Why are so many people unhappy at work?

Piers Bishop · September 11, 2015

One way to answer the question about why so many people hate their jobs is to remember the very best job you ever had and ask yourself what made it feel so good.

We’ve asked a lot of people to do this, and they tend to recall the people they worked with, the challenges of the job, the things they had to learn or the feeling that they were doing something interesting and useful. Only very rarely do we get the answer ‘the money’, and then it usually comes from people who are just interested in the cash.

Asking why so many staff hate their jobs carries the assumption that it is somehow the staff who are at fault when they don’t engage with their job. But we know that there are many things people do quite cheerfully, without any question of being paid, so it’s not that people don’t want to do things … just that they only want to do the things they want to do.

Activities that provide the experiences people want will be satisfying, motivating, meaningful and enjoyable. People in this happy position will come to work willingly and do what they can to make it work well.

But why should the business be fussed about this? The answer is that the business needs results, and it needs them sustainably. The best results come from a workforce which is self-motivated because it loves the job, and the best chance of getting that comes from establishing a workplace culture and environment that meets the needs of the people who work there.

Our 4C model covers all the bases you need to know about, and you can try it free of charge, using our web-based software to find out what you need to do to get your people into that happy, self-motivating place.

Just try it, and the question about why do so many staff hate their jobs will fade from your consciousness. You’ll probably find you like your own job better, too…

To see the full article please go to Andrew’s LinkedIn post.