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| Office workers often aren't happy with their jobs |
A research study that surveyed 1500 seniors found their best advice for how to live your life was not to work at a job you don't like for a lifetime. Yet many people do, and very often, folks say the reason they stay at a job isn't the money. So what is the key problem and what do the experts say people should do when it comes to the workplace issues?
Ken Pillemer, Cornell professor and author of 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans found the seniors' best advice was to do what you love for a living and not to waste life and time doing what feels like a trap.
Many Americans feel the same way. Surveys indicate people 70% of Americans don't like their jobs. In July 2013 Gallup found that folks for the most part are either unhappy or disengaged, and that even more money and work benefits don't seem to improve their feelings about their jobs.
Poor management is said to be one of the leading causes of worker apathy, unhappiness and disengagement with respect to their jobs. At the same time, workers also often state they could do a better job than the boss.
Does this point to a generation and more of bad managers or is it some other issue that might be driving the numbers of people who express discontent with their work?
Authority is questioned repeatedly by the press and the public, while the public questions the press as well. All over the world various countries see challenges from citizens with respect to their governments. There have been uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and other areas of the Middle East, even as the inequities are often shown to be an issue; however, in France people complain about their government as do most Americans and many other people in the developed countries. In the underdeveloped countries the complaints may seem larger, however the angry and bitter remarks hurled from one leader to another and the population to its respective leadership has been growing around the world.
The questioning of authority does not end with government, however. People question whether or not doctors have the interests and skills to treat various ailments and therefore turn in increasing numbers of alternative medicine instead. The blame game includes many professionals, as folks seem to find something wrong with authority figures in many occupations.
Perhaps some of this behavior comes from the patterns set by the boomers whose very mantra was not to trust anyone over 30. Now they are over 30, and they are not trusted themselves. Still the criticism finds its way to the “other” which might be the President, the local politician, the medical community, lawyers or the individual manager who represents controls and rules that are part of what rebellion against authority figures.
“I could do better,” people say, but it is often found that most people, when given the opportunity to lead end up with some of the same issues, where former co-workers rankle about the new boss.
There are personal factors observed in the research material about the characteristics of those who most question authority. Research has found those who feel strongly that authorities can be wrong are more willing to be defiant as a result. In addition those who see humanitarian values as universal are also more willing to question authority than those who don't hold similar values. People who stand apart in social circles are almost more apt to question authority. Those with moderate religious values are more apt to be obedient, while those at the extremes, right or left, are more willing to take chances and therefore more willing to chafe against authority. On the other hand, strong conservative Christian values are coherent with obedience to authority, while the less religious in contrast are among those who offer resistance when they believe their humanitarian ideals are being undermined.
Should we question authority? Many of the experts say yes. And young people respond affirmatively in debates and discussions. Questioning authority is said to be the hallmark of learning, of creative endeavor, of sparking ideas. Yet should this be true in the workplace? Does the same level of questioning and the reasons for it extend to one's boss.
Experts tell us questioning the boss is risky business, although people should not shy away from leaving a job with a particularly toxic employer. On the other hand often it is the worker who has been in a job to meet the new manager's request to do something different in the company with the statement, “But we've always done it this way.” The advice is not to present oneself as someone who knows more and who is resistant to accepting new ideas.
While people may distrust the company and may be apathetic toward the boss, and even fellow co-workers, what alternatives should folks seek if they don't like a job. It is often that question that is the most difficult to answer, as people search for those answers often and come up short when they do. Finding that perfect job may be difficult, if not impossible, so for those looking to make a change, is it the same profession with a different manager that might be the answer or a whole different direction for work?
The best advice, seniors remind young people, is to follow the adage once given in a well-known vocational counseling handbook, “Do what you love and the money will follow.”
