The Effects of Personal and Workplace Values on Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a critical, consistently and deeply explored aspect of organizational behavior. Gallup has long tracked the cost of disengagement to the US economy, and its estimates run into the hundreds of billions of dollars a year (with more recent global figures reaching into the trillions). A 2019 Oxford University study, led by Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, George Ward, and Clement Bellet, found that happier employees were around 13% more productive, based on a field experiment with call-center workers at the telecoms firm BT.

The degree of satisfaction has implications not only for the employee, but also for their colleagues, their superiors, and the organization as a whole.

Research has shown that employees are more satisfied and less likely to look for a new job when their personal values overlap with the company’s values. A positive perception of the work environment is important in this connection too. (If you want to pin down what you need from a job, a work values assessment is the place to start.)

Terminal vs. instrumental values

There are two types of personal values: terminal and instrumental. Terminal values represent things we want to accomplish or achieve. They are end goals, like happiness, achievement, pleasure, etc.

Instrumental values are means to accomplish these goals, like honesty, ambition, respect, autonomy, etc. Someone who doesn’t value honesty is more likely to cheat or lie to achieve a goal than someone who does.

Personal and workplace values: similarities and differences

Workplace values and personal values are alike in that they serve as markers of one’s identity, as guidelines for what is done and expressed. They differ in that people can discover their personal values and adopt them voluntarily, while workplace values are pre-set.

Values help companies define a variety of acceptable behaviors, which determine which actions are encouraged and which are discouraged. They impact executives and staff members alike.

Values tell employees what is healthy and what is unhealthy for their workplace. For instance, an organization can value “receptiveness to feedback” and implement it by rejecting clients or dismissing employees who have not been receptive.

In more extreme cases, this may occur even if those people have many positive traits.

Trust and profit

Staying true to your values requires sacrifices. A company might have a lucrative client who has engaged in unethical practices and decide to terminate their relationship, putting trust before profit. Removing an ethically questionable element from the organization helps build employees’ trust.

By acting in alignment with its values, the company is showing its clients, contractors, and employees that they can trust it to behave ethically.

Growth and meaning

Of the many internal conflicts involving values that may arise, the dichotomy of growth and stability vs. meaning is among the most prominent. It has been said that the lack of meaning is one of the most painful things a person can experience. Psychologist Viktor Frankl said, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

Ultimately, knowing where you stand can save you a lot of time and protect you from deeply unsatisfying job experiences. Someone might put all of their efforts into getting promoted at work, only to realize they hate coming to work even more after the promotion.

Some people even end up resigning from prestigious, high-paying positions in dynamic industries. You can spend years rising in ranks and making progress and more money, but inside, you feel unfulfilled and exhausted.

Studies on job satisfaction, including a well-known SHRM/CNN Money survey, consistently find that being treated with respect and finding a sense of meaning rank among the most important factors — with income mattering less than most people assume. Unfortunately, meaning and income don't always go hand in hand.

Everyone has values, and being aware of them can help you make the best employment decision.

It comes down to knowing what you value more – a meaningful job or financial stability. The answer isn’t necessarily black and white.

Despite their relatively low earnings, many people working in the humanities or public services express high satisfaction with their jobs, likely because they find meaning in their work.

PayScale's "Most and Least Meaningful Jobs" survey, which drew on responses from more than two million workers, found that over 90% of people in the following roles report high meaning in their work:

• Clergy
• Elementary Education Administrators
• English Language and Literature Teacher
• Radiation Therapists
• Rehabilitation Counsellors
• Chiropractors
• Kindergarten Teachers
• Epidemiologists

As for income as a factor, aggregated survey data (including figures from PayScale and Zippia) suggests roughly 85% or more of chief executives and around 88% of paediatricians report high job satisfaction. On the other end of the scale, aggregated workforce surveys suggest that about a third of workers earning under $25,000 a year report satisfaction below 50%.

Career and workforce surveys, including data aggregated by outlets like Zippia, point to the following low-income positions coming in at job satisfaction of 50% or less:

• Hand Packers and Packagers
• Cashiers
• Fast Food Cooks
• Short Order Cooks
• Dry-cleaning Workers
• Dishwashers
• Photographic Processing Machine Operators
• Parking Lot Attendants
• Cafeteria Attendants

Exploring the relationship between company size and job satisfaction

The type of company you work for can influence your satisfaction. Again, being aware of your values is crucial so you don’t choose the wrong company. Small and large enterprises differ in terms of communication, connections, resources, influence, and structure.

The table below lists the main differences.

Small enterprises	Large enterprises
Simpler communication	More difficult communication
Less bureaucracy	More bureaucracy
Closer connections	Feels impersonal
More limited resources and influence	More resources and influence
Less structure	More structure
Can lack workflow order	Ordered and predictable workflow

Job satisfaction by sector

Employees of private companies tend to be the least satisfied of the groups surveyed, the others being non-profit employees, government employees, and self-employed individuals. Some data suggests non-profit and government workers report modestly higher satisfaction than the self-employed and private-sector employees, though the precise numbers behind this vary too much by source to state with confidence.

Finally, some workplace surveys have found that people working remotely report somewhat higher job satisfaction than those working in an office, though the exact size of that gap varies by source. Overall, organizations that offer the opportunity to work remotely tend to produce higher levels of job satisfaction on average.

The effect of remuneration

Interestingly, income seems to matter less once you cross a certain threshold. The most-cited research here is Kahneman and Deaton's 2010 study on income and emotional wellbeing, which found that day-to-day happiness levelled off above a certain income point — though that finding addressed emotional wellbeing rather than a specific job-satisfaction percentage, and more recent research (Killingsworth, 2021) has challenged the idea that wellbeing plateaus at all.

At the other end of the scale, aggregated workforce data suggests that only around 39% of workers earning under $30,000 a year report feeling satisfied with their jobs, even if they otherwise liked the work.

Predicting job satisfaction

A 2015 SHRM survey, reported on by CNN Money, found that 72% of employees ranked respectful treatment as the single most important factor in job satisfaction, ahead of trust in management, benefits, compensation, and job security.

These results are hardly a surprise. Self-fulfillment is at the top of Maslow’s Human Needs Pyramid. Being able to grow and develop is important for many people, but not as much as being respected, which was the top predictor across the board.

The following should also be considered as possible predictors.

Workplace atmosphere and team communication

People see and talk to their coworkers often, so it only makes sense that they would be looking for positive relationships and a pleasant workplace environment.

Work-life balance

A work-life balance keeps people productive and motivated. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here, as in a set number of hours a day to work or rest. This is why fixed working hours are so demotivating. Work-life balance is highly individual, with some working to live or vice versa.

Some people are perfectly happy having almost no life outside of work, and others feel satisfied at the other extreme. For most, the ideal is somewhere in the middle.

At any rate, people who are able to set a boundary between their job and their personal life are less stressed than those who aren’t.

Dynamic nature of work

Dynamic, varied work creates a challenge. Routine tasks lead to boredom and waning motivation.

Final thoughts

To decide whether a job is worth pursuing, ask yourself why you’re really considering it. Will it help you achieve a certain goal or fulfill a purpose? Will it give you flexibility if that’s what you’re looking for? Are there any potentially problematic aspects? If so, is there room for compromise?