If the boss doesn't offer any path for growth and development and the employees’ ideas and input are ... [+]
There is an easy explanation for the Great Resignation and quiet quitting trends. People are sick and tired of soul-crushing, dead-end jobs. Only now are people placing names to movements that have been going on forever.
Our early Neanderthal ancestors were probably not too thrilled about braving the cruel and cold winter weather, trudging into the wilderness and the brutally harsh elements to hunt down animals to put food on the fire pit. Centuries later, people are equally disenchanted with commuting three hours round trip into a large, dirty, sometimes violent and crime-ridden city.
Once there, people herd into a giant, cold and sterile skyscraper building with hermetically sealed windows. They scurry to their cubicles, sit on uncomfortable chairs under blinding fluorescent lights and stare at a computer for the rest of the day. Forced air capriciously vacillates between being either freezing cold or uncomfortably hot. The discomfort lasts more than eight hours daily, five days a week. Since times are tough, you may put in extra hours to hold onto your job.
What Companies Need To Do Now
The problem is that some companies and their managers don’t treat people like human beings. When workers are systemically harassed, micro-managed and subjected to abusive behavior, they become disengaged. If the boss doesn't offer any path for growth and development and the employees’ ideas and input are ignored, it leaves them feeling worthless. Despondently, they believe their job is going nowhere and a dead end.
To remedy the situation, forward-thinking, empathetic leaders need to offer psychological safety, express gratitude and appreciation and ensure a balance of work and life. Management must provide employees with the flexibility and autonomy to decide where and when they can do their best work. Additionally, businesses have to pay their people what they deserve. By taking care of their staff, employees will feel engaged and happier.
Reframing Your Job
Jobs can be reframed to offer more meaning and fulfillment. For instance, a janitor at a hospital doesn’t view his career as just mopping floors and taking out the trash. The sanitation professional takes pride in seeing himself as doing his part within the health system, which ultimately improves and saves the lives of others. The same holds true for lawyers, stock brokers and gig workers.
They need to find ways to do their job that offers meaning and fulfillment. A hard-nosed Wall Street mergers and acquisitions lawyer may use their legal skills to do pro-bono work for Ukrainian refugees. A stock broker can collaborate with schools to teach young people about finances, investing and the pitfalls of credit card debt and high-interest-rate loans. The lessons learned at a young age may help them build their net worth over the subsequent years. Both professionals will feel good that they can use their knowledge and skills to improve the lives of others.
Have You Been Misled?
People work hard from grade school through college. Parents and society tell you that a solid education is the path toward a well-paying job and fulfilling career. The money earned would catapult you into the middle class or higher. Nice cars, vacations to exotic locations, summer beach homes and luxury await you. Instead, many Americans have become zombie employees, dragging through the day to get paid just enough to pay down some tuition debt and put away money for purchasing a home and starting a family.
With record levels of inflation, a potential recession on the horizon, stock market plunges and real estate unaffordable, some Americans don't have the financial wherewithal to retire. There is a real fear that they’ll outlive their savings.
In reality, humans were not built to work in an office building for the vast majority of their lives.
B.S. Jobs
Anthropologist David Graeber wrote a best-selling book, entitled Bullshit Jobs, theorizing that the vast majority of people, ranging from office workers, administrators, management consultants, telemarketers and corporate attorneys to public relations professionals, are squandering their lives. He claims that most jobs are meaningless and unnecessary.
Graeber further contends that people in these positions recognize that their jobs are inconsequential. Over time, they become professionally unsatisfied, spiritually bankrupt and psychologically damaged. He further claims that in some jobs, such as attorneys, people couldn’t care less if these roles simply vanished. In fact, he adds that the world would be better off.
In the real world, people need to work to earn a living. Sometimes they must endure unpleasant jobs, bide their time, learn, network, grow and move on to better opportunities. Many folks take pride in their careers, enjoy the challenges and like the camaraderie of co-workers.
