ILC ARTICLE

Salary slips down the pecking order of priorities

30th August 2022

More workers prioritise a good work-life balance over salary, according to new research carried out by Aviva.

It found that 41% of respondents said work-life balance was the most important thing in a job, compared to 36% who said it was the financial package.

This is significant shift from before the pandemic, when more than 41% of those questioned said that pay was what attracted them to their jobs.

However, there is a substantial difference in attitude between the sexes with more men valuing salary (43%) over work-life balance (34%), while the figures are virtually reversed for women with 44% citing work-life balance as their number one consideration compared to 33% who said it was pay.

Laura Stewart-Smith, Head of Financial Wellbeing at Aviva: “Before the pandemic, it would have been difficult to imagine a time when employees would pick a role for the work-life balance over the salary. The pandemic seems to have shone a light on the importance of being able to juggle family-life, exercise-life, dog-life – whatever the lifestyle – with work-life. Getting this balance right for employees and employers is a tricky one but if successfully achieved it can often mean a happier and more productive workplace.”

However, workplace benefits remain important to employees, with 87% hoping to see improvements to their packages in the next 12 months, although 53% of employers said they are now struggling to offer competitive benefits to their staff, with cost the main challenge for 62% of those surveyed.