There’s top talented employees and online entrepreneurs who still find it tough to keep a dollar. Their finances suffer. Even when they are bringing in the ‘dough.’ They are so driven to achieve maximum earnings that they never even consider the sacrifice they are making in terms of personal satisfaction in life. This article discusses the reasons why employee demands for increased pay isn’t about the money. We also give tips to help employers who are unable to meet salary demands with alternatives.
Prestigious jobs generally offer cuts in hourly rate
Prestigious jobs, while often well paid, can lead to cuts in hourly rate. Sometimes, it may be beneficial to take a pay cut to enjoy more of what life has to offer. This is the experience of a university professor chronicled in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article, “Workers want more pay, not prestige.” The professor had initially worked at a no-name college and jumped at the chance of employment at an Ivy League (Yale). He’d rather accept a job offer for lower pay at a prestigious university than stick with his higher salaried job at a less influential college. Had the professor analyzed the true cost, he might have made a different decision.
For instance, prestigious jobs may demand:
- longer work hours
- higher ordered decision making
- increased ‘forward-facing’ or “client facing” prominence
- increased time away from family
- must keep appearances and play ‘company role’ even during off hours
Now, says Callum Borchers, writing for the WSJ, the professor has regrets. Why? Because the added prestige is just not worth it. Maybe you too are thinking of the trade-offs. Are you content with a lower salary? Or, do you continually strive to earn more, more and even more money?
Demands for increased pay represents a request to review equitable trade-offs
If you stop to think about it, a demand for more money may be a request for equitable trade-offs. If you choose to ask for more money. We provide you with information you can use. Along with other workers surveyed by Gallup, compensation is very important. But, money is a only a contributing factor. Not the force driving a decision. Particularly in a recessionary economy. Or, one fraught with hyper inflation. In this job market, now is definitely not the time. The business conditions are too fragile. Markets are very uncertain. . So, the request for more money may be framed in these terms.
- if you want me to work longer hours, I’ll need to get paid for the extra hours
- if you want me to increase my output, please provide the resources and tools to do so
- if you want me to work in a toxic environment, we’d need to make a trade off
- if you want me to meet these KPIs, then once they are met, you’d need to arrange a bonus
Employers take the easy way when then meet the demand for increased pay
Research suggest that employers are taking the easy way out when acquiescing to the demand for higher pay. The Gallup study suggests that workers want management to acknowledge a request for increased pay is a request to compensate for something else. Researchers argue that individuals in the workforce believe that “the extra money is [mere] hazard pay for the risk to their health, emotions, and overall well-being.” Gallup takes it a step further. Increasing “pay is the “easy button” when problems with communication, culture or coaching seem too daunting to solve.”
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When employers fail to make equitable exchanges between the salary and benefits offered to its workers in acceptance for output under reasonable circumstances, employees may decide to take things into their own hands.
Higher pay may not be worth it
Employees, freelancers, service providers, online coaches may ask themselves if its worth it? The extra hours and effort put into the work. Are they worth the diminished personal enjoyment felt at the end the day? There are so many people who are striving to make extreme amounts of money, yet don’t realize they’ll have no time to spend it on things they enjoy. The decision to do things differently doesn’t have to result in a drastic pay cut. Individuals need to consider the following.
- Calculate how much you would have to give up in order to get the kind of life that you crave and deserve. Sometimes, a small tweak in your responsibilities can result in a big change in terms of your personal satisfaction.
For example, if you are a freelance service provider or coach, you are trading time for money. Ask yourself if the elimination of one client or project per week would free up enough time for you to be able to do the things you love.
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You don’t always have to take a cut in pay, either. Sometimes, you can rearrange your career and finances so that you are working less, yet earning the same, if not more. So how would this work?
- Increase your price points. Of course, you do want to be competitive in the marketplace. But most people undervalue and underpriced their services and deliverables.
Plus, even a small bump in price can often pay for what you need to bring more satisfaction to your life. For example, a coach who has 10 clients at $90 each per hour might be able to bump up his or her pricing to $95 or $100 in order to eliminate a few hours per week that gives them more time to do what they enjoy.
- Look for additional income streams. You can always repurpose your content so that what you have done is bringing in more money and freeing you up financially to focus on other things.
You could even package up all of your blog posts into a book and sell the book to those who want the information in one convenient location. You can also find ways to monetize the multimedia content that you have released into your niche.
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Whether it’s a blog post or video, you can add links as an affiliate or vendor to increase revenue and allow you to spend less time working. But even if you can’t replace the income that you would like to see stick around, it may be worth it for your mental health and personal satisfaction to cut back on work and enjoy life more.
Sometimes, you can do with less and end up happier. It’s simply not how we were raised to look at life. Reframing your outlook on finances versus personal satisfaction will be an important part of your journey.
Alternatives and tips for employers unable to meet the demands for higher pay
But, what are financially-strapped employers to do when an increase in salary is off the table? Gallup offers hope. “Increasing base pay,” according to research, “has a negligible effect on performance.” Sometimes tweaking these elements can do much to make the employee-employer transaction more equitable.
- increase the sense of enjoyment employees derive from doing their job
- increase the level of dedication employees have to their employers
- improve the work environment
- reduce the level of on-the-job stress
- improve workgroup and team cohesiveness
