A 32-year-old lawyer stop her job and took a $150,000 pay lower to fight burnout

Emilie Hayes knew what she was entering into when she grew to become a lawyer.

Lengthy hours, tough purchasers, and billing pressures equal work. But for Hayes, the mental problem and the chance to assist individuals make these sacrifices price it.

What she hadn’t anticipated was how shortly burnout would take maintain – or how a lot his work would overshadow different points of his life.

Hayes, 32, graduated from Stanford Regulation Faculty in 2019. She spent the subsequent two years working at a big worldwide regulation agency in Redwood Shores, California, earlier than taking a job as a clerk on the federal district court docket in Portland, Oregon.

In October 2021, she joined O’Melveny & Myers, a big Los Angeles regulation agency, as an affiliate.

After years of bouncing between jobs and cities, Hayes was optimistic about this new chapter in his profession.

His colleagues have been supportive, the missions have been attention-grabbing and the wage was beneficiant. By the age of 30, Hayes was incomes over $300,000 a yr.

But beneath the floor, the drudgery was taking its toll.

Her “breaking level” got here in April 2023. Hayes discovered herself working time beyond regulation on a Saturday morning to arrange for an arbitration, simply hours after leaving the workplace at 11 p.m. the day earlier than. She was getting ready for a serious trial, however her stress and exhaustion had been constructing for months.

That morning, whereas watching her pc display, she had a breakdown. She remembers, “I began sobbing” as a result of somebody near her was going by way of a tough time and she or he missed being within the workplace as a substitute of supporting them at house.

“I felt like I had to decide on between displaying as much as my job in the way in which that was anticipated of me and displaying as much as the individuals I like in the way in which that I needed,” she says. CNBC succeeds. “I panicked due to the strain between the 2.”

Hayes provides: “Working in a regulation agency could make your life very unpredictable. You possibly can by no means rely on free time within the night or disconnect earlier than 10 p.m. I feel you actually have to like the work you do to achieve success on this career. your time is price it. “

At that time, Hayes made a silent promise to herself: that she would discover a new job inside a yr.

That spring, Hayes started looking for recommendation from former classmates and colleagues. By these conversations, she found a rising profession path within the authorized trade: product consulting.

Product consulting roles, notably in style in Silicon Valley, contain working in-house at know-how corporations to supply authorized and regulatory recommendation on services.

Not like conventional regulation agency roles, product advisor positions typically mix authorized experience and enterprise technique. “You are rather less concerned within the authorized stuff and much more concerned within the enterprise technique, which I’ve at all times been actually taken with,” Hayes says.

In October, a Stanford classmate talked about that the tech firm she labored for in San Francisco was hiring for product advisor positions.

The place had two compromises: Hayes must transfer to San Francisco and the bottom wage was about $220,000 plus an annual bonus, beginning after his first yr, of as much as 15% of his complete wage, relying on his efficiency and different firm parameters.

This represented a big discount in his wage on the regulation agency – about $150,000 lower than his present wage of $370,000 (together with a base wage of $295,000 and a bonus of $75,000) and $200,000 lower than the $435,000 she would have earned the next yr in fifth grade. related to wage will increase and bonuses.

Nevertheless, the place promised a extra balanced life-style: a constant 40-hour work week, the power to work at home two days every week, and the prospect to advise on cutting-edge applied sciences like AI and the cloud computing.

After cautious consideration, Hayes determined lower salary was a small value to pay for his well-being and a contemporary begin in an thrilling new area.

She utilized for the place in October 2023, obtained her supply letter in December and began her new job in January 2024.

His colleagues at O’Melveny & Myers have been “actually type and supportive” of his resolution, Hayes says. To facilitate a easy transition, she created an in depth checklist of her present information and a recommended succession plan for her departure from the agency.

Adjusting to the six-figure pay lower was “a lot tougher” than Hayes anticipated.

Along with her earlier revenue, Hayes says she may “spend with out a lot thought or stress,” whether or not it was ordering takeout a number of instances every week or making giant funds on her scholar loans with out worrying about having sufficient cash for hire.

As we speak, incomes about $150,000 lower than a yr in the past, Hayes says she’s needed to pay extra consideration to her month-to-month spending and financial savings, whereas additionally holding herself accountable for sticking to her finances .

Final yr, she began creating TikToks to doc her budgeting efforts and collect recommendation from different professionals in related conditions.

“I am actually fortunate that I nonetheless make sufficient to stay comfortably,” says Hayes, who provides that her dwelling bills are barely greater after transferring from Los Angeles to San Francisco. “The most important change with this pay lower, although, was merely altering my mentality round cash: I spotted I wanted to suppose critically about my purchases, even when they did not appear not extravagant.”

As we speak, as she approaches her first anniversary on the tech firm (which she selected to not identify), Hayes says she is “actually comfortable.”

For Hayes, the $150,000 pay lower wasn’t a sacrifice; it was an funding in his well being, his relationships, and his future. In the course of the first 5 years of her regulation profession, she typically suffered from lack of sleep and stress.

“I couldn’t take my thoughts off it,” she says. “I had hassle falling asleep at evening and developed persistent jaw ache, however from the second I left my outdated job, all of these signs went away… it is loopy .”

The toughest a part of her new job, she says, was determining the right way to spend her abruptly free evenings and weekends.

“I spend extra time with my buddies on weeknights, go to Pilates, uncover new hobbies and acquired a stitching machine,” she says. “Having that freedom and stability is priceless.”