Money does not buy happiness for employees

Nearly 45 % of surveyed people across the job spectrum in the US said the greatest professional priority for them is to do the work they enjoy the most while one-third considered job security, work-life balance and good benefits equally valuable.

Employees in the first decades of their working lives place more importance on opportunities for growth than do employees at or near the peak of their careers, the study, and published inBusinessNewsDaily, added.

"Younger workers, who are at the time of their lives when most people marry and start raising a family, are also more likely to place a greater priority on values related to family and children," said Pew researchers.

The study, carried on 2,000 participants, also found that there are more gender differences among men and women regarding their desires to be in charge. Specifically, 52 per cent of men, compared to 38 per cent of women, aspire to be a boss one day.

It revealed a similar pattern emerges when children are considered. Fathers are more likely than mothers to seek a top executive job, regardless of whether they have children younger than age 18, the study said.

It also discovered that baby boomers are the least likely generation interested in being managers.