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| Article Listing | Search Articles | More Articles in Other | More Articles by Rebecca Adams |
Rationalizing Your Work Environment |
| by Rebecca Adams - 2009-06-22 |
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| "It is easy to criticize - your current job. What needs to happen before spending time and resources investigating other opportunities is to assess your current job environment. " |
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It is easy to criticize - your current job. What needs to happen before spending time and resources investigating other opportunities is to assess your current job environment.
There are three basic reasons for staying at a position that are also going to be three factors that will directly affect your ability to feel job satisfaction. They are:
- You are directly involved, for the most part, in tasks that you enjoy and are able to perform satisfactorily.
- You are working with or for people you can respect and feel they respect and value your contribution at work.
- Your job situation meets the needs you have outside of the job (i.e. schedule, pay, benefits)
To further explain the above three points of job satisfaction, read the three personal stories below to see how others came to the realization that something important was missing in their professional lives:
- The importance of directly involved in enjoyable tasks
Maria had been an Administrative Assistant for four years. She felt at home with the other members of the small company and became close friends with several of them. She also felt the pay and benefits were meeting her needs and compensated her fairly for the job she performed. However, the actual tasks of answering phones and typing letters for others was getting very boring for the intelligent young woman. She began to feel agitated about being “glued to her chair” while others could come and go as they pleased, pushing more paperwork on her as they left for home early. It was time for a change.
- The importance of working for or with people you can mutually respect
Clark was a network technician for a web-based company. In its first year, the company grew so fast that major departmental changes happened on a regular basis and it was often difficult to keep up the network. A personal friend of the company’s founder, Clark’s immediate supervisor was the network manager since its early days. His supervisor at first seemed fine with the changes but as the network grew, she began to bypass protocols to keep up and it was soon apparent she did not have the know-how to manage a large network. The complaints from the company members mounted and Clark’s supervisor became almost hostile toward the networking team as the stress level rose. Yet, the company did nothing to remedy a very obvious, miserable situation. Clark was increasingly working longer hours in more hostile conditions. He loved the company and believed in its business model but could not stand another day with his supervisor.
- The importance of your job meeting your life’s needs
Patsy, after seven years of being a pet groomer for a large chain pet store, began to doubt her justification for staying in the pet care business. She worked nearly every weekend and during the week, got busier toward each day’s end to meet the needs of pet owner’s work schedules. She acquired a tremendous client base of satisfied customers because of her quality work and flexibility of appointments. The pay for her services did average- most of her same-age friends were able to afford houses while Patsy and her husband still rented in a lower-income neighborhood as a way to save money. Patsy also knew she could not keep the same schedule after starting a family. She wanted a more stable schedule during the weekdays that gave her more time for her husband. She also felt she should be in a higher pay scale by now and is considering a career change.
As each of the three cases above illustrate, there are good and bad sides to every job. It is up to each individual to decide what is tolerable and not tolerable and what is changeable and what cannot be changed.
Let’s stop here and record some thoughts you have about your job at this time:
Please fill in the blanks as a way to tell your job’s story.
I am a ___________. My schedule is typically __________________. This schedule often conflicts with ______________________ but I like it because it allows me to _________________________. In my position, I am often performing duties such as___________________________. Sometimes I _______________, which I like to do quite a bit. However, there are times when I have to _________________________________, which I find less desirable. My immediate supervisor can be described as _______________________ . My relationship with my supervisor is _________________________. We often discuss ____________________________. The people I usually work with are ________________ and I feel _________________ when I am with them. Those in my same position are ______________ than me about their jobs. When it comes to my compensation, I feel _____________ about it for the work I do. Overall, my work situation at this time can be described as _____________ and I feel the need to _____________________ .
What’s your story like? Which of the three areas of job satisfaction are you violating? Which are being met? What is changeable and what is not? What are you willing to put up with to get you through this tough economy and what is intolerable?
By Rebecca Adams, M.S. HR Development and Counseling and Work-Life Balance Consultant/Owner of Adams at Work, Inc. www.adamsatwork.com
Rebecca's blog: adamsatwork.wordpress.com |
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