Good training, committed work – and still a below-average salary: Anyone who feels they are receiving too little salary has an increased risk of illness.
What should a person earn who cares for the elderly and the sick in a society? This question is heating up people in Germany. On the one hand it is about the recognition of an important profession – on the other hand it is about cost pressure and profit maximization in the healthcare sector.
It seems clear that wages in social professions are unfair. A whole professional group gets too little. But what if in an office job, as a doctor, salesman or businessman, you have the feeling that you are being paid poorly?
Unequal pay for men and women, no salary increase for years, commitment without financial incentives: unfortunately, wage injustice is part of everyday life in Germany. But unfair pay is not only annoying for employees from a financial point of view – it can also make them sick, “reported”.
Depression and stress illness from unfair salary
Researchers at the University of Ravensburg-Weingarten found that people who feel unjustly paid are more likely to suffer from stress disorders. Data from more than 5,600 employees were evaluated for the investigations. These people have been asked regularly for eight years about job satisfaction and fair income. The result: Those who perceive their salary to be unfair are 64 percent higher at risk of developing depression or other stressful illnesses.
A dangerous realization, because only a few employees in Germany are satisfied with their income. The Korn Ferry Hay Group found out in 2016 that only a little more than a third think their own salary is fair. In 2012, this figure was 40 percent – so Germans are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their salaries.
Unfair wages can affect sleep
This has far-reaching consequences, as Christian Pfeifer, economist at the University of Lüneburg, discovered. He evaluated data sets on sleep behavior, so the “”. According to his findings, employees who feel paid unfairly sleep less and worse than people who feel paid well. It was not about concrete hourly wages, but only about the feeling of being paid unfairly.
Perceived injustice in wages therefore has a greater impact than actual inequality, which can be precisely offset against the euro. However, the perceived imbalance has very real effects: Those who feel badly paid can get sick. So the employee has to shift down a gear. And it deprives itself of professional advancement – and the associated better pay.
This can also happen if the employee at some point asks himself why he should step on the gas at all on the job – it’s not worth it anyway. In the end, this not only has an impact on the employee, but also on the entire company.
When is wages fair?
But when is a salary fair? According to the Bonn behavioral economist Armin Falk, it is less about how many euros are really on the pay slip than about the differences in the environment, writes the “”. If you earn less than your partner, neighbor or sibling, you tend to feel unjustly paid. But the knowledge that a colleague in the same position is paid significantly better also increases the feeling of injustice.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
