I mean…. Part true? Lots of “profesional careers” Can have a huge pay gap.
A welder or programmer for example Can get offers from two jobs in the same zip code- one for $20 an hour and one for $100 an hour,
If you work at Burger King a comprable job probably isn’t offering you much more money.
If you make $200+ an hour or equivalent compensation- if you’ve done that for awhile you usually have enough wealth that you are firmly in the camp of people who say things like “it can’t all be about the money” and “my time is worth more than money to me.” So unless it’s ALOT of money and maybe even then- money isn’t enough.
If you make $100 an hour full time, a $20 an hour raise is nice but likely not in itself a huge motivator to leave a good job.
If you make minimum wage to low income” in a “job” not a career- you likely would need to change industries and positions to see a raise of much significance.
So it is true that for many- both high and low earners- it USALLY isn’t worth it to leave a job JUST for money unless it is a significant increase, which is more likely in some jobs and incomes than others.
So this is correct? Mmmm…. Not so much. Firstly- there are a slew of people “in between” making “good money” and “it is almost illegal or illegal to pay less…” money. So for those people a modest raise can be able to change their lifestyle.
But it often isn’t about MONEY exactly…
Even when it is about money it isn’t usually.
You might make a “lateral move” for opportunity- a job might pay the same or less or a little more- but the company seems like it offers a better chance at higher earnings with time or effort. You may change careers with or without specialized training or education or certificates because those careers offer more potential earnings.
So in a way that is about the pay but really it is about the future.
The other major factor is… your job or company sucks.
The work is boring or stressful or just leaves you feeling like shit or frustrated. Maybe you’re treated badly or get no perks or are embarrassed by your job or who you work for. Maybe they are all idiots and it hurts your soul or they treat all workers like idiots or maybe the culture isn’t right for you or there’s no room for personal or financial growth- a dead end job.
Often this is why we really leave. The Burger King employee that goes to McDonald’s probably isn’t jumping ship just for the 50 cent an hour raise to do the same job- or it’s inconsequential since they are likely easily replaced and it is in the better interests of the company to replace at lower cost than give a raise. Whatever. Not critical.
The point is that if they had a great team they got along with, great managers, relatively flexible hours and freedom, they aren’t bored and don’t feel like they are stagnating, if they have good benefits or the benefits are equal or better than the other job etc. they probably aren’t going to leave for a fifty cent raise.
Imagine your favorite people- the friends you get along best with and work well with- open a small business and hire you.
You don’t get paid ALOT but for your age and job you do alright.
Every day you go to work and while there are moments that suck- you feel mostly good.
You find the work interesting or pleasant enough. You feel needed and skilled.
You feel good at your job and get recognition from your peers and from customers etc.
you go in and most of the day when there aren’t things going on you hang out with your friends. Maybe there are clients or customers or vendors who are cool. You get to joke and play around, no one sweats you if you take a few breaks or run some errands or take a long lunch when things are slow and quiet. When you need personal time- family events, trips with friends, a movie or concert you want to go to- they bend over backwards to make sure you can get the time off.
When you have a concern or need or opinion you are listened to.
Every day you work and play and feel like you accomplished something and did a good job worth doing. There are lunches, sometimes or often bagels or donuts and such, special events here and there like BBQ events etc. and enough variety in the routine to keep it from becoming too boring.
You feel like you work hard enough to sleep well but not hard enough to be tired all the time or exhausted.
Ok. Picturing it?
Now a business in the same sector offers you the same position but $1 an hour raise.
New company, new culture. Different co workers and rules and new ways to do things and rules.
Are you going?
What about a raise of $5 an hour?
At some point we will likely hit a number that would make you leave- but for many people the number might become unreasonable for the work they do.
Even if I had a dream job with my pals like that- offer me a million a year guaranteed salary and I’ll leave. Even if that’s just to collect enough money to be very secure financially or wealthy and then go back to doing the other job since I don’t have to worry about money or maintaining my lifestyle so much or at all anymore. But few jobs would offer a raise like that and wether I’d leave or not depends on how much I’m making. If I’m making $100k then a $5-10k raise a year may not compel me to give up the freedom and security and satisfaction. If I’m making $30k a year then $10k could at least make me..
consider- but I mean… that’s usually a career change. Not a whole lot of jobs where you can make $30k one plane and $40l doing the same job somewhere else- besides maybe sales or such.
And it depends on the life you lead and where you’re at in it. At 20 and single one might stay at a job simply because it pays enough to pay their parents rent for a room and leave pocket money and isn’t too hard or is cool or fun with perks like being able to watch new films before everyone or free meals etc.
if you are expecting a new child or starting a life with someone etc. then yeah- you might need to make choices that are based entirely on your ability to provide financially. It all depends.
But often it’s less about the money than even we think it is. Often it is about the value.
At some point we reach the next level if we make it there. That’s where for whatever lifestyle you want or may want- you earn enough and have the right ratio of security to earnings that more money isn’t interesting unless you are just someone who enjoys making money like trading stocks or starting new businesses etc.
people who are working primarily to find a lifestyle only need so much. Many tech companies learned this the hard way. You pay someone $200k+ a year straight out of college and give them potentially millions sim stocks and there comes a day where unless they just really like the work- they will leave and “focus on themselves” or “giving back” or “having experiences because life is too short to be so much about money.”
There’s a number that if you reach that accumulated wealth- you could live the rest of your life in a lifestyle that you enjoy, and not have to work. There comes a point where you can make enough to do almost anything you want except maybe buy entire companies and go to mars- but you can have almost anything you want and never work again. Not everyone or even most get there- but when you do… work loses value unless you are passionate about it because
One day you realize you don’t HAVE to clock in and spend all day waiting for the moment you an be off, without any real consequence. Why wouldn’t most people at that point start working on what they want to versus chasing money?
So we have this pattern across socioeconomic classes where there just gets to a point that no reasonable amount of money could keep you at a job.
You either don’t need the money or you can get similar money elsewhere or you’re tired of your company and it’s shit or you’re tired of coworkers that suck or you don’t see a future where you have the things you want and can eventually retire if you live king enough or whatever.
So we enter this scale of sorts on an individual level. And each thing we live and each we don’t puts a weight of a certain sized based on the value of each thing to us on either the side of the scale to stay or the side to go. Each thing we can get at another company or job that we don’t at
Ours adds a corresponding weight to “leave” and each thing our company offers that we don’t find elsewhere in realistic jobs to leave for adds a corresponding weight to stay.
Money is just one weight, and some folks weight it more than others do at any given time, but it is seldom or ever alone.
In short you leave your job most often because another job offer came in for an overall better job or opportunity for the future, or because your job sucks or you are just over it.
But there are these odd zones on the scale- odd circumstances that can happen-
Some weights are harder to balance.
If you are an accountant that hates being an accountant it would be hard for your current job to do anything to change your mind since you’d still be accounting.
If you’re a cashier but you hate the sorts of customers that go to your particular store, it’s probably more feasible to move locations than for your job to change their client base to make you stay. Money is usually pretty easily moved around on the scale providing you are worth money and the ask is reasonable to the industry/job.
But outpace of those huge raises we talked about- most of the time a raise gives a short term bump in happiness and then wears off.
If you’re working for federal minimum wage as a mechanic and then get offered a job at a shop making $20 an hour you’ll probably be stoked. If you work there a few years and gain the skills and resume to go work for a hotshot EV company and start making $30 an hour as an EV specialist you’ll likely be stoked. If you get promoted to a shop formula at $45 an hour you’ll be stoked, and then a company doing space probes using technology like the EV tech you know so well hires you for $85 an hour. Wow. You made it.
But for most people- every step of that list- if you stay at any one step long enough that excitement fades. That gratitude fades. When you landed that “big shot” $20 an hour job from minimum wage you probably felt pretty rich for awhile after your first check- until you realized $20 an hour ain’t shit. Good luck buying a home in many cities around the world. Good luck buying a new car when the average payment and costs are not well over $1000 a month.
You got a nicer apartment that costs more and started taking your partner out more and doing bigger things in your free time-
More exotic trips or nicer locations and accommodations or buying the big TV or the things you can now afford on Amazon etc. and $20/hr ain’t shit in grown up world.
But how high can that work raise your salary? They can’t keep raising it for the same job forever unless it a very niche case. At some point there is almost always a cap.
So then you got a swanky EV job and were a techie elite and they made memes about your company and your boss. You got stocks and were treated all grown up and you felt like suddenly you had some breathing room financially. And that continues on until and unless you reach a point where within reason you can buy whatever you want, you can pay all your bills pretty easily and you have a measure of financial security and a financial future that doesn’t seem to involve eating cat food because that’s all your budget in detriment would have allowed.
And it still can seem like not enough. I know first and second hand that you can make 6 figures or more and get decent and regular raises and still be pushed to a point or just be so done that you don’t even care and you’ll even take a job for less money if it means not having to deal with your job or company or the people involved etc.
It’s mostly only short term thinkers or people with critical financial situations or a “hustle and grind” mindset that leave over the money alone.
Even if you’re company is underpaying you then that still is likely not all about money- you’re likely upset or insulted that your company is so cheap or so shady or so crappy or just doesn’t value you.
There are links between earnings and happiness. They aren’t intrinsically linked- you can have a lot of one and not the other or little of one and much of the other- but they do tend to have a relationship. That relationship is different for different people.
Where you live and your life circumstances and goals and age and the sorts of things you enjoy using money for and how much those cost, your personality and psychology etc.
That said there doesn’t appear to be a long term correlation between increased pay and job or general satisfaction.
Usually the increase is short term because that is how we are wired. In every job you’ll hear many people say things like “I don’t get paid enough for this!” And we can laugh. An actor travels to exotic locations and drives fast cars and plays make believe for 2-14 hours a day and makes several tends or hundreds of millions in a year or less. And they demand a raise because they deserve more for doing that.
A tech worker returns from their three month vacation on unlimited PTO and clocks in at 11am without ever leaving the house. They sit in a chair all day, talk to some people, push some buttons and create or read reports and documents. No one dies and the world keeps spinning if they miss their deadline. They ask for more money than their $50-200k+ salary because the job is so hard.
Some guy gets up at 5am, he lifts some heavy things into a truck. He drives around all day using GPS or maps or memory. Maybe lift some more heavy things. Lunch, repeat. Clock out. He asks for more money because his job is too hard.
All these jobs are hard but they also aren’t.
They all have stress and unpleasant aspects and expectations and little ways to screw up and complexities. They all take your time from being with people you love and doing things you enjoy or building a maintaining your life outside of providing an income to use to that purpose.
Ask a stay at home parent or even a basement dwelling unemployed gamer and they’ll all likely say there isn’t enough time in the day and they have stress.
It’s hard to compare. I’m not going to try. A lot is personal. Some people are great with people and it’s easy to deal with them all day and for others a small social interaction or customer or colleague interaction leaves them stressed and drained. Some people can wake up before dawn consistently no problem and others couldn’t to save their lives.
Some people have endurance and strength and manual labor may not be a breeze but an easy day for them might literally Jill someone else who isn’t suited for it.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses, the things we can tolerate and things we just can’t, things we hate or cause us distress for whatever reason.
Crying babies don’t bother me. I Can sleep with a baby wailing as loud as it can right next to me- just fall right asleep. I Can read or work or relax with a baby bawling its eyes out for as long as it wants. It will not bother me and I won’t feel anxiety or some pull to stop it or frustration. It’s just noise. I have been around noise. I’ve had to either sleep and live and work with noise or let the noise be a problem because the noise couldn’t be stopped or controlled. For some people, a crying/screaming kid will hurt their soul or drive them to the brink.
I I have to constantly remind myself when parents pour out their woes about lack of sleep or fried nerves from crying that not everyone can just be ok listening to that.
So for me, parenting in my experience is pretty easy. Not a whole lot to complain about- like a dog that you can’t take everywhere but also can’t leave alone.
Not some grand badge of honor of great challenge. Congrats. You accomplished something only some odd billion people including literal cave people with no agriculture or language have done for tens of thousands of years- managed not to kill a baby. Whoopie. But- I know that isn’t true for everyone. So much the same- many jobs are “easy” but not “easy.” It depends on part on your abilities and various compatibilities as well as circumstance among other things.
At the end of the day most peoples jobs have some challenges or stresses and unless they are employed below their potential, it’s hard for most people because if they could do more they likely would.
Meaning they are pushing their limits or at the limits of their comfort zone constantly.
So it sounds absurd but we can’t really say being a CEO or a brain surgeon or a deep sea fisherman is any harder than working at Walmart or being a receptionist.m for example. Depends. And think of this- could the CEO or brain surgeon work the floor or back room at Walmart? Dubious. Oh sure- good odds they could do the job- but could they live that life? Not be in charge, not be doing the sort of work that stimulates them? Not making the big bucks? You think someone who’s been a brain surgeon isn’t going to find it hard when they get their Walmart check to make their finances work on their likely brain surgeon expenses like the house and car and students loans for them or their kids etc etc? They are likely going to have to give up quite a bit and adapt quite a bit
That’s going to be pretty hard most likely. The stresses of living on the Walmart salary etc.
so life can be hard regardless of the job and roadless of your skills or potential or wether something is considered “less” than what you do for work. We all walk along different paths.
So yeah. It can be about the money but it is rarely about just the money-
Especially apples to apples, and more money is often not the best way to keep an a momo her because the work remains or increases but you can’t generally just keep giving them big enough raises to satisfy them.
A welder or programmer for example Can get offers from two jobs in the same zip code- one for $20 an hour and one for $100 an hour,
If you work at Burger King a comprable job probably isn’t offering you much more money.
If you make $200+ an hour or equivalent compensation- if you’ve done that for awhile you usually have enough wealth that you are firmly in the camp of people who say things like “it can’t all be about the money” and “my time is worth more than money to me.” So unless it’s ALOT of money and maybe even then- money isn’t enough.
If you make $100 an hour full time, a $20 an hour raise is nice but likely not in itself a huge motivator to leave a good job.
If you make minimum wage to low income” in a “job” not a career- you likely would need to change industries and positions to see a raise of much significance.
So this is correct? Mmmm…. Not so much. Firstly- there are a slew of people “in between” making “good money” and “it is almost illegal or illegal to pay less…” money. So for those people a modest raise can be able to change their lifestyle.
But it often isn’t about MONEY exactly…
Even when it is about money it isn’t usually.
So in a way that is about the pay but really it is about the future.
The other major factor is… your job or company sucks.
The work is boring or stressful or just leaves you feeling like shit or frustrated. Maybe you’re treated badly or get no perks or are embarrassed by your job or who you work for. Maybe they are all idiots and it hurts your soul or they treat all workers like idiots or maybe the culture isn’t right for you or there’s no room for personal or financial growth- a dead end job.
The point is that if they had a great team they got along with, great managers, relatively flexible hours and freedom, they aren’t bored and don’t feel like they are stagnating, if they have good benefits or the benefits are equal or better than the other job etc. they probably aren’t going to leave for a fifty cent raise.
You don’t get paid ALOT but for your age and job you do alright.
Every day you go to work and while there are moments that suck- you feel mostly good.
You find the work interesting or pleasant enough. You feel needed and skilled.
You feel good at your job and get recognition from your peers and from customers etc.
you go in and most of the day when there aren’t things going on you hang out with your friends. Maybe there are clients or customers or vendors who are cool. You get to joke and play around, no one sweats you if you take a few breaks or run some errands or take a long lunch when things are slow and quiet. When you need personal time- family events, trips with friends, a movie or concert you want to go to- they bend over backwards to make sure you can get the time off.
When you have a concern or need or opinion you are listened to.
You feel like you work hard enough to sleep well but not hard enough to be tired all the time or exhausted.
Ok. Picturing it?
New company, new culture. Different co workers and rules and new ways to do things and rules.
Are you going?
What about a raise of $5 an hour?
At some point we will likely hit a number that would make you leave- but for many people the number might become unreasonable for the work they do.
Even if I had a dream job with my pals like that- offer me a million a year guaranteed salary and I’ll leave. Even if that’s just to collect enough money to be very secure financially or wealthy and then go back to doing the other job since I don’t have to worry about money or maintaining my lifestyle so much or at all anymore. But few jobs would offer a raise like that and wether I’d leave or not depends on how much I’m making. If I’m making $100k then a $5-10k raise a year may not compel me to give up the freedom and security and satisfaction. If I’m making $30k a year then $10k could at least make me..
And it depends on the life you lead and where you’re at in it. At 20 and single one might stay at a job simply because it pays enough to pay their parents rent for a room and leave pocket money and isn’t too hard or is cool or fun with perks like being able to watch new films before everyone or free meals etc.
if you are expecting a new child or starting a life with someone etc. then yeah- you might need to make choices that are based entirely on your ability to provide financially. It all depends.
At some point we reach the next level if we make it there. That’s where for whatever lifestyle you want or may want- you earn enough and have the right ratio of security to earnings that more money isn’t interesting unless you are just someone who enjoys making money like trading stocks or starting new businesses etc.
people who are working primarily to find a lifestyle only need so much. Many tech companies learned this the hard way. You pay someone $200k+ a year straight out of college and give them potentially millions sim stocks and there comes a day where unless they just really like the work- they will leave and “focus on themselves” or “giving back” or “having experiences because life is too short to be so much about money.”
One day you realize you don’t HAVE to clock in and spend all day waiting for the moment you an be off, without any real consequence. Why wouldn’t most people at that point start working on what they want to versus chasing money?
You either don’t need the money or you can get similar money elsewhere or you’re tired of your company and it’s shit or you’re tired of coworkers that suck or you don’t see a future where you have the things you want and can eventually retire if you live king enough or whatever.
Ours adds a corresponding weight to “leave” and each thing our company offers that we don’t find elsewhere in realistic jobs to leave for adds a corresponding weight to stay.
Money is just one weight, and some folks weight it more than others do at any given time, but it is seldom or ever alone.
But there are these odd zones on the scale- odd circumstances that can happen-
Some weights are harder to balance.
If you are an accountant that hates being an accountant it would be hard for your current job to do anything to change your mind since you’d still be accounting.
If you’re a cashier but you hate the sorts of customers that go to your particular store, it’s probably more feasible to move locations than for your job to change their client base to make you stay. Money is usually pretty easily moved around on the scale providing you are worth money and the ask is reasonable to the industry/job.
If you’re working for federal minimum wage as a mechanic and then get offered a job at a shop making $20 an hour you’ll probably be stoked. If you work there a few years and gain the skills and resume to go work for a hotshot EV company and start making $30 an hour as an EV specialist you’ll likely be stoked. If you get promoted to a shop formula at $45 an hour you’ll be stoked, and then a company doing space probes using technology like the EV tech you know so well hires you for $85 an hour. Wow. You made it.
You got a nicer apartment that costs more and started taking your partner out more and doing bigger things in your free time-
More exotic trips or nicer locations and accommodations or buying the big TV or the things you can now afford on Amazon etc. and $20/hr ain’t shit in grown up world.
So then you got a swanky EV job and were a techie elite and they made memes about your company and your boss. You got stocks and were treated all grown up and you felt like suddenly you had some breathing room financially. And that continues on until and unless you reach a point where within reason you can buy whatever you want, you can pay all your bills pretty easily and you have a measure of financial security and a financial future that doesn’t seem to involve eating cat food because that’s all your budget in detriment would have allowed.
It’s mostly only short term thinkers or people with critical financial situations or a “hustle and grind” mindset that leave over the money alone.
Even if you’re company is underpaying you then that still is likely not all about money- you’re likely upset or insulted that your company is so cheap or so shady or so crappy or just doesn’t value you.
Where you live and your life circumstances and goals and age and the sorts of things you enjoy using money for and how much those cost, your personality and psychology etc.
That said there doesn’t appear to be a long term correlation between increased pay and job or general satisfaction.
A tech worker returns from their three month vacation on unlimited PTO and clocks in at 11am without ever leaving the house. They sit in a chair all day, talk to some people, push some buttons and create or read reports and documents. No one dies and the world keeps spinning if they miss their deadline. They ask for more money than their $50-200k+ salary because the job is so hard.
All these jobs are hard but they also aren’t.
They all have stress and unpleasant aspects and expectations and little ways to screw up and complexities. They all take your time from being with people you love and doing things you enjoy or building a maintaining your life outside of providing an income to use to that purpose.
Ask a stay at home parent or even a basement dwelling unemployed gamer and they’ll all likely say there isn’t enough time in the day and they have stress.
Some people have endurance and strength and manual labor may not be a breeze but an easy day for them might literally Jill someone else who isn’t suited for it.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses, the things we can tolerate and things we just can’t, things we hate or cause us distress for whatever reason.
I I have to constantly remind myself when parents pour out their woes about lack of sleep or fried nerves from crying that not everyone can just be ok listening to that.
Not some grand badge of honor of great challenge. Congrats. You accomplished something only some odd billion people including literal cave people with no agriculture or language have done for tens of thousands of years- managed not to kill a baby. Whoopie. But- I know that isn’t true for everyone. So much the same- many jobs are “easy” but not “easy.” It depends on part on your abilities and various compatibilities as well as circumstance among other things.
At the end of the day most peoples jobs have some challenges or stresses and unless they are employed below their potential, it’s hard for most people because if they could do more they likely would.
So it sounds absurd but we can’t really say being a CEO or a brain surgeon or a deep sea fisherman is any harder than working at Walmart or being a receptionist.m for example. Depends. And think of this- could the CEO or brain surgeon work the floor or back room at Walmart? Dubious. Oh sure- good odds they could do the job- but could they live that life? Not be in charge, not be doing the sort of work that stimulates them? Not making the big bucks? You think someone who’s been a brain surgeon isn’t going to find it hard when they get their Walmart check to make their finances work on their likely brain surgeon expenses like the house and car and students loans for them or their kids etc etc? They are likely going to have to give up quite a bit and adapt quite a bit
so life can be hard regardless of the job and roadless of your skills or potential or wether something is considered “less” than what you do for work. We all walk along different paths.
So yeah. It can be about the money but it is rarely about just the money-
Especially apples to apples, and more money is often not the best way to keep an a momo her because the work remains or increases but you can’t generally just keep giving them big enough raises to satisfy them.