Yearning For Your Poison: The Materialistic Mindset And Happiness At Work

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They are the questions many of us ask ourselves about our jobs: Does it pay well? Does it have status? Does the job give us power in the organization? Is the job upwardly mobile? They are all good questions, and ones we expect people to ask. To be certain, no one wants a low paying, low status, powerless, and downwardly mobile! 

But there is a difference between concern with these issues and overpowering preoccupation with them. People who are preoccupied with making lots of money, having high status, how power, upwardly mobile jobs are what we call materialists. They are people who are relatively more focused on these concerns than they are on more intrinsic interests. Materialists tend to view the world in terms of dollars and cents, rank and supremacy, all the while relegating the more human concerns like quality of life to a less important position.

The truth is that our society is very materialistic, and so many of us seem to follow suit almost blindly. In fact, we look askance at people who aren’t materialistic, thinking that they must be lazy or mentally unbalanced in some way. When it comes to careers, we tend to applaud the “more money, power and status” mindset and belittle those who either do not have it or want it.  And everyone seems to believe that these things will make them happy.

But this dominant point of view has some pretty nasty ramifications. Contrary to what the media seems to imply, materialistic people don’t have such great lives. In fact, in large measure, those with materialistic values have rather unpleasant lives. Being materialistic is associated with lower personal well-being. More materialistic people tend to have less happiness, less satisfaction with life, less vitality, more anxiety, more depression and drug use, and more physical problems. They also have poorer interpersonal relationships. They tend to have less empathy for others, less trust in people, and more conflicts.  And from a social standpoint, they have less value to their community.  Materialistic people contribute less to the community and have less desire to help others. They also tend to be less cooperative and more antisocial.

So what does this mean for you? Certainly, it does not mean you should commit to living in a tent, having no money, and never taking a nice vacation!  But it does point to some critical thinking when it comes to your work life.

On a personal level, striving for money and status as your primary goals are not likely to bring you much happiness. Unless your end goal is not for the money, but for something else (like paying for your kid’s college, giving money to the poor), finding a job with more money and status will make you no happier. If happiness is what you primarily want, strive for a job that challenges you, brings out the best in you, and is intrinsically interesting.

On an organizational level, the types of companies characterized by predominantly materialistic values are likely going to be those where workers will not be happy. Of course all companies need to be profitable, but if the goals of the company always put materialistic goals above all else, beware! It is likely that you are walking into a place virtually designed for misery.

So how can you tell? Look for warning signs. First, workers work late every night, work weekends, and talk about how little rest they get. Second, the company does everything it can to maximize company profit at the expense of employee well-being; that is, if it is a choice of money or people, the choice is never people. Third, there is a real sense of a “stepping stone” mindset. People do things not for the currentcustomer, task or job, but for what is next. If workers are thinking more of their futures than their present, the chances are that you have a materialistic mindset in the company—and lots of unhappy people in the mix.

And if that is the case, the unfortunate truth is that the only way you will find a semblance of happiness is with the prescribed mood stabilizers you pick up on your way home from work.   

Contributor:   Robert A. Giacalone, Ph. D.

Robert A. Giacalone, Ph.D. is Professor of Human Resource Management at the Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University. He is a recognized expert on behavioral business ethics, exit interviewing and surveying, workplace spirituality, impression management, employee deviance, and the role of changing values in organizational life. Dr. Giacalone is co-editor /author eight books and over 100 articles. He is currently Co-editor of the Ethics in Practice book series and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion.

He is a consultant and trainer to a number of organizations including the FBI, Federal Reserve Bank, Wheat First Butcher Singer/Wachovia Securities, Carter-Wallace, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and the Department of Defense Personnel Security Research Center (PERSEREC). He is the developer of a Department of Defense security exit survey system and the U.S. Army's exit survey system.

Inquiries can be sent to ragiacal@temple.edu

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