Want job satisfaction? Don't stay too long

Job satisfaction comes with age and not staying too long in one organization, says new study. Researchers studied information from the United States National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, involving 21,670 participants over 40 years.

Three researchers, Dr Shoshana Dobrow Riza from the London School of Economics, Professor Yoav Ganzach from Tel Aviv University, and Yihao Liu from the University of Florida published their results in the Journal of Management.

The research showed that people’s job satisfaction gradually declined over the years, until they moved to a new organization, which renewed their interest and boosted enthusiasm. Then the cycle of decline started again.

However, the study also showed that older workers were more satisfied with their job than younger workers. One reason was that older workers were generally better paid than younger workers, but also that they had mastered the work, had a higher status, were more familiar with the organization’s policies and regulations, networked well, had built a rapport with clients, and had more realistic expectations of work.

All workers, particularly younger workers, gained immediate job satisfaction when they got a pay rise. But this was short-lived and did not over-ride lingering job disatisfaction.

The researchers noted that job satisfaction has ups and downs, and is therefore cyclical. Job satisfaction cycles are normal. Dr Shoshan Dobrow Riza said, ‘sometimes the answer is to find a new job, but not always. Individuals and managers can be proactive in helping ward off declining satisfaction by finding ways to redesign work to make it more motivating and meaningful.’ This could include rotational jobs, undertaking a different type of assignment, or taking a sabbatical.

The research showed that pay was not the sole factor in job satisfaction. Other factors, such as age, tenure, time off, vacations, the organizational culture, management style, meaningful work, praise, and their work colleagues also have a role in how satisfied people are at work.

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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