United States – understand-culture

Money is not everything

Do you want to pay your employees a bonus? Beware, this might not be a good idea: Studies show that extra money can hurt employee motivation and job satisfaction.

What is the ideal salary? Even if funds were unlimited, pinpointing the ideal salary would be difficult. The first intuition is: the higher the salary, the better the work results. But studies show that the connection between compensation, motivation and performance is much more complex. In fact, there is some evidence that people would not be happier in their jobs if they had control over their salary.

Don’t overpay your employees!

What drives employees? There are many answers to the question: Responsibility is one thing, appreciation is another. And money? Not so important. More salary can even be dangerous.

According to the motivational pope Sprenger, money can trigger a flash in the pan motivation. “The half-life is usually no more than 48 hours,” says the management consultant. Happiness researcher Ruckriegel is a little more optimistic: “Once the basic needs are met, it takes about two to three months for the employee’s expectations to adjust and for them to be just as satisfied as they were before the salary increase.”

In the long term, however, there is a risk of dramatic consequences from excessive financial generosity. According to Sprenger, it increases the stimulus and expectation level and can thus trigger a real addiction to rewards. Ruckriegel also warns: “You always have to push more, but at some point the end of the road will be reached.” And the higher the starting salary level, the lower the impact on productivity and the higher the greed. Because then the main thing is to earn as much as possible more than the others.

New York City rich and poor

January 2021 Even before COVID-19, New York was already defined by a gap between the rich and poor. Yet during the pandemic, wealth has become a determinant of survival. The pandemic hit New York in the spring, with almost 800 people dying from COVID-19 each day in April.

The city has been uneasy since then. People’s lives have been shaken by months of stay-at-home orders, changing public health measures, “Black Lives Matter” protests, the presidential election, and above all the economic consequences of the pandemic, including ever-widening inequality between New Yorkers.

Why the inequality gap is growing

For forty years, the U.S.-led global economy has produced an enormous improvement in human welfare. The percentage of the world’s population living on less than $1.90 per day fallings from 42% to 10%.

At the same time, income inequality has surged in countries with advanced economics. Nowhere has it surged more than the United States, where reliance on free-market forces magnifies rewards for those at the top while leaving others behind.

USA – Rich vs Poor

Infographics on the distribution of wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. The reality is often not what we think it is.

YouTube comments:

“Campaign finance reform is the solution. Until we elect people who arnt brought and paid for nothing will change.”

Engineer salary in United States

The average salary for a engineer is $57,342 per year in the United States. 8k salaries reported, updated at December 25, 2022

2022 Engineering Salary Statistics

What is an engineering degree worth? Year after year, engineering jobs are paid the highest average starting salary. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) engineers have a median annual wage of $100,640and the engineering field projects to have employment growth of 6 percent from 2020 to 2030—nearly 146,000 new jobs over the next decade.

Electrical engineer salary in U.S.

The average salary for a electrical engineer is $85,818 per year in the United States. 11.8k salaries reported, updated at December 25, 2022

Bet your bottom dollar

Is salary important to workers? Bet your bottom dollar it is.

“Employees will go where the money is. And where they’re treated respectfully and valued. But, mostly, it’s the money.”

When we asked those respondents to choose from a list of top reasons why they’re open to new opportunities, nearly two-thirds (63.4%) selected “I need to make more money”.

That’s more than double the next-most popular reason, which is “I need a fresh challenge” (24.6%).

Work flexibility (20.8%), meaningfulness in work (19.3%) and career advancement (also 19.3%) are other leading factors prompting the drive to explore new job opportunities. Still, those numbers pale in comparison to compensation.

Salary and Job Security

Salary is still the top priority for Germans when choosing a job. More than two thirds of those surveyed (67 percent) see remuneration as a top employer characteristic. This is the result of a nationwide, representative survey by the opinion research institute Innofact on behalf of TARGOBANK.

This means that the topic of salary has gained even more importance compared to 2017 (2017: 61 percent) when the survey was first carried out. Job security came in second place among the most important employer characteristics this year – half of those surveyed stated that this was of great importance to them.

In 2017, however, it was even more important to those surveyed at 60 percent. The location of the company is also very relevant to those surveyed: around a third attach great importance to this when choosing an employer. Awareness or the size of the company, on the other hand, still do not play a major role (around 4 percent each).