Prerna has received ten missed calls from her dad. It's 9 pm but it seems like her boss hasn't noticed that. The meeting has been going on since 6 pm and surprisingly, no one is complaining! The clock ticks by. With each passing minute, she feels her frustration slowly starting to consume her. As if, it's eating her alive.
"We will catch up again tomorrow. Please reach the office 2 hours earlier, we have a new agenda to discuss about," her boss finally ends the meet and leaves.
She glances at Swati, checking if she's the only person bothered about the toxic work culture of this company. To her relief, Swati looks furious.
Its too late already and now she has to commute for 2 hours to reach home. She does not want to book a cab, or a hotel to spend the night. The only means she can reach home, is through public transport.
Prerna returns home to find her parents still awake, waiting for her. They haven't ate a morsel either! She feels guilty for choosing a job that pays her well, but makes her life a living hell.
No proper office hours, no family time, no time for herself!
She just wakes up to go to work and sleeps to give her body some rest. And this goes on in a loop.
She ultimately decides to rent a flat close to the office and visit her home during weekends. Months pass, she comes back to the flat very late, doesn't eat much and does nothing to keep herself fit. All she does is work and work, aiming for a promotion. She sends her money back home but has long stopped visiting her parents over weekends. She prefers sleeping all day to going out during holidays.
She feels alone in the 1 BHK flat, as there is no person to talk to, no pets to keep. Either she's busy with work, or sleeping. And yes, quitting isn't an option either because it funds all her designer purchases and helps her parents cover their medical bills.
She tries to remain composed about her emotions, until one day when she breaks down after receiving poor feedback from her boss. She worked day and night for this meeting and yet… She fears that she'll get no promotion this time, which means, all her efforts will go in vain!
Seeing her so depressed, her colleague advises her to seek a therapist or a counsellor. She agrees and decides to pour her heart out during the therapy session.
What she learns surprises her. She learns that she is not alone. The mental health deterioration she's dealing with is common among high paying professions. The therapist has seen versions of it more times than she can count. The details change, but the pattern doesn't. A high-paying job that looked like an answer slowly becomes a cage. However, research explains why this happens, and more importantly, what you can do about it.
The more the paycheck, the more satisfied one is. What does research say?
We often come across articles written by successful businessmen who emphasize how "money is not everything", even though their life looks pitch-perfect. Again, we find people with the lowest income being absolutely satisfied with whatever they own. Isn't that surprisingly the opposite of what it should be? The person who earns more should experience job satisfaction to a greater level than a person with lower income. It turns out that pay level is only marginally related to job satisfaction. Pay level is one of the factors that determines job satisfaction but it is not the main one. Satisfaction comes from other factors, like being respected by your boss, developing better skills, finding your work meaningful and whether you are surrounded by the right kind of people.
But does salary actually matter? Well, it does to a certain extent. Perhaps, not the way we think it should. Think of your job as a dish. Every ingredient adds their own flavour to it, the chemical combination of which, makes your dish tasty. Salary is one of the important ingredients, but not the only one which makes your job satisfactory.
Is there a threshold above which salary stops being a reason for satisfaction?
Have you ever wondered how much money you need to enjoy a perfect life? Will your happiness increase or decrease with each promotion you get? Well, researchers have been trying to find that answer for decades. According to their findings, emotional well being increases as the salary increases until it stops at around $75k per year. Beyond this threshold, one's lifestyle surely becomes better but there is no reduction in daily stress or increase in positive emotions. This research was carried out by two Noble Laureates and even their findings were challenged a decade later.
So, does a threshold actually exist? The right answer actually depends more on an individual level. For some people, money does help to a certain level but beyond that, it cannot touch the deep roots of their unhappiness. Again, happiness does keep rising with income, but with each additional dollar, happiness starts to fade.
Something that often gets less attention is the sacrifice that was made by the individual to bag a handsome salary. They may have sacrificed a ton, including good sleep, good food, their health, relationships outside of work and much more, but only they can tell if it was worth trading off so many things, to achieve that financial status.
Does a country with higher GDP have happier citizens?
You may assume that working in a wealthier economy or a higher-paying industry will automatically bring you personal satisfaction. The Easterlin Paradox shows that this assumption fails even at the national level. It explains that in a nation, the rich people are generally happier than the poor people. But if a country becomes wealthier over time, the average happiness doesn't go up. America has tripled its GDP since the 1970s but it's not that Americans have been three times happier too. If it doesn't work for nations, how will it work for individuals?
Surely when GDP increases, the social factors like infrastructures, healthcare, funds etc. of that country increases. But these are the baseline necessities beyond which, increase in the country's wealth doesn't affect the citizens. A poor country struggle to supply basic commodities like clean water, education, basic infrastructures. So yes, the happiness of people of poorer countries does increase when the country becomes wealthier, but beyond a certain number, it doesn't affect the citizens at all.
Wealth behaves like oxygen. When there's no oxygen, we struggle to live, but when oxygen is provided in excess, we stay alive. But more oxygen doesn't increase our happiness.
You adapt to every raise and the excitement is bound to fade
Think of your salary after your first promotion. In the first few months, it'll look like a blessing, though, it'll eventually turn into something you're used to. But when it comes to your daily commute, a toxic boss and unfriendly colleagues, it'll take time for you to get used to them. When you face these torments on a regular basis, the handsome salary at the start of the month looks nothing exciting.
This all happens because of a cruel reason. You adapt to gains very fast but slowly get used to the daily annoyances.
According to studies, the excitement for an increased income fades substantially within at least four years, as people adapt to their new income. No matter how much you gain, the excitement will die and you'll find yourself chasing after better opportunities in no time!
You feel broke even if you are a high earner
Increased income means better clothing brands, branded perfumes, good quality products, aesthetic restaurants and whoosh…your bank balance is scarier than a horror movie at the end of the month.
You get used to spending a lot more than you would have, if your income was low. According to you, its an upgrade towards a better lifestyle and its well deserved. Now, to fit into your upgraded lifestyle you have to keep earning this salary or more, because going back to your ordinary ways of living, feels like a huge downfall.
40% of households earning $500k a year report living paycheck to paycheck. Astonishing, right? This happens because their expenditure become equivalent to their income or may exceed, causing them to feel "broke" and make them patiently wait for the next salary date. But that's when you realise, they're trapped. Even if the bread-earner wants to, he or she cannot afford to leave the job even if they feel miserable to stay, because they have already built a world which can be sustained with high paychecks only.
Now the salary which looked like an escape route, has transformed into a cage and a golden one, hence it appears too good to leave. The only good thing a burnt out employee finds about a job is the salary. They are bound by golden handcuffs.
There exists three psychological mechanisms, which keep you from quitting the job. First is how bigger your loss appears in comparison to the better life you can live. Second, you compare your status with your peers, so stepping down from that level feels like a huge downfall. Third, you get so used to the identity that your job has provided you, like Senior VP of a top firm, that leaving the job feels like losing your identity as well.
Salary prevents misery but doesn't create fulfillment
Why do people quit if they're earning a substantial amount? Well, the paycheck is just a means by which you can afford the essential commodities to sustain your life, but it can never buy job satisfaction.
In the 1950s, a psychologist named Frederick Herzberg interviewed hundreds of workers and discovered something that is still relatable today. According to him there are two separate systems at work. Your salary, your job security, your office conditions are what Herzberg called hygiene factors. Their absence makes you suffer and when they're adequate, the suffering stops. But it doesn't bring you additional joy or satisfaction. You just stop being actively unhappy. It is like a toothache, which upon fixing, removes the pain. And your life goes on.
Job satisfaction requires motivators like achievement, growth, recognition and meaningful work. If they're missing, it'll lead to you becoming unhappy no matter how much your salary is.
What drives job satisfaction?
There exists people whose sole purpose is to earn loads. But there are also people who want to contribute to something meaningful through their job roles. Study found that the most satisfied workers were in jobs that offered a sense of purpose, like clergy, medical associates, teachers, writers, psychologists, etc. All these satisfactory job roles were not even high paying at all.
Surprisingly, even the low prestige jobs were found to be satisfactory. So it confirms the previous theories. Once money helps you afford your basic needs, other factors like finding a purpose for doing the job or achievements hold more weightage when job satisfaction is being considered.
There are three psychological means which predict work fulfillment more than salary.
- Autonomy — The freedom to choose the things which you want to do and not just being told what to do.
- Competence — Developing new skills and eventually seeing your growth.
- Relatedness — You feel that you belong in the room, you care about your colleagues and they care about you too.
People thrive when all these factors are met, but if any one of them is missing, people can show potential signs of burnout, stress and think about quitting. A teacher in a private school can have higher autonomy and enjoy greater job satisfaction, than an IT guy earning six figures but dictated by his boss.
A high salary can coexist with missing autonomy, competence and relatedness. Even the highest paying jobs like corporate law, investment banking and surgery have higher external control and less decision making authority at junior level. In such situations, stress and low motivation override the effect of money.
Why your salary never feels like enough
Suppose you get a promotion and it raises your status to elitism. You buy a flat in a posh area of New Delhi. You feel amazing and rich. But once you hear how much your neighbours make, it steals your joy. Even though you objectively earn more than the general population, you start feeling underpaid because there are people making more money than you and maybe, with much less effort. This happens because your reference group has changed.
Your paycheck of 8 LPA, may look meagre if your desk mate earns 12 LPA. This means that high paying industries can paradoxically create more pay-dissatisfaction compared to moderate-paying ones because no matter how much you make, your reference group will always be richer.
The highest paid professions have some of the worst burnout or mental health outcomes
Why do you think half of all physicians report burnout? Why do lawyers plan to quit? Why do tech professionals report burnout and think of quitting? These are some of the highest paying professions and yet, their misery did not diminish. If their profession allowed them to experience the best life, why did they want to let it go?
The thing is, its not only the salary that matters when you think of life as a whole. You may be working till late night, barely returning home, spending feeble time with your loved ones, yet earning the most. The constant toxicity and politics in your office keeps affecting you. Your payment might be keeping your loved ones satisfied. They are so proud of you for earning ten times more than the average population. But it is only you who know how much disdainful you feel towards your profession and if money wasn't a necessity, you would've quit your job long ago.
Money does matter, just not the way people think
The research isn't saying money is irrelevant. Money is extremely essential for eliminating material deprivation (like food, housing, healthcare), purchasing autonomy, reducing the constant financial worry which impairs decision-making. And if you ever face a grave situation, like an accident or job loss, money turns the disaster into a problem you can handle.
Money is irreplaceable when it comes to removing negative situations. It surely reinforces positive situations but it cannot make you love your job.
Thus, money is the best thing one can have, but not at the cost of giving up the things which make life worth living.
If anything in this piece described your situation, here's where I'd suggest starting.
Don't quit tomorrow. Instead, take ample time to answer these questions:
- If you lost this job tomorrow, what would your first feeling be? Would you panic or be relieved?
- If your performance becomes average for a month, would anyone at work check in on you out of genuine concern? Or would they only notice because it affected a deadline?
- Suppose you get a job offer elsewhere with 20% raise. Upon learning that you're planning to leave, the present company suddenly offers a better raise to make you stay. Think again. If they could afford to pay you that amount much earlier, why did they offer it when you finally submitted your resignation letter? And would that raise change anything about the way each day in the office makes you feel?
- If your salary drops by 30% tomorrow, but everything else including autonomy, growth, your colleagues and office hours, gets significantly better, would you still think about quitting?
Answer them honestly. This alone shall tell you more about your job, than a paycheck ever will.
Satyendra Kumar Singh is a Career Strategist, Corporate Trainer, and Business Mentor with over 23 years of experience helping students and professionals build careers with intention.
