Why It's Not All About the Money

Employers listen up, because data from several surveys conducted in 2015 indicate a pay raise is not enough to draw top employees. Job satisfaction for job seekers may override the promise of a higher salary in another position. This trend typifies a new paradigm in the workplace where millennials need something more from their careers than steady pay increases and great health insurance.

A 2015 survey from TINYpulse found nearly one-quarter of employees would find another position for a 10 percent pay raise. However, other research shows that job satisfaction may be more important to job seekers for five relevant reasons.

1. The Co-Worker Effect

Up to 40 percent of respondents to a VirginPulse survey in 2015 said co-workers represent a top reason why employees love their jobs. Further, 66 percent said a positive relationship with co-workers increases productivity, and 55 percent believe co-workers help relieve stress. Although you can't choose your co-workers, a company's culture may draw a certain type of person to the firm. When everyone gets along and remains on the same page, job satisfaction enters into the picture.

2. Work Environment

A comfortable work environment also inspires happiness at the office, above company culture and team-building events, notes the TINYpulse survey. Synergy at work can't be quantified, but you know it when it's there, and it makes you feel more relaxed at work.

3. Good Managers Play to Your Strengths

Workers engage better with managers and supervisors who play to an employee's strengths. Up to 67 percent of workers in a 2015 Gallup poll love managers who help team members set performance goals and work priorities. These employees get along better with their bosses, which may lead to better job satisfaction without a pay increase.

4. Accept the Challenge

More challenging work leads to a job change approximately 36 percent of the time, notes a LinkedIn report from 2015. By comparison, 34 percent of respondents said they left their jobs for higher pay elsewhere. Instead of performing the same tasks over and over again for years on end, people pursue more job satisfaction by leaving jobs to do something new.

5. Growth

As many as 20 percent of employees want growth opportunities at a position, according to a 2015 HubSpot survey. In this research, job growth represents the main reason people accept a job. Growth opportunities allow you to choose your own path, which gives you a measure of control over your employment at a firm. Ask your boss to expand your job duties, learn a new skill, take a class or attend a training seminar to learn new ways you can help expand your horizons at work.

Extra money and a raise within a career are nice. However, several new data sets point to workers who need more ways to achieve job satisfaction beyond just money. Intellectual stimulation and emotional security seem to be just as important, or even more so, than money.

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