Why side hustles and sabbaticals can push your career and your finances ahead

Good morning. Variety, they say, is the spice of life. But our first reaction to getting extra work is often negative. Why me? Don’t I have enough to do? Cripes, there goes my lunch hour. You might then be tempted to cut corners to get the job done, perhaps even with management’s OK. But you’re now the one responsible for doing a decent job, so maybe taking it as a challenge is a better idea. You’re never too old to learn, as I keep telling my kids.

It’s a bit like taking a sabbatical, except you retain your full pay and you may not be doing a task you’re particularly interested in. But you’re getting a chance to explore something new, put on a new hat, as it were, and, as it turns out, taking a sabbatical to do something different can lead to new opportunities down the road.

Likewise, taking on a side hustle can give you new skills, extra cash and productively replace some of your downtime spent watching hockey on the couch, especially if that hefty pay raise you were expecting never comes through. Of course, if you really don’t have the time, doing extra work might not pay off in the long run given the extra headaches that are bound to come with it. But it can solve some temporary financial issues, such as paying for a few presents for the kids, and maybe even some long-term ones if you manage to pay off a nagging debt.

Some side gigs are simple and don’t require a lot of effort — say, babysitting, dog walking or Ubering — while others might rely on skills you’ve acquired but no longer use, such as teaching piano or making crafts. You can also sell things, which is potentially a good way to get rid of items you no longer want or need, like clothing or physical media items such as CDs, DVDs and vinyl (buzz me if you’re looking).

Ideally, you don’t want to be forced into something you don’t want to do, such as sex work, to make ends meet, but that’s happening, too, as we all try to work through higher inflation and interest rates. But don’t judge people who do. They’re trying their best with the limited resources at their disposal as are many employers.

— Andy Holloway, editor of the FP Investor newsletter and Financial Post Magazine, senior features editor of the Financial Post and very temporary editor of FP Work. Do you have thoughts, suggestions or comments you’d like to share with us at FP Work? Please send an email to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

The unexpected outcomes of sabbatical leave: It’s not always career suicide

What does the new chief financial officer of HSBC Holdings PLC have in common with one of the world’s top crime writers and a billionaire Silicon Valley tech titan? They all took sabbatical leave from an enviable corporate job and returned to find themselves on a path to bigger, bolder success. It turns out, the urge to have a break from years of relentless work burns brightly in many people, including those with no desire to quit or slack off.

A BREAK IS AS GOOD AS A REST

Canadians picking up side hustles to combat inflation, but a second job comes with its own costs

Four out of 10 Canadians are planning to take up a side hustle such as babysitting, dog walking and selling items online to earn additional income before the holidays, according to an Accenture survey. There are plenty of ways to earn some extra cash, but there are also plenty of factors to consider before doing so, like giving up your free time, reporting the earnings and claiming deductions, and making sure there isn’t a conflict of interest with your primary source of income.

DO THE HUSTLE

More on the side: Debt counsellor Sandra Fry shows us how a little hustling can help solve your budget woes

In an increasingly complex world, the Financial Post should be the first place you look for answers. We want to hear your questions, so we can turn them into articles that inform all our readers.

ASK YOUR QUESTION

Why Big Labour should be thanking the Bank of Canada, not bashing it

It’s safe to assume the charges that Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem is waging a “class war,” as Unifor president Lana Payne has said, will continue from those who take issue with the central bank’s view that outsized wage increases are symptomatic of an overheated economy. But Financial Post editor-in-chief Kevin Carmichael says the central bank is not really on Corporate Canada’s side despite what many believe.

TAKING ISSUE WITH TAKING SIDES

The women turning to sex work to make ends meet

A wave of women in the United Kingdom, driven in part by the darkening economic outlook, are starting or returning to sex work this year, according to the Financial Times. There are many reasons people start selling sex, from the desire to secure financial independence to exploitation by criminal gangs, but with inflation at 11 per cent, the country appears to be entering a prolonged recession, cementing a cost-of-living crisis that has households braced for severe hardship.

HITTING THE STREETS

The holiday work party is back in force. Just don’t throw caution to the wind

Party planners are swamped and hopeful partygoers are ready to throw caution to the wind and celebrate the beginning of a COVID-19-free-ish year with colleagues. There are many reasons why employers, large and small, should consider a celebration this year, but legal experts Howard Levitt and Muneeza Sheikh say they should be cautious when planning one. 

PARTY LIKE IT’S 2019

More Levitt: Why laid-off tech workers should push back against 12-weeks’ notice

Time to have some fun. Chances are one tech gadget or another is on your want list this holiday season, but they don’t all have to be toys. “If you could have a device that can serve double duty for both your nine-to-five work life and your five-to-nine downtime, great, you don’t have to buy more than one device,” Tech expert Marc Saltzman tells the Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn. He has a couple of suggestions that fit the bill, along with some other cool things.

WATCH THE VIDEO

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Canada’s aging workforce is at the root of our national labour shortage as baby-boomer retirements take their toll. 

Workers have high hopes for pay hikes next year, perhaps too high, because employers are gaining back some leverage as the job market shifts.

Elon Musk turns office space into bedrooms at Twitter, expecting employees to work long hours and even sleep at the office when necessary.

Long COVID could explain why so many people in the United Kingdom dropped out of the labour market.

Goldman Sachs CEO warns about smaller bonuses and job cuts since “you have to assume that we have some bumpy times ahead.”

Mexico, Canada win trade panel’s nod over the United States on car-content rules, potentially giving more incentive to make auto parts in those two nations.

Thousands of businesses that received CEWS during the pandemic may not have been eligible, representing up to $15.5 billion in payments, the auditor general says.

FP Work is all about teamwork. In addition to the contributions from our top-notch columnists and reporters, recognition goes to the FP web team, which includes Pamela Heaven, Noella Ovid and Gigi Suhanic.

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