I was a captain at Jet2 and left for many of the reasons you mention. I'm now an FO at another airline, I'm still based at home, still have quiet winters (not sure why Jet2ers think they're the only British airline to have quiet winters!) and while the FO pay is down compared to a Jet2 captains, all the other benefits mentioned in the above post, particularly the rostering agreement more than make up for it. I think the regional bases at Jet2 have it better - I was at one of the bigger bases I was doing 650 hours a year with endless airport standbys over the winter despite there being very few flights operating some days!