Salary vs. Satisfaction

Money is an asset that all people need and of course want more of. Choosing your professional career can be a very tough decision between the jobs that will provide a higher income or the outcome of your personal satisfaction. Indeed having a high-paying job saves the financial stress that millions of people have, but what happens when your satisfaction runs out? Society has brainwashed each other to believe that the higher the income the happier you are, but is money really the key to happiness? Working for the satisfaction can make an employee develop stronger and steady goals rather than someone that dreads going into work could create more of a negative attitude towards work. There are other things that are by far way more important than salary when deciding on a job or career. Researching the truth if money really can buy happiness is a study that takes more than just filling out a bubble survey. Lisa Henderson, author of the 2010 Salary and Satisfaction Survey, mentioned that more pharmaceutical companies are looking for more regulatory, stronger qualities, and knowing the clinical roles while hiring employees. Henderson (2010) also states that employees struggle with the workload pressure that tan employee can develop due to not being fully satisfied with the work environment. Situations that threaten your personal income or the fear of unemployment create an enormous level of stress. Authors Bang-Cheng Liu and Thomas Li-Ping Tang developed a study in China on the satisfaction of full-time public sector professionals as well as a part-time student. A quote that Liu and Tang mentioned in the article read, “Money per se does not lead to pay satisfaction. The value of a given reward is not absolute, but is relative to other rewards with which is compared (Greenberg and Ornstein 1983).” Personally I cannot speak on behalf of the public sector professionals in China, but I can relate that money does not pay the satisfaction that I want nor need. Speaking

References: Henderson, L. (2010). 2010 Salary & Satisfaction Survey. Applied Clinical Trials, 19(11), 30-35. Liu, B., & Tang, T. (2011). Does the Love of Money Moderate the Relationship between Public Service Motivation and Job Satisfaction? The Case of Chinese Professionals in the Public Sector. Public Administration Review, 71(5), 718-727. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02411.x THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL: PAY SATISFACTION AND CPI AS MODERATORS. (2011). Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, 1-6. doi:10.5465/AMBPP.2011.65869480 Warner Bros, Leder, Mimi 2000. Pay It Forward. USA Retrieved 2012, March 29.