I don't stress about my salary or raises
Sitting in the park after doing the morning yoga session. I felt a need to jot down my thoughts percieved in the recent appraisal season. And I wrote this grapewine post.
I’m an L2, unmarried.
I don’t eagerly await my monthly paycheck nor feel overly excited seeing the salary credited message.
Most of my spending goes towards house rent and other miscellaneous expenses, all totaling less than 40K rs. And i don’t think any gojek engineer should struggle to make the ends meet, unless they’ve made very poor financial decisions in the past.
That leaves me with enough money in savings that i don’t need to worry about next salary being credited.
I was earning 25k a month 3 years back and life was pretty chill back then too.
I’ve realized that the more I engage in discussions about salary, performance reviews, and bonuses, the more stressed I become from comparing myself to others. otherwise, I’m quite happy.
Gojek is not a comfort zone for me nor I’m saying you shouldn’t strive for better. I’m just genuinely surprised that the best earning people seeming to be so unsatisfied with what they have.
Im sure my lifestyle wont change a slight with some extra lakhs credited to my account. So I wonder what people might be going through to seem so dissatisfied. Maybe they’re chasing a sense of achievement? superiority? planning for wedding? home loan? Future planning? Who knows and how is worrying and dissatisfaction going to help?
I haven’t encountered anyone in Gojek yet who seems to be genuinely satisfied with their work, compensation and life. Is it that rare?
I genuinely wonder if earning 2+ L rs a month wouldn’t bring you peace of mind, then what would? Would it hurt to have a little more gratitude towards your work and your workplace?
And I did receive some interesting comments
You are not married, do not have any dependents, do not have any loan, do not have any wish for foreign travels, do not have any indulgances, do not crave to climb the monetary and growth ladder faster does not mean others also do not.
I worked my ass off and that shows because I got a 4 rating. And yet company decides to give me a 10% raise on my already low salary. I am very very grateful!
Hey @honorablecoder , you yourself have pointed out a few reasons why people worry or care out their earnings so much. You seem to be someone who has no obligations to anyone and hence it's more than enough money. However, everyone is living under different circumstances.
For e.g. my Dad had been struggling with his mental health since I was in my teens and it affected his job. So, we struggled financially and when I started working, I had some family debts to pay, financial responsibilities and a wish to buy a home for my parents and enable them to lead a better life. This costs money.
I am not married but there are people who are married, only breadwinners or their spouse don't earn as much as them, have kids (you don't know how expensive it is to have kids), medical expenses, responsibility of siblings/parents and the list goes on. All of us work hard to earn and just want to have a decent lifestyle, not just having to meet both ends and I see nothing wrong in it.
So it's easier to look around and judge. But people won't come and tell you their problems, so you need to consider that you probably don't know enough about them. Having said all of this, you don't have to get influenced by how others respond to salaries/hikes etc. and you do you.
Someone else replied:
Correct, only people with low or no liabilities can think that 2l is enough, where you can easily get 3+. They don't know what it's like to pay debts of their parents and give them some luxuries of life that they have not been able to acquire because guess what they were investing all of their money into our education so that we can be at a place like Gojek. I have seen a lot of people with this kind of behaviour when they have no rents to pay or don't have to send some money to their home.
I agree we can be happy with a little less/no luxury, but what's the point of earning 2+l if you can't step up your living standards a little bit.
I have accepted the fact that I will never be satisfied with money, but it's not that I don't have peace of mind I just know I can do better.
Money is the best motivators, maybe trying to get better compensation you become the best engineer in your field, not saying you should learn only to get money but it gives an extra push.
Never settle, mediocrity is a killer, I've fallen for it before but never again.
And this was my favourite comment because someone also had commented “big downvote from me because your post is distasteful” which really made me think. He later deleted after someone commented “its not distasteful he’s just putting his opinion” this made me feel better. Otherwise i had started doubting myself and writing the post. But what response i was really expecting. If i see myself different from the work culture i should expect people not to have the same mentality too.
I understand your perspective.
I would suggest you to find a partner with the same mindset and you will thrive and be happy than most people.
I replied: thank you ❤️