I frequently hear from people who are frustrated and unhappy with their jobs and want to know how to change whatever is making them unhappy. Often what they're chafing against is some inherent aspect of their job or their manager or their workplace.Over at U.S. News & World Report today, I talk about what to do when you're in this situation -- frustrated by some aspect of your job and not sure what to do about it.
I suspect this topic applies to everyone at some point in life (more likely, many points), so please head over there and check it out -- and leave your own thoughts in the comments over there.
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5 comments:
I am not sure if there is anything that I can do. I like my job, my duties are boring but doable and I enjoy the people whom I work with and adore my manager. My work reports are sent to other managers to provide feedback to their employees; I think there may be one manager who even looks at those reports, and none of them actually provides any feedback. I feel that my work is completely wasted, and that I could come in and spend the entire day surfing the Internet or playing games if I could (work computers have restrictions that prevents such activities) and that no one would notice that they had received no reports recently. I dont think this is going to change; afterall, their direct report cant stay on their shoulder making sure they do what they are supposed to. I feel useless and unnecessary at work.
Kit, have you talked to your manager about how you're feeling?
To my manager yes, and he has brought it up with his director, but it kind of pretty much stops there. He is almost as frustrated as I am, but his hands are tied within his role as well. With his position, what I do is just a minor part of what he is responsible for, so he always has other things to work on. Reviews are also considered a minor part of the other managers duties, and since it is a new feature that was only implemented when I was promoted up for it, many of them never incorporated into their active days. I was prepared to be bored or even hated by coworkers, but to have everything I do with my day be completely be ignored is driving me insane. I also feel for the employees who wont find out until their yearly review that they have been doing things incorrectly for over a year. With the training that people are put in for on a yearly basis, and the amount of time and resources spent during my day every day, its costing the company money at the very least. If I quit, whoever comes in my place will I think be stuck in the same situation.
If your manager sympathizes with you, then he at least should provide you with feedback. And many, many people get the majority of their feedback (or their only feedback) from their manager, so that seems like it should be not unbearable.
But otherwise, I think you're in exactly the situation my article on U.S. News spoke to -- you have to decide if you can be content with the job as it is.
Its what I have been thinking about for a long time. With the job market being the way it is, I am glad just to have work, since my father had trouble finding one for over two years and he really cant stand his. I like working with customers and customer service, regardless of retail or whatever, because I like being helpful and useful. At this point, I am wishing I could afford to go back to being a phone rep because there was atleast some job satisfaction associated with the work, whereas now, I am counting the days until I go on vacation. I recently got my degree, hence the promotion, but fields where I have experience and would not be considered over or under qualified are also not hiring unless I want to move, which I cant do because my husband earns more and we cant afford to sell our house right now. Thank you for your response, it may be sad but its nice to know I am not the only one.
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