How much is your time worth? According to a recent article in USA Today, if you are a Millennial, an hour of your time is worth $328.84. If you are, like me, a proud member of GenX, an hour of your time is valued at $215.90. So according to these numbers, if you want to hire a Millennial for a full time position, expect to pay around $658,000 to start. I, on the other hand, am a deal at just under $432,000 for a year of work.

If you want to get off cheap, hire a Boomer. They value their time at $137 an hour.

I’m not sure what to make of these numbers. They seem laughable on the surface, but they speak to a belief I have long held: time does not equal money. You cannot math that.

I think it is fair for any generation to say, “Hey, if I am going to sell you bits of my life—time that I will never get back—it is going to cost you.” If an employer wants me to travel to their office and sit in their chair and drink their Kool-Aid, I am going to charge a premium for that service. Since Covid, the conversation around work and time has shifted dramatically. More and more people, from every generation, recognize that selling chunks of their time is equivalent to selling pounds of their flesh.

Selling my time may (will likely) cost me my life.

What’s most compelling about this study, is not the outrageous hourly rates, but the finding that “26% of Americans said they’d take a 15% pay cut for more free time.” I am facing exactly this situation: an opportunity to take a 15% pay cut (actually, more like 18%) for a 50% raise in time. So I come back to my theme for Mercedonius: “the business of me” to explore this proposal.

Would I be a better employer of me if I had more time or more money?

If I am really in the business of me, I should jump at this chance. And I want to. But the business of me is also the business of my family, my cats, my car, my house, my children’s college fund, and my appetite for Talenti ice cream and Spanx jumpsuits. The business of me is costly.

It has taken me about an hour to research, write, and post this short blog. Will I earn $216 from it? Absolutely not. Do I feel $216 richer in clarity, satisfaction, and achievement having written this post? Perhaps. Is that enough to keep me employed by me for another day. We’ll find out tomorrow.