Job Satisfaction - What drives it? Part Two

Researchers also found that while interest in a job may not matter much when it comes to satisfaction, it does help with career prospects. Being interested in your work seems more important for job performance and the downstream consequences of performing well, like raises or promotions.

Career guides have traditionally advised young people to look for a job in an area that fits with their personal interests. While this is still a useful approach, it's no predictor of long-term job satisfaction. In popular career guidance literature, it is widely assumed that interest fit is important for job satisfaction.

Results show that people who are more interested in their jobs tend to be slightly more satisfied, but interest assessments are more useful for guiding people towards jobs in which they will perform better and make more money.

Satisfaction factors

Fewer than half of those surveyed said their satisfaction at work depended on their pay or their work-life balance, instead rating job security, paid holidays and their workplace environment, more highly.

Who’s happiest?

In the same survey, workers at both ends of the age range and those with higher qualifications said they were the most satisfied.

Men were more satisfied than women, although the balance was reversed among workers aged 45-67 with older women enjoying more job satisfaction than male colleagues.