January 12, 2012

I see it every day.  Employees at all levels—especially women—are stepping away from positions that will pay them the highest salary, and moving into ones that provide them a better quality of life.

A friend of mine, Lucy, was a talented fifth-year associate at a Top 5 law firm in Manhattan.  She made so much money that her husband didn’t have to work, ever. But just as her partner was getting ready to buy a new set of golf clubs, Lucy quit.  She went to work as internal legal counsel for a company that manufactures environmentally-friendly home products.  Lucy makes $100k less in this new position, but her office is sunny and collaborative and her colleagues respect her personal time. She loves it.

A caring culture is tops

Lucy’s story is in line with the findings of a recent Monster/Unum study of job seekers, which determined that, over everything else, 87 percent of employees want a company "that truly cares about the well-being of its employees."  By contrast, only 66 percent of respondents rated a high base salary as very important.

Another 2011 Unum survey with Harvard Business Review Analytic Services solicited human resource executives’ opinions on this issue, with similar results. This research found that corporate culture is critical to driving engagement, recruitment and retention of a quality workforce.

A company’s values and focus on employee fulfillment are apparently the most important factors in attracting and engaging quality employees, and being a company that cares about the well-being of its staff was twice as likely to be viewed as very important in attracting and retaining staff as providing a high base salary.

Money doesn’t buy satisfaction

You may be skeptical of these results. After all, with retirement funds still dwindling as a result of an economy that has been in the dumps for several years, why wouldn’t employees want all of the money they could get? Harvard University psychologist Daniel Gilbert provides some clues in his book Stumbling on Happiness, suggesting that money increases happiness only when it lifts people out of objective poverty and into the middle class. Once you’re in the middle class and your basic needs are met, income increases don’t positively impact your level of happiness or quality of life.

This idea has been supported by global surveys that ask people how satisfied they are with their lives on a scale from 1 to 7 (1 being "not at all satisfied with my life" and 7 being "completely satisfied with my life"). Among American multimillionaires, the average happiness score is 5.8. Want to know who else had a score of 5.8? The cattle-herding Masai tribe in Kenya, which has no electricity or running water. Interesting.

It will cost some money

Since readers of this column obviously care about creating and sustaining a great workplace culture, this is good news. It’s even better for those who are small business owners, as while your salaries may be lower, it’s also easier for you to develop the meaningful one-on-one employee relationships that lead to a positive culture.

What everyone should remember, though, is that great culture is about more than having donuts for breakfast and being nice to and supportive of one another. To be really competitive in the culture department, Unum says you have to pony up for things like health, lifestyle and retirement benefits. While this won’t always be 100 percent doable, hopefully research like Unum’s will prompt you to consider culture-boosting perks more seriously than before.

Alexandra Levit is a former nationally-syndicated business and workplace columnist for The Wall Street Journal and the author of Blind Spots: The 10 Business Myths You Can’t Afford to Believe on Your New Path to Success.  Money magazine’s Online Career Expert of the Year, she regularly speaks at organizations and conferences on issues facing modern employees.

Illustration by Russell Christian

Join the conversation ( 10 )

• Ben Winegarden 1 months ago

  

  This is only true once you've reached a certain salary threshold.
  
  Ben Winegarden

  • Alexandra Levit 30 days ago

    

    Ben, any idea what the salary threshold is, and doesn't it vary by position and industry?

• JOHN LAKE JR 1 months ago

  

  While I fully agree with you, Alexandra, I am wondering if the message is falling on deaf ears. This message has been around for several years now, and I have not seen much change in organizational cultures. (Disclosure: I am one who also left the corporate world to go independent because of a culture shift after my employing company of 30 years was acquired. I loved mama "company", I just didn't like the guy she married.)
  
  As long as organizations are more focused on the bottom line than the people who make the bottom line happen, I do not foresee much change happening on the culture front. This will start to be a factor when it affects the bottom line of the organization. But I am used to working about 5-7 years ahead of my time. I'll be ready when they start crying for help. But the message may not be pretty.

  • Alexandra Levit 1 months ago

    

    Thanks for your comment, John. In 5-7 years, we will finally be in the midst of that labor shortage everyone's been talking about, and it will be interesting to see if organizations start changing their tune then.

• Super M 1 months ago

  

  I think that companies should strive to have a good working culture no matter how much they pay their staff. Culture is highly reliant on making the right recruitment decisions. I actually do not like articles like this giving companies licence to pay lower wages as I do not believe that a good culture and one "that truly cares about the well-being of its employees" needs to be as a result of lower wages.

  • Alexandra Levit 1 months ago

    

    Hi Super, I don't think companies should pay lower wages, I think they should be competitive. I believe the point is that there is no need to over-inflate salaries if you are providing a healthy and productive work environment.

• Angeli Yuson 1 months ago

  

  This is a great post with really great posts. It gives companies something to think about when trying to create a great culture to work in.
  Thanks for your post.

  • Alexandra Levit 1 months ago

    

    Thanks! I appreciate you reading, Angeli!

• Julie McNeil-Sagrera 1 months ago

  

  This article, "Good Culture Is In, Inflated Salaries Are Out" is so true! My quality of life is much more important than money. Yes, I left a 6-figure salary to improve my quality of life. I suppose it depends where you are in life. I spent 27-years in the corporate world and finally realized there is so more to life than working for 'The Man' and feeding 'Big Brother.' My tax liability is much lower and I am taking time to be a wife, and mother -even doing the house work! -and, guess what? -I'm enjoying life so much more. Working for a large corporation is -a world of hype! Eventually, it will kill you -from the inside out. If you believe money is more important -go for it. If you are smart you'll quickly figure it out on your own.

  • Alexandra Levit 1 months ago

    

    Julie, thanks for your inspirational comment. People need to read about people like you who took the plunge and are now happy doing what they love.