A recent poll found that 70 percent of today’s professionals prefer a job that they enjoy, rather than a job that pays well. It looks like money doesn’t buy happiness after all – well, at least not in the workplace.
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Thomson Reuters conducted a survey of over 1,000 professionals, in five countries, across five main industries, and found that a vast majority of workers crave fulfillment in their careers, even if that means less compensation for the same job. Moreover, 56 percent of the polled participants also indicated that they would sacrifice a higher salary to “work for a company that makes a positive impact on the world.” The climb up the proverbial corporate ladder, then, seems to have less to do with attaining a higher salary, and more to do with finding greater meaning and satisfaction from one’s career.
The infographic below summarizes the findings of the Reuters survey and also shows that, in addition to wanting more purpose in their 9-to-5’s, professionals also “prioritize a healthy work/life balance over career advancement.” When the US economy took a nose-dive a couple years back, many well-qualified individuals found themselves unemployed, desperate for a paycheck, and taking on jobs they were overqualified for. As a result, Americans viewed having a job – any job – as a blessing, and they worked tirelessly to put keep their families afloat. Unfortunately, work-life balance became increasingly impossible to attain as the workforce continued to take on unfulfilling jobs and spending less quality time with their families.
Nowadays, the workforce seems to be done with the “be grateful you have a job” mentality and has shifted gears to find balance through flex-schedules, pursuing meaningful careers, and accepting that money isn’t everything. The pursuit of happiness is now focused on quality over quantity, and more professionals, Millennials especially, are fighting for their right to have purposeful lives and careers.
Marc Barros also understands that money isn’t everything when it comes to a person’s career, as he states in his Inc.com article, “People don’t pick a job based on money, and if they do, [the employer] probably [doesn’t] want to hire them. The best people are willing to take a lower salary if they believe in the purpose, have the opportunity to make a difference, and know [the company] will take care of them.” Happy employees are productive employees, which means lower turnover, higher morale, higher efficiency, and more attractive profits for businesses.
(Infographic Credit: KiriJaneDicker/Visual.ly)
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