Family Prioritization v. Career Prioritization
The findings of newly released research revealed that there are more benefits to prioritizing one’s family than making a career the top priority. The study showed that people who placed a higher priority on their families earned more on average than those who ranked their jobs higher.
CreditLoan, a website dedicated to giving financial advice, conducted a survey which had 1,015 U.S. employees within the age range of 17-73 as respondents. The Study revealed that participants who placed their children and family as the foremost priority earned an annual average of $8,714 more than those who prioritized their jobs. On consideration of the differences across age brackets and genders, the study highlighted the benefits of maintaining a balance between family and career.
Specifically, the study revealed that the remuneration for millennials who placed more priority on their family was about $4,000 more than those who ranked work higher. The Study also revealed that those within the age bracket of 38 and 53 who ranked family higher than work earned about $8,000 more than those who rated their jobs higher.
Media outlets reported stated that even though the study indicated that those who placed priority on family earned more, it could, however, merely be a demonstration that those who earned higher could comfortably set higher priorities on their families.
The creative director of Credit Loan, Corrie Colliton, who led the research, stated that the research’s findings were indications that it was possible to maintain a balance between life demands and career without destroying an employee’s chances of career advancement. Colliton, while addressing a news agency, stated that a life without balance could cause burnout, and people who were more focused on their careers were missing out on sustaining healthy relationships and having leisurely breaks.
He also added that placing more priority could someday lead to health deterioration. He stated that by placing priority on health, and a person’s loved ones, a person would have it easy to make all-round progress. He added that doing that also made one more confident, refreshed and at alert during work periods.
Gender Specific Findings
The research indicated that the correlation that existed between salary and family prioritization was more evident for male respondents. The study showed that respondents of the male gender who placed priority on their children earned about $15,975 more than those who responded that they ranked their careers higher. The research showed that career remained the fifth top priority for men among others interests such as financial independence, friendship, and fitness.
For female respondents who placed more priority on their family, the study revealed that they earned just an average of $1,453 more than those who ranked career as their priority. It was recorded that this stood as a confirmation of the findings of a research which suggested that for each child a woman had about 4% went off her hourly wages. The study also revealed that women were more willing to have a salary reduction to pursue other life interests. The female respondents noted that they would be willing to take a 20.1% paycheck cut for children-related reasons, while the men were only willing to reduce by 12%.
The study also revealed other variants of priorities which had ties to the paycheck. For instance, the study showed that those who responded that fun was their highest priority earned significantly lesser than those who placed priority on other relationship related priorities. Men who put fun as priority had a downgrade of $27,159 in their paycheck, while the women who set fun had a decline of $11,341 in their salary.
Millennnials Prioritize Career Advancement
A survey, conducted by Comet on about 364 respondents who were single and employed millennials without children, revealed that 41% of them were willing to opt out of a relationship for a promotion. The research showed that they were willing to delay getting married for seven more years and delay having kids for eight years if it would help them advance in their careers.
The respondents on an average also stated that they were willing to put off their relationship for a $36,000 salary raise. However, the study revealed that they were ready to make compromises for their partners because 86% of the respondents expressed willingness to relocate if their partners got better offers in different cities.
