As a former P7P owner and a current P8P owner (as well as a Motorola Razr+, Surface Duo, S23U, and iPhone 13) - I'd definitely recommend the 8 over the 7.
Maybe it was just me, but my 7 had heat issues, cellular radio issues, and just felt kind of sluggish versus other phones from that particular year. The P8P right now is pretty great.
It's definitely not ideal, but you are right on that point since I didn't necessarily pay for all of them.
The only annoying part is if...you know, I want to take a long lunch away from my desk/home...I technically have to carry 3 phones "just in case".
On the flip side, if I carry 3 phones with me and nothing too crazy happens, I can technically be away from my desk most of the day and nobody really knows...
I'm rocking a 7 pro as my personal and after giving my 7 that was my work phone to my wife I ordered another pro for my work phone. I've been happy with it. Some heat issues but mostly centered around trying to wirelessly charge it when the battery is really low. As for the cell issues, 5g was an issue but recent updates including at the os level have taken care of those.
I was considering upgrading to the 8 pro but the cost benefit analysis didn't haven't making sense. Plus, historically speaking, the odd numbers with Google phones are the better option and the evens have problems. I'll probably wait for the 9 before I worry about upgrading again.