Advanced Topics in Human Resource Management

Happiness and Pay Cut

The present employment opportunities create a difference between personal happiness and remunerations for the human efforts applied. At times, personal success is realized even when an individual is working at a lower salary. The sole reason as to when people work is to earn a living and at the same time achieve personal happiness. By referring to happiness, it means using the resources earned to enjoy life. Therefore, a pay cut is worth happiness.  

At times, the salaries received are more important for our livelihood. Nonetheless, the question that remains, is the essence of salary to human happiness. The different working environment has differing degrees of happiness (Aaker, Rudd, & Mogilner, 2014). Some pay great salaries, but one has no happiness, while another job has low salaries, but guarantee personal happiness. The choice between the two is left to the workers.

Every individual has a story to tell in regard to happiness and the benefits and pay received. From a personal point of view, I have been to a job with terrific working conditions. I was working as an educator, where the job was centrally located and has “handsome” benefits and pay (Mogilner, 2015). Nonetheless, I was not happy with the job. On the other end, I have also been to a job with low pays, but guaranteed happiness. It was a volunteer job at a health center.

Definitely, there is a job I would never pursue medicine career regardless of the pay I would be offered. The reason behind this is because I have never had a passion for nursing and medicine. Happiness comes from within and is guided by the conditions prevailing. Employers ought to consider happiness as a compensating factor to their employees. It should be part of the factors considered in the evaluation process in the determination of pay for a particular position.

References

Aaker, J. L., Rudd, M., & Mogilner, C. (2014). If money does not make you happy, consider time. Journal of consumer psychology, 21(2), 126-130.

Mogilner, C. (2015). The pursuit of happiness: Time, money, and social connection. Psychological Science, 21(9), 1348-1354.

Classmates posts

The first classmate maintains that the achievement of success is happiness. The quest for a better life is the guiding factor in the pursuit of jobs (Sengupta et al., 2015). The process of gaining happiness is faced with a number of challenges, and they make one be more motivated. The main challenge affecting the realization and achievement of human happiness is the prioritization of financial aspects and disregarding personal accounts (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2014). The policies applied jobs are the ones responsible for creating favorable working conditions and shaping happiness. The other factor with significant influence in the achievement and realization of human happiness is the job environment. Its association with the individuals determines the presence or absence of happiness, even when compared to the pays and benefits offered. Therefore, happiness is the key to success.

References

Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2014). Prosocial spending and happiness: Using the money to benefit others pays off. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(1), 41-47.

Sengupta, N. K., Osborne, D., Houkamau, C. A., Hoverd, W. J., Wilson, M. S., Halliday, L., … & Sibley, C. G. (2015). How much happiness does money buy? Income and subjective well-being in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 41(2), 21-34.

In the second post, it was appreciated that as much as one can be offered a great salary, it is not a guarantee of human happiness. The presence of a good salary is seen as a motivator to add extra efforts, but not aimed at being a source of happiness (Boyce, Brown, & Moore, 2016). One ends up overworking, something that affects personal health, which can in no way be compared to the remunerations. It can also be noted that the choice of careers is dependent on a number of factors, which are mostly dependent on personal experiences and related accounts (Mogilner, & Norton, 2016). Additionally, happiness is not associated with job performance in the process of evaluating the pay to be advanced for a particular position. In a nutshell, opinions differ from one individual to another. Success, happiness, and financial enumerations are correlated aspects attached to careers. Nonetheless, individuals hold different perceptions.

References

Boyce, C. J., Brown, G. D., & Moore, S. C. (2016). Money and happiness: Rank of income, not income, affects life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 21(4), 471-475.

Mogilner, C., & Norton, M. I. (2016). Time, money, and happiness. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 12-16.