Turning Point

Tell us about the moment you rejected 9to5...

What was your turning point - your Eureka moment, your tipping point, your lightbulb moment - the moment that you realised that the 9 to 5 traditional way of working just wasn't for you? Was it in response to a particular incident or did it happen over a period of time?

The Turning Point invites workers to describe that lightbulb moment when you made the decision that traditional ways of working weren't for you. Whether you're still looking for a "way out" or you have already begin carving a new career - whether you've set up your own business or braved asking your employer for flexible hours - or even if you're a successful entrepreneur running an innovative company of all-flexible workers ...
Tell us your story!
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Name My Turning Point Location Current Job Status
Helen Whitehead

My turning point was leaving my third one-year contract in three years. In an industry where jobs are invariably temporary and continuity of posts dependent chiefly on grants, I had had little choice about whether I stayed or went. I was still an employee with the loss of control that means yet none of the security usually enjoyed by an employee. I decided that by becoming a freelancer I would have more say over the jobs I took and how I did them. I could choose where I wanted to work and when. I would have control over my contracts.

I now run my own company with a partner and I work three days a week from home and two in the office. It's harder work than being an employee - but the jobs are very enjoyable and I feel much more in control of my work-life balance and my destiny.

 Leeds, UK Company owner/consultant
Joel

As my 3-year stint as a contract in-house translator wound down, I was faced with a few options: find another job and move, sign up as a "permanent" employee and expect loads of overtime, or go freelance. My employer wanted me to stay and even proposed setting up a separate non-profit entity to house the likes of me. But time was of the essence and I suggested a contract that would allow me to work remotely as a freelancer. It was their first time, but I had built up a lot of good relationships and it was due time to leverage them. I now work from home (or a local Wi-fi spot etc.) and the contract I have has freed me to take on work from other sources. After 1.5 years, I am now in the market for a co-working space. I don't miss office BS, but I do miss the camraderie and community.

 Japan Freelance
Anise

Well - it did actually take me some years to succumb to full time working prefering to study and work part-time or hold several part-time jobs. However, after about 5 years full-time work in a university I went on maternity leave for around 8 months where I worked for most of that time one day a week from home and from Greece where I went to stay with my husband's family. This gave me a whole new perspective on my job and also enabled me to work with new technologies (video conferencing, blogging) to engage with colleagues. Using the flexible working request I returned four days a week.

There were a number of problems when I first returned such as still having the full-time attitude and not actually taking away 20% of the role - along with the lost 20% of my pay! I felt as if I were not doing my job as well as I had done. Eventually I discovered that I was working much more efficiently (had to leave at a certain time to do a nursery pickup and wasn't able to just do a few things in the evening or weekends for work as I had done), was much better at time management, delegation and had curiously gained much more confidence and skills while being away. Really benefits me to be able to take part actively in multiple aspects of my life and not just devote myself to my job.

Am now just about to start maternity leave again (expecting twins) and will do something similar. Now I have started working flexibly and changed my attitude to my job I may consider eventually reducing my hours and doing some kind of freelance work as well as spending time with all these children - looking forward to the possibilities ahead!

 UK Maternity leave
Liz

Despite all the problems I had with juggling childcare and a career, I just gritted my teeth and got on with it, literally with my hair turning grey owing to stress. I had one of those jobs where presenteeism was the route to success. People worked overtime, all the time, for no extra pay. Then a member of my team came to me, very distressed about their own issues, and I heard myself say to them "there is always the option to leave, and do something new." I could see quite clearly for them it would make perfect sense to work flexibly. Then I thought perhaps I could do the same. It made me realise that you don't have to accept the way things are, that you can make a change for yourself and your family. I'm hoping this site will help others do the same.
Gill

For me the transition to woking completely from home has happened gradually - and after 8 years I may be about to drift backl into working at least some of the time in an office.

I've always hated commuting and got lucky when having gritted my teeth travelling to London for a year the company moved to an office just a 15 minute drive away. When our first son was born I went part-time and managed, just about, to keep this going through a company takeover, redundancy and no. 2 son's complete failure to sleep coupled with a horrible spell commuting from Reading to Portsmouth!

As time went on it got harder and harder to keep work into it's '3 day a week' compartment and the crunch came when I went after my bosses job as she was leaving. The company wanted me to do it, I wanted to do it, but we all knew that it was the kind of job that would 'eat your life' and it really wasn't something that could be done in 3 days a week.

I wasn't ready to go full time again, even though by this time I was in practice working almost every day even though I wasn't in the office. I came to the conclusion that the only way to move 'up' and retain a lifestyle that the whole family could cope with was to run my own business and manage my own work/life balance - which I suppose you could say was the turning point that started me working from home.