A Decent Salary but a Broken Mind: Is This True Well-being?

By: Achmad Faiq Arsyah Fathony

JurnalPost.com - Work is fundamentally a way for humans to meet their various life needs. Income from employment allows a person to cover daily expenses, support their family, and plan for the future.

If linked to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, every individual has needs that drive the motivation to work and grow. However, one crucial question is often overlooked: does a sufficient salary automatically mean a worker is well-off?

So far, worker well-being has often been measured by the figure on a payslip. When wages meet the minimum requirements or even exceed them, a company's obligations are often considered fulfilled.

Yet, well-being is not as simple as the amount of money received each month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) views health broadly, encompassing physical, mental, and social conditions. Therefore, it is difficult to call someone truly well-off if they earn a sufficient income but must face heavy psychological pressure, a toxic work culture, bullying, or working conditions that damage their health every day.

This is where the meaning of worker well-being needs to be re-examined.

Well-being Does Not Stop at Wages

Wages are indeed a primary component of the employment relationship. Without a decent income, workers will struggle to meet their basic needs.

However, making wages the sole indicator of well-being risks ignoring various other equally important aspects.

Workers need sufficient rest, a safe work environment, health protection, opportunities for leave, and working conditions that do not harm their physical or psychological health.

In terms of regulation, Indonesia already has various provisions regarding labor protection, ranging from rules on wages, working hours, rest periods, and leave, to occupational health and safety.

Law Number 1 of 1970 concerning Occupational Safety, for example, is an important foundation for providing protection to workers from various risks in the workplace.

The problem is that the implementation of such protection is sometimes still understood only as administrative compliance.

Occupational Health and Safety (K3) is often associated only with safety helmets, protective shoes, vests, gloves, and various other personal protective equipment.

In reality, the scope of K3 is much broader.

Workplace Hazards Are Not Always Visible

In the work environment, there are various risks that can affect the safety and health of workers.

Safety hazards are usually easier to identify because their impacts can occur immediately. For example, a worker getting injured by a machine, falling from a height, experiencing an accident due to unsafe installations, or being exposed to hazardous materials.

These types of hazards relatively easily gain attention because their impacts are visible to the naked eye.

However, there are also health hazards that work slowly.

In K3 practice, health risks can be related to physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, and psychosocial factors.

Psychosocial hazards are one of the issues often considered trivial because they do not always result in visible wounds.

Their sources can stem from excessive workloads, irrational deadlines, long working hours, poor communication, bullying, intimidation, workplace conflict, or the loss of work-life balance.

As a result, someone might look fine while at work, but go home in a state of emotional exhaustion, prolonged stress, or loss of motivation.

Unfortunately, such conditions are often normalized.

Phrases like “that’s just work,” “everyone is tired,” or “the important thing is the good salary” seem to justify that psychological pressure is the price to pay for earning an income.

In fact, psychosocial risks should not be considered a normal part of work.

When K3 Becomes Just a Formality

Another problem arises when Occupational Health and Safety is understood partially.

For some companies, the implementation of K3 may stop at fulfilling documents, training, installing safety signs, and providing personal protective equipment.

All of that is certainly important. However, K3 should not stop there.

A healthy work environment also requires reasonable workload management, open communication, protection from violence and bullying, and a system that allows workers to voice complaints without fear.

On the other hand, workers also need to understand the rights and risks they face.

A lack of understanding makes some workers feel they have no right to question workplace conditions as long as they receive their salary regularly.

In reality, receiving a wage does not mean one must lose their right to safety, health, rest, or their dignity as a human being.

Labor inspectors also play an important role. Supervision is not enough if it only ensures that a company has safety documents and procedures; it also needs to see how those policies are truly applied in the daily lives of workers.

Workers Are Humans, Not Production Machines

Company productivity is indeed important. Without productivity, an organization struggles to grow and maintain its business continuity.

However, long-term productivity is also difficult to achieve if workers are constantly in poor physical and mental condition.

Workers are not just numbers in a performance report. They are humans who have physical limits, social needs, family lives, and psychological conditions that must be respected.

Therefore, companies should start viewing worker well-being as an investment, not just an operational burden.

A safe and healthy work environment can help workers maintain motivation, concentration, and productivity in the long run.

Conversely, a work culture that constantly relies on pressure, fear, and labor exploitation might produce productivity in the short term, but it risks causing burnout, conflict, performance decline, and high employee turnover.

So, What Does Well-being Mean for Workers?

Ultimately, worker well-being cannot be judged solely by the question, “What is the salary?”

There are a number of other questions that also need to be asked.

Do workers feel safe when carrying out their duties? Do they get enough rest? Is the workload within human limits? Are they free from bullying and intimidation? Do they still have a life outside of work?

As long as companies, workers, and labor inspectors still view well-being only from a financial perspective, non-physical health and safety issues will easily be ignored.

A decent salary is indeed important and is one of the main foundations of worker well-being. However, salary is not the only measure.

Truly well-off workers are not just those who can meet their life needs through their income, but also those who can return home with a healthy body, a preserved mind, and a calmer state of mind.

Because in the end, work should be a part of a decent life, not the reason someone loses their quality of life.

About the Author

Achmad Faiq Arsyah Fathony is a student of the D-IV Occupational Health and Safety Study Program at Airlangga University, Surabaya. Originally from Samarinda, he has a keen interest in worker health and safety issues, particularly psychosocial risks and well-being in the workplace.