Once upon a time in my '20s, when I was complaining to my mother about a soul-less retail job, she offered this completely depressing reminder: "Everyone hates their job." While that may no longer be true for me, I get that I'm one of the lucky ones. So, if you woke up on this Monday morning channeling Nancy Kerrigan ("Why me?"), the New York Times has an interesting column exploring what it is about that J-O-B that makes you want to stay in B-E-D.
In short, the folks at The Energy Project (the consultants behind the column) say you hate your job because you don't feel engaged. And not just some of you, we're talking about 70 percent here. (It could be worse, worldwide, only 13 percent of workers report to Gallup that their jobs are engaging.) In other words, you feel dead inside. Not-at-all shocking aside: zombie workers don't do wonders for the bottom line.
Here are the four reasons they say you just aren't feeling it:
1. You need a break. Like, five of them. I know, some employers make it hard to take even the legally required breaks, but apparently you'd be happier, more focused, and more creative if you took a break every 90 minutes.
2. You're under appreciated. Employees who feel valued by their bosses, like maybe what they're doing with their life actually matters—to someone, anyone—are more satisfied. If your boss is a jerk, you probably won't work as hard and you're more likely to quit.
3. You're being pulled in too many directions. Forced multitaskers are not happy campers.
4. You don't see the point. If you felt a sense of purpose or meaning in your work, it'd be easier to justify the long hours/low pay/slow commute/tuna-salad-eating coworkers.
The good news? Employers who fix these problems find that their workers are more productive, which means they're making more money. It's a win-win! Assuming someone will give you the code to the printer so you can discretely leave a copy of the column on your boss's desk.
We wish you luck. Until then, some musical empathy.
