Saturday, June 17, 2006

Job satisfaction or money - II

This is a continuation of my previous post, which attracted a number of interesting comments. This is what I feel about the issue:

Money is, no doubt, a great necessity; not just for survival, but to indulge in some luxury as well. Luxury is important to cushion the hardships of life. What is luxury varies from person to person. Even the poorest-paid worker, if he is prudent with his income, finds money to splurge, may not be everyday, but at least once in a while. 

When we say we are poorly paid, it is more often with respect to our aspiration levels rather than survival levels.

I believe job satisfaction takes precedence over money; because, it is the love for our vocation that will keep us going finally. There is a limit to which money can motivate us, but there is no end to which the passion for our job can take us.

If the passion for our work is taken care of, money will come. It's only a matter of time.

A love for money need not necessarily translate into a deep passion for work. A well-paying job may lead to greater love for work, but more often than not, that love proves to be temporary. It vanishes the moment we get used to the fatter pay check.

It's also because at some point, we discover that there are limits to things that money can buy. Some of the most abiding and long-lasting things in life can just not be bought with money.

It is sad if one's success is weighed against designations and salary. It's not a proper assessment. Success should be determined by the usefulness of the work that one does. Felicitations for promotions, for example, are only symbolic, they don't have any deep meaning. Real appreciation should be on a daily basis for the work we all do in our different roles.

Good quality emerges not out of fat pay cheques; but out of passion for work.

5 comments:

  1. Hiya..

    I remember your father mention, time and again, in Sainik School about "LABOR IPSE VOLUPTAS" and quite recently, I just happned to see the mobile screensaver of a mate of mine from the same school. It too said LABOR IPSE VOLUPTAS!!! The inspiration is quite obvious.

    Reading your article has come at a personal moment in my life when I am debating whether I really find the pleasure in the work I do. Am I missing anything? Am I meant to do something more meaningful? It's great that you have given me a new perspective to think about.

    Been following your blog for a while and its quite easy to realise the amount of thought that goes into each of your posts.

    Let them keep coming!

    2186/91

    PS: Met your Dad yday at the reunion!

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  2. Thank you so much, Soni, for all those words, which meaan a lot to me.

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  3. Timely post, Pradeep. The thought process has already begun. An evaluation of the past, present and future. Time has come to think once more and decide.

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  4. The other view is 'When we say we are poorly paid, it is also in comparison to others'. Not many people who get the fat pay checks today dreamt of this, when they were studying. There are bathmates who are getting paid differently by virtue of their 'branch'. A mechanical topper may be getting lesser than an average computer engg from the same college/batch

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  5. The above post was mine. Didn't mean to be anonymous

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