Let's assume that we can distill our reasons for working down to a few common factors: To pay bills, provide for our loved ones, have a bit of spending money, and to save for the future.
Beyond those practical reasons, what do we want to get out of work? We spend the majority of our waking hours at work, so we must want to get something more out of it, right? To feel like our time is worth while?
It may be to gain experience, prestige, to make contacts and build a network, learn new skills, earn a work-based certification, to get workplace benefits, pension, healthcare, and the list goes on. Whatever your reasons, you are hoping to get more than just a salary.
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction comes from feeling like you are doing something worthwhile, like you are adding value and that your time is not being wasted. Recognition for good work may also add to the sense of satisfaction - or simply not being undermined could be recognition enough.
Job dissatisfaction, however, comes from the opposite conditions being true. Doing things that are not worthwhile, that do not add value and things that waste your time. It all adds up to create a generally dissatisfied employee, and - I'm sorry to say - a busy fool.
If by the time you leave your job, you do not have more skills, experience and confidence than you did when you started, well then, you have been in a bad working relationship.
Do you work for a company that creates busy fools?
- They pay you for your time, but they do not respect its value to you.
- They stifle your productivity by giving you responsibilities that do not best utilise your skills.
- They have no strategy or guiding principles for the business, so they move the goal posts on a daily, weekly, hourly basis, and then hold you responsible for the trail of incomplete tasks.
- They see the employer / employee relationship as a one-way street: taking a lot and giving a little.
- They do not see it as their responsibility to add value to you in order to get the best value from you.
If any of that sounds familiar to you, then it is possible that you are being taken for a fool.
Work is a two-way street.
When it comes to work-based skills it really is a case of use them or lose them.
If you are scared that you cannot speak up because your employer holds the purse strings, just remember, you hold the skills that they are wiling to pay for.
Future employers will want your CV to demonstrate how you used your skills in your most recent position. Otherwise you will not even get to the interview stage.
If your employer is paying you less than what your skills are worth, then they may not actually need the skills that you have. It is time to reevaluate your options and your expectations. What changes do you need to make?
It could also be the case that you don't actually have the skills that your employer thinks you do, and you are an imposter. In that case, this article is not for you, but you need to skill up ASAP!
You Are Responsible For Your Career - Make It Happen!
Another thing worth remembering is that, although, in an ideal world, your employer will facilitate your career development, you cannot relinquish your responsibility for your own development. If they won't pay for that course, and it really will further your career prospects, then you need to find a way to make it happen! This is not (as the Americans call it) a pity party!
Take #Control of Your #Career & Your #Future! Don't Be A #Busy #Fool! https://t.co/w7UCZvSDrg pic.twitter.com/gVDNnbGmTx
— Danielle Curio (@DanielleCurio) December 17, 2015
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