Hourly wages keep employees happier

A new study has found that people paid hourly wages show a stronger relationship between income and happiness.

Researchers tried to discover the relationship between income and happiness by concentrating on the organisational arrangements that establish the relation between time and money. It was seen that the way an employee was paid was linked to his/her happiness.

According to the researchers, people paid by the hour give more attention to their pay than those who earn a salary. And this constant attention on the worth of the worker's time in each paycheck affects the level of happiness he/she feels.

Authors Sanford E. DeVoe from the University of Toronto and Jeffrey Pfeffer from Stanford University, write: "Much of our day-to-day lives are subject to various organisational practices of payment that can prime different ways of thinking, such as the monetary value of one's time... It is important to consider the broader context in which people live and work in order to gain a better understanding of the determinants of happiness."

The study has appeared in the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.