It's often said that money doesn't bring happiness. But the truth could be more complicated, according to researchers at University of Toronto and Stanford University who have discovered that people paid by the hour are far more likely to be happy than those earning a monthly salary.
It seems that the reason being paid by the hour has more of an impact on employees' wellbeing is that they give pay more attention to what they're earning than those who earn a salary.
"Income was uncorrelated with happiness for salaried employees, whereas it was significantly associated with happiness for people paid by the hour," the research published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin concluded.
"Hourly payment doesn't make you happier per se," said Sanford DeVoe, co-author of the paper. "Hourly payment makes you happier if you earn a lot of money per hour, but it makes you less happy if you very little per hour.
"The key thing is that it makes how much you earn a bigger aspect of how you define your happiness."
