How much is enough ?

I had a discussion the other day with the girl sitting at reception in our local gym with regard to employment. Not about her employment at the gym, but about her future employment prospects. She was nearing the completion of her university studies and was eyeing up potential employers in the same field as I am working in. So we did a had of a Q&A session.

One of my work colleagues is shortly to leave us. The reason ? A higher salary. There's the theory in Sweden that the only way to increase your salary is by changing jobs. That's possibly correct. Cut throat individual annual salary negotiations are not as common place in Sweden as they are in some other countries. I suspect that's more a case of employers trying to get away with paying as little as possible in those countries, whereas Swedish employers typically try to be fair and show their employees a little more respect. People coming from some countries have grown up used to fighting their employer for a fair wage, and naturally assume that it must be the same attitude from employers everywhere else including in Sweden. Once you've negotiated your starting salary, annual increases in Sweden are typically cost of living increases. That being said, I don't find that to be particularly unusual. Most of my non-Swedish employers have followed exactly that principle. Maybe Swedes have the wrong idea about how the rest of the world is actually operating.

I had a quick count up and I reckon I've changed employers  9 times during my 30 years of working. So I think I'm reasonably well placed to discuss employers and working conditions. It possibly sounds like a lot, but there was one year when I changed job 3 times. For various reasons, none of which were salary related. If I was constantly looking for more money, I would have been changing jobs every year. Because that's the only way that one gets a big jump in income. In any country, not just in Sweden. But once you've passed that initial buzz, you'd have to repeat the same process over and over again. Spot the problem ? Eventually you're going to hit the point where, no matter how often you change, your job is what your job is. And so is the salary.

So, for me, it's the package deal which counts. Of course you should be earning a fair salary. That's a given. I had no idea about salary levels when I came to Sweden. The worst thing one can do is to compare with the salary levels in one's home country. It's totally meaningless and completely irrelevant. Frankly, I was just happy to have a job. Looking around today, I think that I get paid pretty well. Maybe I could get more elsewhere. Possibly. But what would I lose, and what is that worth to me ? This is where it gets subjective. Different things have different values to different people. Depending on where they are in life.

In my current role I feel that I have good job security. Our company is large, and we're always busy. If we ever have a light period, we simply pick up the slack from one of our other offices in Sweden. And vice versa. That's one less worry. The large organisation also means more resources to ensure a good working environment. Outside of my times working for local government in NZ, I want for nothing here in my working environment. Nice chair, my own office, good food for morning tea. They make me comfortable for 40 hours a week. I haven't always had that previously. My annual gym membership is paid for by my company. That's got value to me. Not to everyone, but it does to me. Every year I receive an annual bonus equivalent to one month's salary. So, in effect, my salary level is actually about 10% higher. Plus the gym fee money. Not many companies can match that. That bonus is especially important to me. Being a new tax payer in Sweden, I don't have much in the way of retirement funds. So every year I take my annual bonus and put it straight into a Tax Free pension fund. Every year I can do that, I'll make up for 3 years of non paying. If the system can keep going then, by the time I retire, I'll have hopefully caught up with a Swedish born worker. Again, it's a personal thing. Every year my office takes a trip. To say Thank You for the previous year's hard work. I've been able to see some wonderful palces for free as a result. Things I probably wouldn't have done if I'd had to think about saving the money for myself.

So, all in all, it's the combination of rewards which determine a good employment for me. Maybe it's taken to my older years to appreciate that not all rewards are in cash. I've never lived to work, I've always worked to live. My work life needs to serve the sole purpose of ensuring that my non work life is the best that it can be. I've earnt a lot more money in the past, and been a thoroughly miserable person. These days it's more about priorities and perspectives.