ALT-2 What Makes you Hate your Job
Many people hate their jobs, their reasons can be diverse and various. Hating your job affects your whole life. So why are there so many unhappy workers? In these hard economic times, it may be helpful to examine why you hate your job so that you can do something about it.
In the current recession, it can be difficult to separate a general dissatisfaction with life from a specific unhappiness at work. Maybe you are a square peg in a round hole, in totally the wrong job for you, or perhaps you are in a job with few or no prospects. In either case, now is the time to seek part time courses, either at your local college or on line, to train yourself and acquire more skills, so that when employment is more available you will be ready to change your present job for one that is more fulfilling.
Perhaps your work is boring and your job does not provide the variety, stimulation, and challenge that you need. Again perhaps learning something new could help you. Is there a way that you could make your work more interesting? Maybe you could do things in a different order, or alternate between tasks so that you do not spend all you time doing the same thing.
A recent survey in The United Kingdom, found that employees who had requested flexible working and had more control over their work were both happier and healthier. Perhaps there is a way for you to have more control over your hours and work.
A bad atmosphere can make people dread going to work. Whether the negativity is caused by the boss, or by the employees, it affects everyone in the workplace. Check that you are not contributing to the negativity. Sometimes if you alter the way that you perceive a situation you can change things.
Stress is also a problem that can contribute to a negative atmosphere at work and stress makes people hate their jobs. If there is too much work and too little time in which to complete it, workers become swamped and this leads to stress. Employers have a duty under English Health and Safety legislation to care for employees mental health as well as their physical well-being. If your employer is setting unrealistic deadlines or giving employees impossible workloads, he is not fulfilling that duty.
A survey at a United Kingdom Hospital Trust found that the greatest cause of staff dissatisfaction was the fact that they received no thanks or appreciation. Workers did not want huge bonuses or gifts but a simple thank-you for a job well done, someone noticing when they had covered a shift at very short notice, or exceeded their job description to help someone, or shown initiative in a difficult situation, and thus brought credit to the whole organization. Employees were always told when they had done bad things, but never when they had done something good. A recognition letter and a complimentary entry on their employment record would have done so much to make employees happier.
People hate their jobs for many reasons and they do not always recognize the specific reason why they are unhappy. Sometimes if you can understand what it is that you dislike about your job you can do something about it. Sometimes just understanding something makes it more bearable, and it may also point towards action that you can take to remedy the situation.
