Hands up if you’d appreciate a salary increase right now. It’d be a help, right?
Amid the ongoing energy and cost of living crisis, almost everyone is feeling the pinch of household inflation. Despite this, 83 per cent of knowledge workers recently surveyed say they are willing to earn less, if it means enjoying work more.
Alongside a continuously improving awareness and consideration of mental health and wellbeing, for the vast majority, personal satisfaction that comes from a healthy relationship with work trumps better compensation.
Changing expectations
The survey included over 15,000 workers across Europe, specifically the UK, France, Germany and Spain, and also the US, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, India and Indonesia.
The pandemic, when traditional working models were upended, had the biggest effect on our relationships with work, with 57 per cent of knowledge workers saying that post-pandemic has been a pivotal time in redefining their relationship with work.
In Germany, just 41 per cent of respondents agreed with this statement, while in emerging markets there was greater agreement with the sentiment, including a high of 73 per cent in Indonesia.
On a global level, 58 per cent of knowledge workers say their expectation of the quality of their relationship with work has increased in recent years. This falls to 53 per cent for the European participants surveyed.
Expectations of how workers are treated by their workplace have also increased in the past two to three years. For Europeans, 51 per cent agreed expectations were higher, compared to the global average of 57 per cent.
Younger workers want more
Gen Z and Millennials are demanding more of their workplaces. As trends such as quiet quitting and lazy girl jobs continue to emerge, it’s perhaps unsurprising that 65 per cent of Gen Z and 65 per cent of Millennial workers say their expectations of their own relationship with work has increased since the pandemic, compared to just 51 per cent of Gen X and 43 per cent of Boomers.
These figures are very similar when looking at the percentage of knowledge workers who say their expectation of how they’re treated by work and their workplace has also increased: 65 per cent of Gen Z, 63 per cent of Millennials, 52 per cent of Gen X and 44 per cent of Boomers.
Salary sacrifices
How much salary workers are willing to trade in for better working terms is significant.
Of those surveyed, workers would give 13per cent of their salary to work where they want, 13 per cent to work when they want, and 11 per cent for above-average employee engagement. Again, percentages were higher in Gen Z and Millennials than Gen X and Boomers.
Looking for a role in an organisaton with flexibility and strong employee engagement? Check out the Silicon Canals Job Board, which features thousands of job openings across Europe, including these three below.
Front-end UI/UX Engineer, Western Union, Madrid
American multinational Western Union is hiring a Front-end UI/UX Engineer for its Madrid office. In this role, you’ll be developing innovative and efficient technology driving front-end channels, including the digital bank mobile app and digital wallet, and collaborating with Product, Design, Business and Marketing teams to ensure products are delivered successfully, on time and under budget.
A strong emphasis on customer journey, product quality, performance tuning and troubleshooting is required, as the organisation integrates new technologies into its digital ecosystem continuously. A minimum of three years experience is ideal, as is a degree in computer science or related fields. Apply for this job here.
Requirements Engineer (all genders), PŸUR, Berlin
PŸUR is a high-speed internet provider that’s part of Tele Columbus AG, one of the leading fibre optic network operators in Germany, serving more than three million households. The entire Tele Columbus Group is fully powered by renewable energy, and is currently seeking a Requirements Engineer for their Berlin base.
The role involves QA and working to modernise the IT landscape, as well validation of technical requirements for various teams in the business. The organisation offers career support, daycare allowance, company pension, travel allowance, flexitime, home office options, mobile work models, and even a company bike or e-bike. See more about this role here.
QA Engineer, Jobbio, Dublin
As Jobbio rapidly scales its publishing network, it is hiring an experienced QA Engineer and Build Test Engineer with at least three years commercial experience in technical test roles in modern web applications, frameworks and APIs.
The successful candidate will build and run automated test scripts, raise issues in tracking tools, devise schedules, create deployment scripts in AWS, and sign off software with the engineering team, collaborate with the product team on product requirements and verify server deployments and environments.
The job description highlights how Jobbio fosters an environment where employees are recognised for their contributions, appreciated and challenged. Check out this exciting role here.
Find your next role today on the Silicon Canals Job Board
Read the orginal article: https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/kai/guestblog/workers-willing-to-earn-less-if-loving-work/
