Money Vs Job Satisfaction: Are You Happy At Work?

If you are a career-oriented fresher who is on the threshold of starting a career, you would certainly have certain expectations from your job. Depending on your situation, these expectations could be growth, learning, a good working environment, supportive colleagues & management, transparent approach, high salary & incentives and job satisfaction. At the end of it all, it just boils down to two of the broader factors, namely money and the overall job satisfaction.

Money Or Job Satisfaction?

For some of us, the monetary benefits may be of utmost importance, and for the others, the work-related contentedness may be the greatest motivation. There may be few lucky ones who are able to find professions that provide both money and high self-fulfillment. Whatever may be the choice or need of the individual, the ultimate achievement would be finding happiness at work.

Happiness At Work

First of all, let us understand the various reasons that lead to the happy mindset of an employee. It is no surprise that most of us spend a major part of our day at work. Therefore, it is all the more important to be happy at work. So, how do we determine if we are genuinely happy with our job? Well, it is simple! By asking yourself the following questions:

• Do you like your job?

• Does your workplace or type of work that you do excite you most of the time?

• Are you glad to be associated with your colleagues, managers, clients, etc.?

• Does completing assignments within deadlines excite you?

• Are you focused?

If you respond with a Yes! to all or most of the above-mentioned questions, then you are happy at work!

But, this is a generic way of assessing your happiness at the workplace. If we go back to the specific comparison of money vs job satisfaction, it may vary for each individual, depending on their circumstances.

For Happiness - Money Or Job Satisfaction?

There would hardly be anyone in this world, who would not want or require extra money. The reasons could be many, such as leading a comfortable or even luxurious life by making use of the money to buy house, vehicle, go on a holiday, etc., or to pay off bills, lead a better social life, and so on.

In most situations, opting for a high salary would also involve ignoring many other aspects such as work-life balance. In simple words, if you wish to earn a huge salary, the amount of efforts and time to be put into your job could be tremendous as well.

On the other hand, if you are totally satisfied with your job, then it is not necessary that you earn a lot. Since job satisfaction is a pretty vast term, it may be influenced by numerous factors. Some of those factors may be as follows:

• Being able to express yourself freely at work

• The type of work that you do

• Flexible working hours

• Good work culture

• Transparency in company policies

• Tremendous learning and growth

• Clear career path within the company

• Constant and critical feedback of your performance for self-improvement

• Rewards & recognition

One's Professional Status May Affect Their Happiness

A lot depends on the individual's current professional status. For freshers, good money could be an important motivation. However, investing more working hours in the job even for lesser salary, in order to strengthen growth prospects in the future may be absolutely tolerable for them.

On the other hand, most experienced professionals tend to consider money as well as job satisfaction on priority. But, in case they have to pick and choose any one of them, then it may mostly be money. Considering the important role more money could play towards the fulfillment of commitments on the personal front such as paying off bills, catering to the needs of the family, etc.

In such a case, the money factor could generate more happiness.

Can Money And Job Satisfaction Simultaneously Generate Happiness?

The definition of happiness could be different for each one of us. As mentioned earlier, it is not impossible to land a job which pays extremely well, where you also like what you are doing.

Taking up a job of your liking may eventually help you evolve into a better professional with a positive mindset, leading to a steady growth in terms of knowledge, skills and even finances. In such a scenario, both job satisfaction and money will go hand in hand.