Posted on: Monday, November 1, 2004

AT WORK
Great salary won't guarantee satisfaction in life

By Andrea Kay

When you've been underpaid or out of work, you will be tempted to jump at a job offer because, at last, someone is offering you really good money. But if you do, beware. It might feel like your troubles are behind you, but they may just be beginning.

Take Robert, an executive in Cincinnati who took a job for great money — more than $200,000 — but is chucking it all.

"I make a lot of money, but I have no life," he told me. "I have no time for relationships and little control over my time. I'm not even that thrilled with the job. I'm more miserable now than before I was making good money. What's the point?"

You may not be making as much as Robert, but average incomes have more than tripled in the past 50 years, according to an article in AP Worldstream. At the same time, average life satisfaction has held steady.

"The economy has grown substantially, but somehow it left happiness behind," says the article.

That's not to say that money doesn't help you live a more comfortable life. An Associated Press poll showed that people who make more than $75,000 a year are far more likely than those who make $25,000 or less to say they are "very satisfied" with their lives.

If not money, what does bring satisfaction when it comes to your work? Looking at one group of workers — telecommunications managers, who across the country on average are paid $65,333 and face stagnant salaries and long hours — satisfaction is pretty high, according to The Telecom Managers' Voice Report. Seventy-eight percent say they are fulfilled because they have:

• Variety in their job duties. Every day is different with a constant mix of things they need to tackle.

• Independence to do their jobs. They say they have the freedom to decide what needs to be done and to come up with creative solutions. They also have flexibility on whether to work from home.

• Tangible results from the work they do. Building or re-creating something and seeing it work is rewarding.

• Pride in having their suggestions implemented and saving the company money.

• Side benefits and perks ranging from days off to free training.

Of course, these and other workers want to be paid for the value they bring to their jobs. But across the board, being challenged, making a difference and having autonomy and flexibility to do their jobs always rank as the highest priorities.

Before you take a job just because it's good money, figure out your priorities. And remember Robert, the executive who is quitting his $200,000 job for something lower paying and more rewarding and what he learned: Never take a job purely for the money.