Your Career

Think you're overworked and underpaid? You're not alone, 57% of respondents to a recent survey by Salary.Com said that they planned to leave their job because they weren't paid enough. But according to the company's research, only about 17% of workers are truly paid less than their peers. One of the major reasons for the gap in perception is the meager rate at which wages have increased in the past few years. On average the annual raise has been consumed by inflation, leaving little real gain in spending power.

I've often found that few people really feel they are paid what they are worth. After a few years on the job it's easy to get complacent and think that you should be making more. Unfortunately the simple fact is that raises will typically only get you so far. On average, raises take into account cost of living expenses and in some rare cases an increase in job responsibility. The real path to greater earning power is by changing jobs. Employers will often bait applicants with a nice wage increase, but don't be surprised if you miss out on major raises for a while.

In the end I think it's natural to feel underappreciated at work. We value our time more highly than anyone else, and it's no surprise if we sometimes feel we could be doing more with it. Still, if you are truly underpaid or must work countless uncompensated hours, you owe it to yourself to at least look around for a new job. Your lack of enthusiasm and enjoyment for work will severely tax both your career and your personal life. It's only through finding a balance between compensation and enjoyment that we can ever really be happy with our work. Money may make you happy today, but it will take satisfaction to get you through the long haul.