go for it! At least once in your life, probably you should be realistic and accept a career change like this, despite all its complexity. For one thing, earning a higher salary may enable you to save money and be out of debt sooner. Generally speaking, the benefits of less financial worries and of improving quality of life would make the choice worthwhile. Perhaps for the first time you could have spare cash and plan decent holidays. And, money apart, a more highly paid job is usually more beneficial for your long-term career opportunity as well, so this may be exactly the change you are waiting for.

Nevertheless, working away from home could be a difficult thing for employees due mainly to its emotional costs. At stake is the work-family balance, not to mention possible separation from close friends. For instance, parenting is likely to be affected when a parent is living apart for five days a week. Of course, a voice on a phone for a few minutes could be a routine practice, and yet it is no substitute for eating a regular family meal and sitting on the sofa together all evening. So, weekly trips should become necessary if you are aiming for balancing a far-away job and a family life. Indeed, without clearly having a larger paycheck in mind, frequent long-distance travels between work and home could just turn out to be unbearable sometimes.

Weighing pros against cons, it is advisable to choose a job that pays off, even if it means necessarily working far away from home. As can be imagined, this decision may involve psychological complications in view of the work-life harmony, but it is certainly worth trying, if only for financial reasons. After all, home could become even sweeter when you see how pleased those little faces would be and how many things you would need to tell each other and share.