Time Clock Punchers vs. Salary Earners: Hourly Wage Workers are Happier!

About half of you out there punch a clock to collect a paycheck and maybe the grass looks greener among the salary earners. But, the truth about job satisfaction is actually a bit surprising.

Before you spend much energy pining away for the corner office with the enviable view, listen up: those who click a time clock might actually be happier, according to a new study by Stanford University and the University of Toronto.

How can that be, you wonder? Apparently, those hourly wage workers have a stronger relationship between happiness and the money they earn. And for the 50 percent of workers whose earnings are based on the clock, theirs' is a quicker tick-tock between work and validation.

"If you are paid by the hour or account for your time on a timesheet, you begin to see the world in terms of money and in terms of economic evaluation," said Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. "To the extent that time becomes like money and money becomes more salient, the linkage between how much you earn and your happiness increases.

Wow, if it's happiness you're seeking, rocking the time clock works. That doesn't mean there aren't also some pros to pulling down a salary, though. Salary workers often enjoy more permanent positions and so, may feel a greater sense of job security. Then again, hourly workers know there is a check and balance in the workplace — their earnings are directly related to their output.

But whatever way you put money in your pocket, we can all be happy that a paycheck is what is getting it there.

Photo by Menage a Moi via Flickr.