The Salary – Job satisfaction balance

salary and joyIt is pretty much like the chicken or egg syndrome…..which will you place first – the money you make or the joy you find in following your passion? It is not a simple decision to make. Primarily because life changes and along the way so do your priorities. So somewhere along the line, if our need graph is not strongly monitored, we tend to veer towards the more salary syndrome.

Those who have found success are the ones who have followed their passion. And stayed focussed on what they wanted to achieve. Take the case of Mr. Narayana Moorthy who built Infosys or any other entrepreneur who followed a vision. Yes there would have been sacrifices and compromises to be made along the way.  In the end, it is always the persistent who win the race and come out on top. We have always found that sufficient wealth also follows those who tread this path.

Over the last few years there have been a whole clutch of young people who have been advocating job hopping every two years to raise the salary bar. This trend has taken a toll on organisations who invest in training new recruits and homogenising them to their culture. Even before the recruit starts delivering value to the organisation, if he were to move out, it does cause losses on every front.  We do find a good deal of people who have become desensitised to this phenomenon and believe that it is their right to move on as and when it suits their fancy.  Yes they do have every right to do so but then what is the value they bring to an organisation in terms of commitment?

Research seems to indicate that this trend has become endemic in very large organisations. Perhaps this is a reflection of the times we live in where our needs far outweigh what we can afford. This imbalance needs to be righted only at an individual level while the organisation can provide support in goal achievement.

Once you have done a few job hops and evaluate your career knowledge, you will find that perhaps your learning has not been good enough or deep and you may have out priced yourself from the market. The recent recession has thrown up large numbers in this category who found it difficult to move into new jobs and had to take cuts in their salaries. What did come in as a surprise is that, when it came to on the job skills and knowledge, they were not at par with the youngsters who worked under them.

This once again brings us back to what should take precedence in a career – the learning and enjoyment in the path that you have chosen or finding a career where the salaries are large.  This is an individual call but all who have chosen to do what they enjoy most have also laughed all the way to the bank – at least in most cases.

 

- Gita Nair (views expressed in the article are that of the author)

 

Also Check: Other Paycheck Articles

 

 

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