An Investigation into Remuneration as a Motivating Factor in Career Choices?

Abstract

Remuneration has been at the forefront of many organisations for many years. The question of whether remuneration was the most motivating factor for individuals when choosing careers is something that has a vast amount of literature on. The concept of Remuneration is the money or wages associated with a job. The purpose of this study was ‘To investigate whether remuneration is the ultimate driver when choosing a career’. The aim of the research was ‘To investigate if remuneration is the motivating factor when entering and maintaining a career.’ The objectives set out by the researcher for the research were as follows: • To identify what factors, influence individuals when selecting a profession. • To examine to what extent individuals, hold remuneration as an important factor when choosing a career. • To investigate whether motivating factors within careers change over time. The study used a quantitative method of data collection, this was chosen as it was deemed the most suitable method of data collection for the topic. The research targeted 80 people to participate in anonymous online questionnaires. The participants had to be over the age of 18 and were either currently employed or have been employed previously. The questionnaire had 64 responses that came from friends, family, and peers from the university course of the researcher. The use of anonymous online questionnaires was selected by the researcher due to the fact remuneration could be considered as a sensitive topic. The study concluded that remuneration does hold weight when selecting a career, however this perspective changes as individuals settle into their career. Similarly, 70% of respondents said that what they look for in a job has changed over time, with 9 respondents suggesting that remuneration is no longer important to them as when they were first selecting a career. Furthermore, it can be concluded that as people settle into their career, their priorities change and tend to shift to having a good work life balance, having satisfaction within their roles and the ability to seek new opportunities and develop within their roles.