Does anybody like their job?
OK, so I'll go with what I know.
Lately, it has occurred to me that nearly everyone I know hates their current job. A couple dozen people talk with me regularly about what they do for a living, and usually they ain't so happy. My impression of wide-spread dissatisfaction was so strong that I did some unscientific polling and the vast majority of those I asked expressed a strong visceral dislike for their current employment situation.
Now, I use a totally crap phrase like "current employment situation" (worthy of your average Human Resources double-speak bastard) because of variation in the reported sources of animus towards the job. Some liked what they do, but hated where they worked. Some liked where they work--actually, usually with whom they work--but hated what they actually do. And some, particularly the lawyers (who were oversampled in this survey), hated what they did, where they did it and with whom.
Let me hasten to point out that almost every one with whom I spoke holds a comfortable white-collar job, with decent benefits, adequate pay and reasonable hours. (Again, the lawyers are excepted--very long hours, with obscenely high pay and usually good benefits). Many are working in their chosen field, or at least in their chosen sector (education, nonprofit, corporate). They are not, as a whole, very negative folks. But they all express a strong desire to do something else for a living.
Why is this?
Management seems to play a large role in a lot of cases. Most of the folks who kvetch to me are in their late 20s-early 30s and report working for managers in the 50s who engage in rampant cronyism when it comes to hiring, promotion, bonuses, work assignments, and perks. In several cases, management hires personal friends or former colleagues as high-priced consultants to come in and do things that the staff is perfectly qualified to do (in some cases, exceptionally qualified).
I don't really understand why you would hire bright, motivated, gifted employees and then do nothing with them--no career development, no mentoring, no promotions from within the organization. It is counterintuitive, short-sighted, and leads to bad morale.
And, if my experience as a senior staffer is any indicator, management and senior staff constantly complain about how the junior staff is always turning over, with little reflection about why that might be. My personal feeling is that many, if not most, of the managers in organizations are people with little or no desire to actually lead. They take the rewards of leadership, but little of the responsibilities. This is not a new idea, but we never seem to learn from it.
If you really like your job, comment or email me here.
If you really hate your job, feel free to do the same.
Lately, it has occurred to me that nearly everyone I know hates their current job. A couple dozen people talk with me regularly about what they do for a living, and usually they ain't so happy. My impression of wide-spread dissatisfaction was so strong that I did some unscientific polling and the vast majority of those I asked expressed a strong visceral dislike for their current employment situation.
Now, I use a totally crap phrase like "current employment situation" (worthy of your average Human Resources double-speak bastard) because of variation in the reported sources of animus towards the job. Some liked what they do, but hated where they worked. Some liked where they work--actually, usually with whom they work--but hated what they actually do. And some, particularly the lawyers (who were oversampled in this survey), hated what they did, where they did it and with whom.
Let me hasten to point out that almost every one with whom I spoke holds a comfortable white-collar job, with decent benefits, adequate pay and reasonable hours. (Again, the lawyers are excepted--very long hours, with obscenely high pay and usually good benefits). Many are working in their chosen field, or at least in their chosen sector (education, nonprofit, corporate). They are not, as a whole, very negative folks. But they all express a strong desire to do something else for a living.
Why is this?
Management seems to play a large role in a lot of cases. Most of the folks who kvetch to me are in their late 20s-early 30s and report working for managers in the 50s who engage in rampant cronyism when it comes to hiring, promotion, bonuses, work assignments, and perks. In several cases, management hires personal friends or former colleagues as high-priced consultants to come in and do things that the staff is perfectly qualified to do (in some cases, exceptionally qualified).
I don't really understand why you would hire bright, motivated, gifted employees and then do nothing with them--no career development, no mentoring, no promotions from within the organization. It is counterintuitive, short-sighted, and leads to bad morale.
And, if my experience as a senior staffer is any indicator, management and senior staff constantly complain about how the junior staff is always turning over, with little reflection about why that might be. My personal feeling is that many, if not most, of the managers in organizations are people with little or no desire to actually lead. They take the rewards of leadership, but little of the responsibilities. This is not a new idea, but we never seem to learn from it.
If you really like your job, comment or email me here.
If you really hate your job, feel free to do the same.
posted by The Malcontent at 1:12 PM
1 Comments:
Kinda like my job, kinda like the people I work with, kinda like the work I do, like where I work, hate the bastards who run the organization as a whole.
Anonymous Co-worker
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