Question
Some people argue that job satisfaction is more important than job security. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.
Sample answer
No employee could possibly feel happy about a chance of losing the current job anytime soon. Next only to pay, job security is certainly the No. 1 factor leading to job satisfaction in the modern workplace. In view of increasing unemployment rates these days, losing a job may mean the absence of the monthly income on which much of job satisfaction depends.
Job satisfaction describes how content one is with one's job. The happier one is with one's job, the more satisfied one is said to be. However, if there is the possibility that one could not keep one's job, it makes no practical sense of emphasizing the importance of job satisfaction. This refers particularly to people without specific skills, experience or education. Since the impact of job insecurity is now being felt in anticipation of a global recession, it is probably not the right time for such people to demand other benefits that also contribute to job satisfaction, including workload, flexibility of working hours and opportunities for promotion. To be realistic, first layoff concerns, then all the rest.
Relatively, some careers have better job security because of their significant and necessary contributions to society. They include most positions in government, education, law enforcement and health care. All of these professions enjoy high levels of job security in comparison with most private sectors, some of them facing financial instability to varying degrees. Job security being not the issue, salary reigns as a supreme indicator that makes work gratifying, followed by such benefits as health care, paid vacation, personal recognition, relationships with immediate supervisors and co-employees. Of course, employees in these fields are less affected by the country's economic conditions and enjoy not only more job satisfaction but also better job security. To them, therefore, job security is less important than job satisfaction.
For workers in general to feel happy and secure, it is prudent to maintain a sense of job security and job satisfaction. Because money is by far the most important factor that people work, job security is what matters to most workers. Nevertheless, those who can take job security for granted may begin imagining how to pass their happy years after retirement.
