>> Does More Money Equal More Work?

There's an old saying, “You get what you pay for.” Well, how true is it when comparing employees and their salaries?

While most bosses think that money is the deciding factor in what motivates workers – as much as 89 percent of managers have suggested this is so – most employees would not agree. In fact, another study found that 50 percent of workplace satisfaction is determined by the relationship between a worker and a boss, and this is born out by the 2008 Yahoo! HotJobs annual satisfaction survey in which 43 percent of participants cite their boss’s poor performance as the reason they will be looking for a new job this year.

Yes, many people feel they are underpaid and would love to earn more money, but only for the same amount of work. In fact, according to a 2006 Harris Interactive poll 40 percent of the employees surveyed felt their companies paid below-market. However, this feeling may have had more to do with the fact that many were dissatisfied with their current workload and hours, which may be an indication of why more money will not encourage them to work any harder.

The fact is that regardless of the constant bitching and moaning about how salary doesn’t seem to match up to individual worth or the rising cost of living, most employees have other priorities.

However, some survey also suggested that an even larger group of workers felt that regardless of where they work, their salary should not change unless the work itself actually changed, possibly indicating that employees already feel they work hard enough for their pay. So if more money doesn’t light the fire and inspire employees to work harder, what will?

Now there are a lot of resources out there – surveys, articles, experts – that suggest that job satisfaction comes more from the intangibles than from pay. Factors like a positive work environment, recognition, and challenging work generally top the list. However, whatever employees want from their job, money is generally not number one.