Career opportunities, quality of leadership found more meaningful than compensation
By Shana Lebowitz
If you think a pay bump would make you like your job more, you're
probably right. But it's not quite as simple as you might think.
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New research from career site Glassdoor suggests that more money can
make employees more satisfied with their jobs — but not as much as other
factors in the workplace.
The
study
is based on data from 221,000 Glassdoor users who contributed a salary
report and an employer review for the same company since 2014. The users
in the study earned up to $200,000 annually.
To be sure, higher salaries were associated with higher employee
satisfaction. While 15% of users earning less than $30,000 a year gave
their employer one out of five stars, just 10% of users earning upwards
of $120,000 gave the same rating. On the flip side, while 40% of users
making less than $30,000 gave their employer four or five stars, as many
as 51% of users making more than $120,000 gave the same rating.
The caveat? A higher salary only makes employees a little bit happier. A
more advanced data analysis revealed that a 10% increase in pay was
associated with a mere 1% increase in employee satisfaction. So if you
make $50,000 a year and you get a $5,000 raise, your satisfaction would
theoretically rise from 75% to 76%.
When it comes to employee satisfaction, other factors could be more
meaningful than salary. The researchers looked at different aspects of
the workplace and found that employees valued them in this order:
- Culture and values
- Career opportunities
- Senior leadership
- Work-life balance
- Compensation and benefits
- Business outlook
This analysis adds to a growing body of research on the link between
money and happiness. One study found that happiness levels off at
incomes of $75,000 (or $82,000 in today's dollars). Another study found
that the more money you have, the more money it takes to increase your
happiness. The Glassdoor research is unique in that it puts salary in
the context of other job attributes.
As Forbes' Susan Adams notes, it's likely that people making less than
$30,000 would value compensation over other factors. But at the point at
which you can take care of your expenses, save some money, and have a
little fun, other aspects of your job may matter more than salary.
Ultimately, the difference between a job that pays $50,000 and one that
pays $60,000 might not be that significant to your overall happiness.
But the difference between a workplace where you'll stagnate and one
where you can contribute to a team changing the world may be huge.
