Hey everyone, I’m wrestling with some decisions here and I’d really like to talk it out and get some outside opinions on how I should proceed
For context, I work in an advertising agency, and I work specifically in health advertising; oncology.
When I say advertising it has a bad connotation, but all we really do is make informative tools for healthcare professionals and patients so that they can understand their treatment journey while going through chemo – so it’s not as nefarious as it sounds.
About 6 months ago I left my previous agency and joined this new one; it’s a much smaller agency, but I felt the work was more fulfilling, and the people were a much better fit for me – a lot of the office was queer/neurodivergent like myself.
The issue is that because we’re such a small team, there’s tons of pressure, and frankly, there’s just too much work for the small team that we are. We’re all salaried, so often we’ll work between 50-60hrs instead of the mandated 40 (9, 10, 11hr days to meet deadlines)
So last weekend gave my 1-week notice (as per our company policy). It was a strategic move, as a senior member had just left the week before, and another one is leaving at the end of this month.
My boss – or immediate superior – heard me out, and asked if we could speak later that day. I obliged, and they told me they understand my decision, and that everyone including themselves had been feeling overwhelmed. They asked me to hold out while they came up with a plan to relieve some pressure from the workforce.
So now they’ve secured the means to hire up to 25% more employees, the thing is, it won’t happen overnight, and I’m afraid that if I stick it through I might burn out (again). So I see three options ahead:
1) Go back and tough it for ~2-3 months while they expand the team (but if I do this, I’d need to outline some conditions)
2) leave next week as planned, and collect the letters of recommendations that my superiors said they’d be happy to write me
3) offer to work part time while they hire as a FREELANCER, for 10-20hrs a week
If I offer to freelance and they accept, they’ll be held to the hours they give me. No more 10-12 hour days, because my rate will be high enough to discourage it. If they want me to work 50hrs / week it will end up costing them about 2months of my salary now.
Does anyone have any advice? I’m looking at the freelance angle obviously, but I don’t have all that much experience with it.
For any tax:employment laws context I am in Canada. Thanks for ANY feedback at all, I really want to make the right decision