I often came across this question, most of the time asked by myself. Finally, I am able to come up with a pseudo-formula I am satisfied with. It's a bit hard to explain in words so I have drawn the following diagram to answer those who asked this question.
Work Happiness = People + Environment + Job Scope
People: basically refers to colleagues and supervisors here;
Environment/Location: the morale and spirit in the office as well as physical distance and place;
Job Scope/Work Nature: concern learning opportunities and exposure to new knowledge;
Well, you must have by now called me a hypocrite or something. I know, there is no mention of the "most important" component called "money" in my diagram. Don't worry, I didn't forget it. I just feel that its importance pales when compares to the above three after a certain point.
Money is the ultimate criteria when it's at the amount you need to survive. I still need to pay for my bills and loans so I won't want to work if my job can't pays for them. However, I don't believe there is a high enough amount of money that can compensate for the lack of any, and definitely not all, of the three components.
