How To Enjoy Your Job...
    Or Find A New One!

A new study by Tourism Australia has shown that people are not taking their annual leave, but working instead.Close to 60% of full-time workers did not use their 4 weeks holiday, citing “workplace issues” and “personal issues” as reasons why.

Stockpiling annual leave has an effect on people’s performance and workplace happiness as well as the company bottom line. The study is aimed at turning this missing leave into Australian holidays to boost the tourism industry, which should have a positive effect for everyone.

“In the interests of workplace productivity as well as individuals’ mental refreshment and general health, it is important that annual leave be taken seriously by business.  During this time of skill shortages, employers who want to retain their talented workers increasingly need to be seen as employers of choice.

“Employers who impose a culture of ‘work first at all costs’ are not investing in their people and will lose them to competitors who have a culture of looking after their human capital,” Jo Mithen, AHRI executive director said in the report.

Image: Flickr Creative Commons Aaron Escobar

“This is exactly what is wrong with my life.

Travelling home in the dark after a long day at work, I feel I haven’t achieved much, but no-one notices anyway. I have a stress headache and my neck hurts from my bad desk posture. I am tired even though I have done nothing physically active all day. I don’t have the energy to go to the gym now – I just want to go home, have dinner and watch TV. Looking around, I know I am not the only one on this train to feel like this.”

Terri, on the commuter train home

Can you identify with this?

Do you feel as if you have been doing something you don’t like for far too long?

Don’t worry. If you feel like this right now, you are not alone.

A multitude of surveys and figures indicate how many people don’t enjoy their jobs. Here are just some of the studies:

• “Approximately 60% of today’s workers and 50% of middle managers are unhappy in their current jobs.” (Source: Accenture)
• “Americans hate their jobs more than ever before in the past 20 years, with fewer than half saying they are satisfied. The trend is strongest among workers under the age of 25, with less than 39 % satisfied with their jobs. Overall, dissatisfaction has spread among all workers, regardless of age, income or residence.” (Source: Live Science)
• “Only 29% of Australians polled said they were happy in their jobs. The number one cause of unhappiness is stress”. (Source: Seek.com.au)
• “A quarter of working Brits, more than 7 million people, are disillusioned with their jobs. One in three Londoners are trapped in jobs they hate”. (Source: YouGov.com)
• “Some surveys have found that 87 % of Americans don’t like their jobs. About a million people a day phone in sick. It costs the nation an estimated $150 billion per year in treatment for stress-related problems, absenteeism, reduced productivity and employee turnover”. (Source: Forbes)

With figures like these, each of us has to rethink the way we work!

It is not sustainable for people or for businesses.

There is a problem, and you can only solve it for yourself.

Here are the 6 main reasons people hate their jobs – which applies to you?

1. I’m Bored

My work is boring, repetitive and doesn’t challenge or interest me. I count the minutes I have to be there and I am desperate to leave at the end of the day.

2. I’m Stressed
My job is too stressful. I have too much work/too little time/too much travel/ not enough holiday/not enough time for relationships/family and no time for the rest of my life. I am overworked, exhausted and heading for burnout or a breakdown.

3. I’m Under-rewarded
I am not paid enough, not rewarded enough for my work, and not recognised for the job that I do.

4. I’m Trapped

I feel trapped in this job. I need the money to pay the bills. I am not qualified for anything else, or I won’t get paid so much if I go elsewhere. People depend on me so I have to keep this job.

5. Other People
Other people make my job a nightmare. I hate my boss/manager. Other work colleagues upset/annoy me. I am treated badly/bullied/harassed at work. I feel undermined, micromanaged or not trusted to do what I am employed to do.

6. I’m Mismatched

There is a mismatch between what I want to do and what I am actually doing. I don’t know exactly what I want, but I know it’s not this. There’s no meaning in my job. I feel the work itself is pointless.

Work has become something that has to be done, rather than something people look forward to. This can leave people feeling trapped in jobs they don’t enjoy. Everyone wants to work at something that is meaningful, that they enjoy, that utilises their skills and is appropriately rewarding. In general, people don’t want to stop working completely, but they want to stop working at their particular job. They may not know what to do about it or how to change the situation. The big question they ask is: “How do I find the right job for me?”

Many people focus on being happy ’sometime in the future’ when they earn more money, or when they retire. But what is the point of waiting that long and living life being miserable now?