A 39-year-old remote worker says the flexibility to live his life are worth being 'underpaid' at his job

Alonso Morris says he's not making as much money as he could be, but he's more than happy with his current job, and he credits the flexibility he has because of remote work

Morris is the head of procurement at a data sharing and analysis company. He has been working there since the summer of 2020. Morris wanted his company and real name to be private, but Insider knows his identity.

Morris didn't think his next job would change how he felt about working in person, until he found himself with a better work-life balance at his current company.

People considering their next career move should consider remote-work flexibility. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 4 million Americans quit every month. People don't want to go into the office for a number of reasons. More than 70% of people who responded to a recent global survey said they would consider looking for a new job if their employer wanted them to work full time.

Older workers like Morris are rethinking their ideal workplace because younger workers are looking for remote work in particular. Morris values remote flexibility so much that they will sacrifice some financial benefits for it.

Morris told Insider that he could be back in his office within 10 minutes if he ever answered an email. In 10 minutes, there is no fire alarm that is that severe. Flexibility is life-changing.

Morris said he believed he wasn't making as much as his peers at other companies.

According to documents verified by Insider, Morris makes $116,000 a year before bonuses. He made a lot of money at WeWork.

Morris said he knew it was possible to earn more money based on his research as a procurement manager. Glassdoor data shows that workers in Morris's role make about $150,000 a year on average, but can make as much as $216,000 annually.

He said that eliminating his commute made up for his lower paycheck.

He said there was no demand for people to come in just because. I have pictures and pictures where they're telling me why I'm here. Everybody else in this room is on the internet.

'What I do actually has value beyond the pay of an hour'

Morris has had to work hard at it. Being in the office was important to him when he was working at WeWork.

He explained how the company spread its in-person presence across multiple New York City neighborhoods. He said that workers would take the subway from office to office.

Managers weren't always fond of working remotely.

He said that "depending on your manager, they might say 'Oh, I need you to come in anyway', and that just kind of tickled me wrong"

He said his experience at WeWork and his current company were very similar.

He said that his employer went remote in March and quickly made sure that everyone could do their job remotely. My boss is quite happy with the performance of everyone. There's more efficiency, just because.

Morris said working remotely made it easier to deal with personal matters, such as his mother's health, because he wouldn't have to commute from Connecticut to New York.

He said that she asked if he could bring him because she thought it might be serious. I used to work in the city and apologize to my mom. I have no time. I want to know how it went. That's really bad.

Morris is not the only one who values his time over his money. Almost half of American workers who participated in the State of Remote Work survey said they would take up to a 5% pay cut to continue to work from home.

Morris said forcing workers to come back to the office when it's not strictly necessary was indicative of an ethos that explained why workers had been leaving their jobs in droves.

He said that people are saying they have worth as employees. What I do has value beyond the pay of an hour.