Love is in the air during February, and it’s very easy (or hard, for us cynical folk) for us to get caught in the glamor of romance. However, I’m here to talk about a particular kind of love, and that’s the love that you have for your job.
Before reading this, I want you to answer this question: Do you love your job?
If so, you don’t need any convincing. You’ve found the one for you. There were millions of professions and career paths out there, and you’re with the one you love.
You know the old saying:
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
You almost wake up every single morning and think “wow, I can’t believe I found the one.” I mean sure, you’ve probably thought about being in another career or workplace, but it’s natural. It’s safe to imagine things, right? As long as you aren’t going anywhere else, and you’re loyal, it’s all good.
Now let’s take into consideration the other end of the spectrum (and the reason I’m writing this), the people who absolutely hate their job.
I’m speaking for the vast majority of folk when I say this, but we’ve all had at least one job that we’ve absolutely despised. The kind of job you hate so much that you look at the clock nearly every minute just to see how close you are to leaving.
It’s sad to say this, but a lot of people wake up to this feeling every single morning.
In my opinion, that’s not a good way to go about living life. I mean, would you spend the rest of your life with someone that you’re not truly happy or content with? No. You go out there and try and find the perfect match for you.
So, It’s Time to answer the real question: Is it important to love your job?
Yes, or else you’ll spend the rest of your life miserable thinking about that dream job that you could’ve had. While some other person that won’t love it half as much goes out there and mistreats that career.
So go out and fight for the job of your dreams!
Sidebar: I really hope you’re getting the romantic allegory behind the intro. It being Valentine’s season and all. If not, I’m just a crappy writer. I’ll keep on working hard, though.
Why Do People Hate Their Jobs?
I think it stems from two things:
- They simply do not like their current work situation.
- People’s preconceived notion of what they thought the job would be like is way different than what it actually is.
The first point is simple, it is difficult to work with a boss that is an absolute jerk, employees that may not like you, or a plethora of other problems that may harm your productivity at work.
It’s impossible to get along with everyone, and you’ll clash or disagree with some people at your office. When it gets in the way of actual work getting done, or it negatively affects the rate of production that you and your team work at, it can really make work stressful.
It affects people’s mentality towards the position and on some occasions could have negative effects towards a person’s mental health.
A company can make a simple investment on an anonymous employee survey tool in order to see what they can work on in order to be better as a company. Anonymous survey tools are extremely accurate in painting a picture of what management can be doing better and provide detail of what is really going on.
Do people really know what they want or do they just follow someone else’s dream?
I think the second part of that is really what’s going on with a lot of people. In western society, from a young age that we think that we’re destined to do one thing for the rest of our lives.
We try and choose our entire career path at the age of 22 when we’re done with our Bachelor’s degree and we don’t know what the hell we’re doing. The worst is when parents practically brainwash their children at an early age to be doctors or lawyers. I mean, parents could have the next Da Vinci or Einstein, but they’re limiting children based on what they think are successful careers?
Speaking of Einstein, I’ll drop a somewhat relevant quote:
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
So it’s important to give people the ability to make their own decisions and encourage creativity, but it’s also to open up people’s eyes to and choose their own path to success.
Perhaps we weren’t made aware of different career paths or unique jobs that are out there as we went through our college curriculum. A lot of gen x and millennials are going through their lives thinking that they have to go down a certain path, but when they get there they find out it sucks.
Why Do People Stay At Jobs They Hate?
I think this is a new-age problem that people will start responding to very soon. I think there are some societal factors that are involved with a problem like this. Some examples:
- Lack of opportunities
- Scared or hesitant of change
- Finances
I understand that lack of opportunities may be a tough one to deal with. But if you’re not satisfied, why not look elsewhere, like another city, or dare I say it, another country.
I often feel for those people who believe that their talents can only be utilized in one part of the world. There are plenty of ways to get yourself out there to a worldly recruiting audience, in order to use your skills for good.You can simply just keep a LinkedIn profile up to date, follow some people from your industry (not just from in your city) and make connections with a brand new audience.
For the people who are scared of a little change, I have one thing to say …
Complacency kills!
In the business world, tech-world (even in evolution) – people that aren’t thinking about reinventing the wheel or adapting are getting left behind.
We even had a talk with an industry leader on self-reinvention. Here’s the CultureTalk:
So keep up to date with the latest trends, follow a couple of newsletters or magazines, and do your best to have a polished skill set. Then get your ass out and wreck some havoc. Don’t be scared to reinvent yourself.
Less Money, Less Problems?
The last point is the most crucial, finances. Now, there are a lot of factors to weigh in when you’re making a decision to potentially work for a place you love (or think you’ll love). But finances affects you, your family and your lifestyle, as do all the other points.
It’s all extremely scary. So much so, that people stay stressed out their whole lives working for a place just because it pays the bills. When more often than not, you can find the same position at a better workplace with better pay.
I think the obvious thing to point out is that you should know your worth and the value of your position, so if a company is paying a little less ask why and leave room to negotiate a little. If the company has a kick-ass company culture and treats their employees right, but pays a little bit less. I think you should make a sacrifice and give it a shot. I’m here to say that you can maintain a healthy lifestyle and be happy with a little less money.
The more productive you are, the better things will get for you, and when the performance review comes rolling along, for sure you’ll get a raise off of being a happy and productive employee. It’s more likely than you getting a raise from being disengaged and working for a place that you don’t care for.
I should add that time and time again, it has been proven that there is no correlation between compensation and motivation.
In fact, we recently had an infographic talking about this phenomenon, that describes what truly motivates employees.
Here’s the presentation, feel free to share it:
The Secret To Employee Motivation from Officevibe
So, you may feel obligated to stay with a job that pays you a bit more. However, SCIENCE says you won’t be motivated by it, nor will it affect your workplace happiness.
My advice would be to look for a place that you would love to work at. Don’t look at the salary, look at the people, work environment, the management style. Find the place that is your “true love” and go and work there for as long as you can.
Why Do People Love Their Jobs?
I think it’s simple if a person loves doing their work and works for a company that caters to their needs, they’re going to love showing up to work every single day.
Culture will always be king and it’ll inspire people to work on being the best employee and the best individual they can be.
If you’re an HR manager, focus on creating an employee-centric work culture. In my talks with workplace leaders, I’ve found that the more a company prioritizes employee happiness and satisfaction, the better results they’ve obtained.
People love their job for the same reasons other people theirs: Management, the company culture, and the people. So when having good management, company culture, and hiring great smart creatives‘ is a part of the psyche of the company, nothing but great results come out of it.
Put Frankly, It’s Important For You To Love Your Industry
I’m a part of a minority that is not only obsessed with my job but am so enamoured by my company’s vision and beliefs, that I want to become and industry leader, as well as an important figure within my HR community.
How many people get to say this every morning?
Unfortunately, not too many.
As we have alluded to previously on our blog, there are really low employee engagement rates and this is coming from people hating where they work, or even hating the managers and people they’re around.
As I also mentioned earlier, people might be going into the wrong profession. I mean, how many people would really like to become a respected person within their industry?
How many people are really making sacrifices in and out of work to be a staple in their industry?
You don’t just have to love your company, but you have to love the industry in which you represent. The same way that me and my colleagues want to revolutionize the way HR, should be the same kind of
The same way that me and my colleagues want to transform the way HR works should be the same type of passion that you carry along whenever you approach a new task or new project.
I don’t think that one can say that they truly love and are engaged with their work unless they want to be a catalyst in their industry. That they want to create a game-changing product, idea, way of thinking, that’ll make the industry as a whole better.
Down the road, I can only hope that the lines won’t be so blurred. I can only hope that all people, employees, managers, educators, parents, students etc., will start motivating others to pursue happiness over paychecks.
Love Your Job And Live Happily Ever After
Hope you enjoyed this week’s Valentine-themed blog. If you have any questions or comments feel free to reach me @JeffFermin or us @Officevibe on Twitter. We’ll be sure to answer any and all questions.