Preferences for work

When I started my career, my first internship, I recall having a preference of brand, status and money. Over the years it has changed and after a decade of working, I've narrowed it down to the following, this drives >80% of satisfaction for me.

1. People - The type and quality of people you work with and your relationship with them. Having a great boss and team are important. The more in alignment the better.
2. Money - You need compensation. The more, the better (usually). With higher comp though could come a more expanded role & responsibilities which isn't always worth the increment. It's a trade off that needs assessment.
3. Flexibility and Autonomy - The more control you have over your work and the better you feel. Remote work, flexible hours, working on projects you want, having a say all improve the experience.
4. Engagement - The nature of the role and its alignment with you - How in alignment are the requirements of the job with your strengths and what you like. If you like the what the job needs you to do, you will like it more. For example, if you don't like talking to people, have call centre job talking to people will drain you out. On the other hand, if you like analytical and creative work, doing more of it on a day to day basis, will make you like it more. This is more the simple version of do you like your job? Does it play on your strengths?
5. Future Potential, Growth, Newness - Having increments of new things to do, work on, grow adds a value in the long run. You may not want it on a day to day or month to month basis but over years, having something new, growing helps.

There's another point that is an important strategic move - Market Fit. Being in an industry, company or role that has future potential is important. The industry, company and role have a bigger impact and in many ways, the first 3 factors are mostly determined by this. So choosing to be in the right place and climbing the right ladder is a more strategic choice that has a large impact that can get you more of the preferences at work.

These 5 factors are the most important for job satisfaction or any vocation whether business or non-profit. Working with the right people, having income, control, playing to your strengths and interests along with being in the right markets is what I try to optimise for.

I came up with a similar list around 7 years ago after having worked for about 3 year and deeply thinking about what matters. Here's what I wrote fresh into my career -

1. Strong Cash Flows
2. Great people to work with
3. Engaging work - Not boring, Analytical and Creative
4. Manageable stress/ pressure and anxiety
5. Growth
6. Autonomy & Responsibility

I removed stress/ pressure mostly because its a function of the other 5 but it's important. You don't want to have a long run stressful high-pressured job. A short run may still be worthwhile. I also re-worded Autonomy and Responsibility towards flexibility and control as it aligns better with what I am trying to communicate.

On a yearly basis I review my work against this and ask myself can I improve on any of these?