FAU Poll Shows Workers Redefining Success Beyond Titles and Raises

According to a new survey from a management professor at Florida Atlantic University, most workers are no longer measuring career success by promotions, challenging previously held assumptions about how people define success in their careers. Workers ranked financial stability as the most important factor for career satisfaction, followed by work-life balance.

The survey, “The Many Meanings of Career Success,” revisits fundamental questions about how workers define success in their careers and whether promotions and pay increases are the primary indicators of success.

“We wanted to hear directly from people about how they define success in their careers,” said Michael Harai, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of management at FAU’s College of Business. “We found that people really want work-life balance, more so than the typical manager might assume.”

While previous academic literature on careers assumed that career success is primarily defined by income and promotions, emerging research suggests that this may not accurately reflect people’s perceptions of career success.

The survey, conducted alongside FAU High School student Luisa Lucigniani, consisted of 54 questions on career success, covering topics such as “being promoted,” “experiencing challenges in my work,” and “having time for nonwork interests.”  

Using a factor analysis, the questions were reduced to eight distinct categories that defined career success: financial security, work-life balance, intrinsic interest, growth and innovation, social contribution, financial progression, positive workplace relationships, and entrepreneurship.

Participants rated achieving financial progress or wealth as the fifth most important aspect of their career.
The full ranking included:

1. Financial stability or the ability to provide the necessities
2. Work-life balance or having time for non-work interests
3. Intrinsic interest or being able to choose their own career path
4. Growth and innovation, or expanding their skill set to do better
5. Social contribution or belief that the work they do contributes to society
6. Positive workplace relationships or getting positive feedback from others at work
7. Financial progression or achieving wealth
8. Entrepreneurship or running their own business

The findings open the doors for more conversations between companies, managers and their employees to recruit and retain top talent.

“It seems there is an opportunity to replace ‘career ladders’ with ‘career bridges.’ Longer tenure can be recognized in ways other than promotions,” Harari said. “The career development opportunities that employers offer need to speak to what people want. That might entail flexible work arrangements or even longer employment contracts for stability. Employers can no longer assume that everyone is motivated by the promise of a promotion.”  

-FAU-