What Makes Employees Happy? It Isn’t their Paychecks, Study Finds

Lisa Franchi September 20, 2013

We all work to earn, but that doesn’t mean money is all that makes us contended with our job. That’s according to a new study which finds that intellectual stimulation, not money, is the biggest predictor of employees’ happiness.

So if it isn’t money, then what?

The study suggests that being intellectually stimulated is the most important part of an employee’s job satisfaction. Those who took the survey said that intellectual stimulation accounts for 18.5 per cent of their overall job satisfaction, whilst money accounts for only 5.4 per cent. Specifically, achievement and prestige, power and influence, affiliation and friendship, and work-life balance are more important for workers than the salaries they receive.

"These findings are quite surprising, because employers often assume things like income are the strongest drivers of happiness in the workplace," said Steve Lehr, the chief senior officer of Cangrade – a hiring software company that conducted the study.

3 keys to employee happiness

The researchers summarised their findings by providing a three-part formula for ensuring the employees’ happiness:

· Giving employees some autonomy, influence, and opportunities to acquire prestige and recognition. Employers should give employees these needs even if they don’t say they need them, and give them more if they say they do.

· Giving employees a break every now and then, including the consummate workaholics even though they say they don’t want or need it,

· Giving them extra money, security and social opportunities but only to the extent they say these things matter to them.

"If there is a major takeaway here, it’s that we can finally prove that money doesn’t buy happiness,” Lehr said.

Source of this article:

Intellectual Stimulation Trumps Money For Employee Happiness, Survey Finds