With the London Evening Standard recently revealing that professional dog walkers in London can earn £10,000 more than the average UK salary (roughly £32,256 per year), we can be forgiven for re-evaluating our own chosen career paths and wondering, what else is out there that we haven’t even thought feasible?
Well-paid dog walking could be your idea of heaven or hell, but either way, it forces us to question why these ‘pup-preneurs’ chose to pursue this path in the first place. Did they get lucky by choosing something they’d enjoy regardless of salary, only to find that they’re actually doing pretty well? Or has word spread about the secretly lucrative underworld of dog walking?
What is best: interesting jobs or well paid jobs?
Psychologist Frederick Herzberg proposes that there are two factors to address when considering job satisfaction in the workplace; motivators generate satisfaction and include things like achievement, progression and interest in work; and hygiene factors which cause dissatisfaction if they are absent – salary is part of this group.
Herzberg suggests that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum. If you don’t earn enough you will likely be dissatisfied but once you do earn enough, the extra money counts for very little in terms of increased satisfaction.
So is having just the right amount of money the key to happiness at work?
The results of the world’s largest employer branding survey - The Randstad Award - lists salary and employee benefits as the single most important factor for 40% of respondents when choosing an employer.
However, 38% of the 18-24 age group said that disinterest in their job would be the most likely reason for them to consider changing employers - this reason does not feature in the top three for older generations.
We could assume that this is because a significant proportion of the 24+ age group is beginning to consider mortgages, supporting a family or perhaps just settling for something comfortable as a means to an end rather than risking a dramatic change in pursuit of something new and exciting.
But surely doing something that interests you should be far more important than security or chasing the money, shouldn't it?
It’s important to step back and ask yourself what is important to you. Really think about what interests you in a role and a sector – don’t let one or the other dominate.
An interesting job is challenging, developmental and rewarding, so define what ‘rewarding’ means to you – it could be money, recognition or a whole host of other employee perks.
Research suggests that earning vastly in excess of what you need is not likely to make you any happier – and if you have the choice between a job that interests you and pays enough and one that doesn’t interest you and pays far more, go for the former.
