Are you a happy but mediocre employee?

Your Superior

We've recently carried out a staff audit at my company, analysing the contribution each employee makes and seeing how their future with us could map out. One thing that has really become clear is that happy but mediocre employees are somewhat of a blessing rather than a curse.

The happy but mediocre type are the ones who reach a career level they are content with, on a salary that obviously suits their lifestyle, and are likely to be entrenched in their role for years. A prime example is one of the managers in our R&D team. He's 39, has a wife and two kids, joined us as a researcher ten years ago and showed great aptitude and ambition, climbing to his current role within 5 years, earning £58k p.a. and driving a BMW which is the car he had always wanted and worked towards. However, his ambition has totally disappeared. He is content to stay at management level for the next 20 years and then retire.

This is in some ways great for us, as these employees offer relative stability to the organisation, much more so than the true star employees do, who quite rightly are looking to further their career, and often move on to a larger company/more senior role elsewhere. The downside of course is that the mediocre and content employee doesn't show the dynamism they once did, and of course this can prevent the company from moving forward perhaps as quickly as it possibly could.

So, are you a happy but mediocre employee? Content to spend 30 years or so doing the same role because it fits your lifestyle, or would you see this is a form of living hell, as I do?

cloud493

I don't define myself by my job, its a means to an end. So I'll do whatever pays, basically.

Your Superior

cloud493 wrote: »

I don't define myself by my job, its a means to an end. So I'll do whatever pays, basically.

Surely if you do something that takes up 40 hours of your week, as a job does, you should find one that at least improves your life in some way?

endacl

Your Superior wrote: »

Surely if you do something that takes up 40 hours of your week, as a job does, you should find one that at least improves your life in some way?

By paying.

cloud493

Thats not really a consideration. A job is a way to get money to do things that make me happy, ensure I can pay bills and rent, etc. Not the way to be happy etc.

The Backwards Man

In the name of Jesus!

A staff audit?

Office workers justifying their existence to other office workers justifying their existence

Come back Stone Age, all is forgiven

catallus

Staff audits are good for everyone, and good fun too!

The Backwards Man

catallus wrote: »

Staff audits are good for everyone, and good fun too!

Good for whoever has the makey uppy job of carrying it out anyway

Your Superior

The Backwards Man wrote: »

In the name of Jesus!

A staff audit?

Office workers justifying their existence to other office workers justifying their existence

Come back Stone Age, all is forgiven

Yep, it was all a bit too "Office Space" for my liking, but it's more of a tool to see if any employee has skills or ambitions that we are perhaps unaware of, and mainly a way that we can find ways to improve the working environment. It's only done every 5 years.

SpaceTime

One thing that I've found is that too much auditing of staff and HR gururism can result in poor morale and 'stars' leaving.

Your Superior

cloud493 wrote: »

Thats not really a consideration. A job is a way to get money to do things that make me happy, ensure I can pay bills and rent, etc. Not the way to be happy etc.

By that line of thinking though, surely if you progressed your career and earned more money for disposable income, it would give you the chance to be even happier?

Duggy747

I feel going postal every so often tend to relieve a lot of built up tension in the office.

brevity

If he is good at his job I wouldn't really describe him as mediocre, perhaps unambitious or settled.

Hermy

Your Superior wrote: »

Surely if you do something that takes up 40 hours of your week, as a job does, you should find one that at least improves your life in some way?

And where would one find such a job?

The Backwards Man

Your Superior wrote: »

Yep, it was all a bit too "Office Space" for my liking, but it's more of a tool to see if any employee has skills or ambitions that we are perhaps unaware of, and mainly a way that we can find ways to improve the working environment. It's only done every 5 years.

Skills and ambitions are like cream and dog turds, they rise to the top regardless.

Your Superior

Hermy wrote: »

And where would one find such a job?

Any job can be that job, depending on your outlook. It's the ambition you show and the ability you demonstrate that ultimately gets you into the job that is right for you. People tend to end up where they belong on the career ladder, with a few exceptions.

Baggy Trousers

2 things I learned;

(1) It's not about what work you do, how much work you did, how many hours you worked or what that work achieved...it is all about perception on how good you are for the company.

(2) It's all about salary not "role" or "title" or payscales. You can be on a huge salary with some mickey mouse "title" i.e. a company will break it's salary bands if you can prove you are indispensable (often perception)

For example, I once went into a pay review and demanded €5,000. Note: I did not ask for a % increase, simply €5k. My manager said no but offered 2500 and a title change to "Senior Whatever". I said you can call me Junior Janitor for all I care, I want €5000 or I am leaving. Despite blowing his salary increase budget (or so he said), I got the €5k and no title change.
By asking for €5k, I more or less showed that I was worth it (or so he believed! )

It's all a game.

Baggy Trousers

Your Superior wrote: »

By that line of thinking though, surely if you progressed your career and earned more money for disposable income, it would give you the chance to be even happier?

Career progression can lead to higher stress levels which in turns leads to poor health and happiness. Fine line.

Your Superior

Baggy Trousers wrote: »

2 things I learned;

(1) It's not about what work you do, how much work you did, how many hours you worked or what that work achieved...it is all about perception on how good you are for the company.

(2) It's all about salary not "role" or "title" or payscales. You can be on a huge salary with some mickey mouse "title" i.e. a company will break it's salary bands if you can prove you are indispensable (often perception)

For example, I once went into a pay review and demanded €5,000. Note: I did not ask for a % increase, simply €5k. My manager said no but offered 2500 and a title change to "Senior Whatever". I said you can call me Junior Janitor for all I care, I want €5000 or I am leaving. Despite blowing his salary increase budget (or so he said), I got the €5k and no title change.
By asking for €5k, I more or less showed that I was worth it (or so he believed! )

It's all a game.

That's because you are ambitious. I once had an employee who was due a pay rise of about £4k (15 years ago, so not a bad raise in those days) ask if instead of the raise he could have his title changed from supervisor to manager. I said no, told him he'd need to get a promotion to become a manager, and gave him the £4k.

danrua01

The poll options aren't great. I could be unhappy, a good employee, but not ambitious. Maybe I have a job that I can do well, but don't particularly want to do it.

Anyway, in me last job there was an audit of this type... A survey was given to everyone along the lines of "on a scale of 1-10 how would you recommend [workplace] to your friends and family?" I gave my vote. Two weeks later it was passed around again, I asked why and the reply was "the last time we got really really low scores, so we're asking people to put higher scores". So I gave them a lower score and quit soon after.

Baggy Trousers

Your Superior wrote: »

That's because you are ambitious. I once had an employee who was due a pay rise of about £4k (15 years ago, so not a bad raise in those days) ask if instead of the raise he could have his title changed from supervisor to manager. I said no, told him he'd need to get a promotion to become a manager, and gave him the £4k.

I am not ambitious. I am well paid.

The Peanut

Your Superior wrote: »

The happy but mediocre type are the ones who reach a career level they are content with, on a salary that obviously suits their lifestyle, and are likely to be entrenched in their role for years. A prime example is one of the managers in our R&D team. He's 39, has a wife and two kids, joined us as a researcher ten years ago and showed great aptitude and ambition, climbing to his current role within 5 years, earning £58k p.a. and driving a BMW which is the car he had always wanted and worked towards. However, his ambition has totally disappeared. He is content to stay at management level for the next 20 years and then retire.

This is in some ways great for us, as these employees offer relative stability to the organisation, much more so than the true star employees do, who quite rightly are looking to further their career, and often move on to a larger company/more senior role elsewhere. The downside of course is that the mediocre and content employee doesn't show the dynamism they once did, and of course this can prevent the company from moving forward perhaps as quickly as it possibly could.

So, are you a happy but mediocre employee? Content to spend 30 years or so doing the same role because it fits your lifestyle, or would you see this is a form of living hell, as I do?

According to this, I would be happy and mediocre. But, I am know exactly what I want to do with my life.

I am on an excellent salary and I am relatively content with my job. However, in order to balance all aspects of my life, I do not want to climb any higher within the industry I work in. I do not want to travel much with work. I do not want to live out of hotels. I do not want to be getting phone-calls during the night and at weekends. I have done all that and it has gotten me to the level and salary I am now at. I want to see my wife and kids by 7pm every night. I want to see them at weekends. I want to be able to switch off at night and go for a run, etc.

It's certainly better for me. Clear head, no issues with going to work which can be a stressful job. Has to be better for the company on some levels.

Hermy

Your Superior wrote: »

...It's the ambition you show and the ability you demonstrate that ultimately gets you into the job that is right for you...

And if that job isn't currently being advertised, what then?

Your Superior

The Peanut wrote: »

According to this, I would be happy and mediocre. But, I am know exactly what I want to do with my life.

I am on an excellent salary and I am relatively content with my job. However, in order to balance all aspects of my life, I do not want to climb any higher within the industry I work in. I do not want to travel much with work. I do not want to live out of hotels. I do not want to be getting phone-calls during the night and at weekends. I have done all that and it has gotten me to the level and salary I am now at. I want to see my wife and kids by 7pm every night. I want to see them at weekends. I want to be able to switch off at night and go for a run, etc.

It's certainly better for me. Clear head, no issues with going to work which can be a stressful job. Has to be better for the company on some levels.

Absolutely, very good for the company. Stability, experience, no worries about recruiting replacements etc, and you get the life you are happy with. Win Win really.

ZiabR

cloud493 wrote: »

I don't define myself by my job, its a means to an end. So I'll do whatever pays, basically.

+1

Your Superior

Hermy wrote: »

And if that job isn't currently being advertised, what then?

You find a different role, and work toward your goal. Nobody gets their dream job to start with. You have to start low on the ladder and work up. Although an alarming number of recent graduates these days seem to think that a degree entitles them to a management position, £50k salary and executive car before they've even done a day's real work.

Hermy

Your Superior wrote: »

...You have to start low on the ladder and work up...

As someone who was never career-driven and it being more than a few years since I finished school that is not an easy thing to contemplate.
Ah, to be 20 years younger and have another go...:(

ToxicPaddy

If you hire someone for a job and they are doing satisfactorily, what is the need for them to be audited? If they aren't doing their job right, get rid of them.

Talk about HR trying to justify their existence? :rolleyes:

It's just another way for management to squeeze more from their employees without actually paying them any extra and now that the economy is climbing out of the doldrums they can't use the lack of jobs as a stick to beat their employees anymore..

I know of a company who use their employees annual review to see if they meet the" high standards" they expect from their employees, of course no one ever meets these "high standards" so as a result no one ever gets a decent pay rise or full bonus.

The result is a workforce of demotivated employees who are either content to just do they normal days work and nothing more or leave. They are currently losing 15%+ of their most skilled and experienced work force to the competition, who are more than happy to better their pay and benefits, on an annual basis.

Now they are struggling to find staff and a good few new starters are regularly walking out after a few weeks on the job as they are sick of the place by then.

With the economy starting to turn around, It's small minded companies like this who will suffer most.

Your Superior

Hermy wrote: »

As someone who was never career-driven and it being more than a few years since I finished school that is not an easy thing to contemplate.
Ah, to be 20 years younger and have another go...:(

It's never too late to change, or to use the experiences you have to enhance your career.

3 years ago one of my directors quit suddenly at the age of 47. He had decided he wanted to be an actor and writer, despite having no experience or formal training in either. The acting hasn't taken off massively, though he has been in a few adverts and had some theatre work. His writing has been a revelation. He has two plays currently being performed, one in Chicago and one in London, and is in negotiations to turn one of them in to a tv movie for an American cable tv channel. One condition he has is that he wants a minor role in the film himself.

He doesn't make as much cash as he used to, well not yet anyway, but he's now the happiest man I know.

Your Superior

ToxicPaddy wrote: »

If you hire someone for a job and they are doing satisfactorily, what is the need for them to be audited? If they aren't doing their job right, get rid of them.

Talk about HR trying to justify their existence? :rolleyes:

It's just another way for management to squeeze more from their employees without actually paying them any extra and now that the economy is climbing out of the doldrums they can't use the lack of jobs as a stick to beat their employees anymore..

I know of a company who use their employees annual review to see if they meet the" high standards" they expect from their employees, of course no one ever meets these "high standards" so as a result no one ever gets a decent pay rise or full bonus.

The result is a workforce of demotivated employees who are either content to just do they normal days work and nothing more or leave. They are currently losing 15%+ of their most skilled and experienced work force to the competition, who are more than happy to better their pay and benefits, on an annual basis.

Now they are struggling to find staff and a good few new starters are regularly walking out after a few weeks on the job as they are sick of the place by then.

With the economy starting to turn around, It's small minded companies like this who will suffer most.

First off my company is not in Ireland.

Secondly the audit has very different goal than the ones you describe. Our staff are all paid at above-industry average rates with guaranteed pay rises linked to inflation plus additional rises and bonuses based upon performance measured by SMART objectives, get higher than average annual leave to a maximum of 40 days excluding bank holidays, fully paid maternity and paternity leave, flexible working hours and work from home where suitable, private healthcare and dental care for their families and a pension where we treble their contribution(ie. they pay 5% of their wage, we pay 10% in to it). The audit lets us know if there is anything we as a company are missing, be that a particular skill a person has, or ideas that may create a happier and more productive workforce.

Not all companies are terrible, it's a shame that is what you have experienced. Staff retention is the cornerstone of any successful business. It improves morale, ensures consistency, and saves a fortune on recruitment and training costs.

Gongoozler

I'm unhappy and above mediocre.

I can't understand how people can do ****ty meaningless jobs that they don't like, especially for **** money. I don't want to be management, but I don't want to be printing and emailing on a managers behalf for the rest of my life either.

Jobs are a means to an end for some but to me, if you're having to spend 40 hours of your week doing something you hate or for **** pay, or both, then that's a **** existence as far as I'm concerned.

I have a brain and I want to do a job that uses my brain, and I'd also like to enjoy it. It's bloody hard to get to the next level though, so little opportunity.

ScumLord

Your Superior wrote: »

Surely if you do something that takes up 40 hours of your week, as a job does, you should find one that at least improves your life in some way?

The problem with your audit is that it seems very one sided. Your main focus is what can we get out of our employees but doesn't take into account your employees probably just see your business as a cash cow that allows them to live and buy stuff. You don't really seem to be seeing it from the employees point of view. Employees want to see the place they work for do well because it puts money in their pockets and a business that's doing well is secure. But outside of that they probably couldn't care less about the companies policies and goals.

ToxicPaddy wrote: »

If you hire someone for a job and they are doing satisfactorily, what is the need for them to be audited? If they aren't doing their job right, get rid of them.

how do you know if they're doing their job right if you don't audit them? A company could bring in new efficiencies that worked it's way down the line to some guy you effectively spends those efficiencies to get away with doing less work. Maybe one employee is the cause of efficiencies because he won't talk to another guy. Bottom line is you don't know until you go see.

My mediocrity knows no limits, but that doesn't mean I'm without ambition. I'm happy where I am, I'll be happier when I'm where I want to be.

jester77

Your Superior wrote: »

We've recently carried out a staff audit at my company, analysing the contribution each employee makes and seeing how their future with us could map out. One thing that has really become clear is that happy but mediocre employees are somewhat of a blessing rather than a curse.

The happy but mediocre type are the ones who reach a career level they are content with, on a salary that obviously suits their lifestyle, and are likely to be entrenched in their role for years. A prime example is one of the managers in our R&D team. He's 39, has a wife and two kids, joined us as a researcher ten years ago and showed great aptitude and ambition, climbing to his current role within 5 years, earning £58k p.a. and driving a BMW which is the car he had always wanted and worked towards. However, his ambition has totally disappeared. He is content to stay at management level for the next 20 years and then retire.

This is in some ways great for us, as these employees offer relative stability to the organisation, much more so than the true star employees do, who quite rightly are looking to further their career, and often move on to a larger company/more senior role elsewhere. The downside of course is that the mediocre and content employee doesn't show the dynamism they once did, and of course this can prevent the company from moving forward perhaps as quickly as it possibly could.

So, are you a happy but mediocre employee? Content to spend 30 years or so doing the same role because it fits your lifestyle, or would you see this is a form of living hell, as I do?

I can see his point of view. His salary is enough for him to enjoy his current lifestyle. An extra 10 or 20k is going to have little impact on his current lifestyle, but the BS and stress that comes with that extra 10-20k could have a negative impact. When you get to a certain level, the crap that comes with moving further up is often not worth the financial returns.

USD Inflation Swap

Being content to spend 40 hours of your week doing something you hate is sad.

Your Superior

ScumLord wrote: »

The problem with your audit is that it seems very one sided. Your main focus is what can we get out of our employees but doesn't take into account your employees probably just see your business as a cash cow that allows them to live and buy stuff. You don't really seem to be seeing it from the employees point of view. Employees want to see the place they work for do well because it puts money in their pockets and a business that's doing well is secure. But outside of that they probably couldn't care less about the companies policies and goals.

how do you know if they're doing their job right if you don't audit them? A company could bring in new efficiencies that worked it's way down the line to some guy you effectively spends those efficiencies to get away with doing less work. Maybe one employee is the cause of efficiencies because he won't talk to another guy. Bottom line is you don't know until you go see.

I think you have the wrong idea here. I'll refer you to what I wrote earlier...

"The audit lets us know if there is anything we as a company are missing, be that a particular skill a person has, or ideas that may create a happier and more productive workforce."

We do it to find things out for the benefit of all parties. Staff retention is one of our core principles.

Ush1

I flip flop. Sometimes I'm highly motivated about my career and work life and think I'll go looking for other jobs and have a change of scenery. Other times I think I have it good and concentrate on things outside of work.

Your Superior

Your Superior wrote: »

I think you have the wrong idea here. I'll refer you to what I wrote earlier...

"The audit lets us know if there is anything we as a company are missing, be that a particular skill a person has, or ideas that may create a happier and more productive workforce."

We do it to find things out for the benefit of all parties. Staff retention is one of our core principles.

Actually, further to this I'll give you details of one of the outcomes from the last audit, done five years ago. We found that some employees expressed an interest in taking sabbaticals to go and work with charities. What we decided to do was offer all staff the opportunity to take up secondments on full pay to a charity for up to 3 months. Obviously not everyone can do this at once, so there has to be a degree of flexibility, but right now we have one director spending three months(may increase it to 6) working with a charity that deals with inner city crime and poverty among young people, one manager spending 6 weeks with a mental health charity and two of our more junior staff members working 1 day per week for the next two years on creating marketing and business plans for conservation charities.

Additionally each and every employee has one half day per week to devote to "Personal Development Projects" which can be anything(within reason) that can be seen to be of a benefit to their personal health, wellbeing and development. As long as it doesn't involve homeopathy, which is a load of nonsense.

ScumLord

Your Superior wrote: »

What we decided to do was offer all staff the opportunity to take up secondments on full pay to a charity for up to 3 months.

This was a point I was going to bring up, that many audits are focused entirely on the workplace and don't take into account the person their hiring has a life outside of work. So if an employee likes designing and making furniture in their spare time it doesn't matter how good the workplace is if that guy gets the chance to living off making furniture he's gone.


Giving people time to accomplish goals unrelated to work is a good idea.

Baggy Trousers

Your Superior wrote: »

Actually, further to this I'll give you details of one of the outcomes from the last audit, done five years ago. We found that some employees expressed an interest in taking sabbaticals to go and work with charities. What we decided to do was offer all staff the opportunity to take up secondments on full pay to a charity for up to 3 months. Obviously not everyone can do this at once, so there has to be a degree of flexibility, but right now we have one director spending three months(may increase it to 6) working with a charity that deals with inner city crime and poverty among young people, one manager spending 6 weeks with a mental health charity and two of our more junior staff members working 1 day per week for the next two years on creating marketing and business plans for conservation charities.

Additionally each and every employee has one half day per week to devote to "Personal Development Projects" which can be anything(within reason) that can be seen to be of a benefit to their personal health, wellbeing and development. As long as it doesn't involve homeopathy, which is a load of nonsense.

Its always a bad sign when the OP starts replying to their own posts! :P

Your Superior

Baggy Trousers wrote: »

Its always a bad sign when the OP starts replying to their own posts! :P

It's a quiet day, I need to keep myself entertained somehow! Maybe I could consider this my personal development time.....

The Peanut

Your Superior wrote: »

Actually, further to this I'll give you details of one of the outcomes from the last audit, done five years ago. We found that some employees expressed an interest in taking sabbaticals to go and work with charities. What we decided to do was offer all staff the opportunity to take up secondments on full pay to a charity for up to 3 months. Obviously not everyone can do this at once, so there has to be a degree of flexibility, but right now we have one director spending three months(may increase it to 6) working with a charity that deals with inner city crime and poverty among young people, one manager spending 6 weeks with a mental health charity and two of our more junior staff members working 1 day per week for the next two years on creating marketing and business plans for conservation charities.

Additionally each and every employee has one half day per week to devote to "Personal Development Projects" which can be anything(within reason) that can be seen to be of a benefit to their personal health, wellbeing and development.

Impressive. It's fantastic that your company is in the position to be able to offer opportunities like this.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

jobbridge4life

I'm unhappy because I am ambitious. Its a constant case of 'I'll be content once I achieve x', getting x and then instantly focusing on achieving y.

The Peanut

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

December is 11 months away; if you upped your effort is there any chance that your contract could be extended or you'ld impress enough to get a different position?

I started working at the end of the 80's; all the jobs in my industry (pharmaceutical) were fixed contract. 5 years of 3mth contract after 3mth contract until eventually I was made permanent. Things change quickly in industry; if you like your job then make the best impression you can. You just never know.

conorhal

Candie wrote: »

My mediocrity knows no limits, but that doesn't mean I'm without ambition. I'm happy where I am, I'll be happier when I'm where I want to be.

An Taoiseach?

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

conorhal

USD Inflation Swap wrote: »

Being content to spend 40 hours of your week doing something you hate is sad.

Yes, but I belive there to be a certian truth to the Henry Thoreau quote, 'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.'

ScumLord

Your Superior wrote: »

Additionally each and every employee has one half day per week to devote to "Personal Development Projects" which can be anything(within reason) that can be seen to be of a benefit to their personal health, wellbeing and development. As long as it doesn't involve homeopathy, which is a load of nonsense.

The only problem with this system is that it leaves you open to being undercut by a more ruthless competitor. You're paying out wages to your employees do to work outside of the business, if your customers were fully aware of the fact their paying a premium to send directors on charity vacations to foreign countries (to view it in it's worst light) they may want to start looking at alternatives that don't and can come in cheaper.

Your Superior

ScumLord wrote: »

The only problem with this system is that it leaves you open to being undercut by a more ruthless competitor. You're paying out wages to your employees do to work outside of the business, if your customers were fully aware of the fact their paying a premium to send directors on charity vacations to foreign countries (to view it in it's worst light) they may want to start looking at alternatives that don't and can come in cheaper.

We only have two competitors globally, realistically, and if anything our ethical stance has been a benefit to us rather than a hindrance. We often work in tandem with the competitors also, as we all have niches the others can't fulfil. Our principles make us attractive to governmental bodies and semi-states.

We've never lost business because of our core principles, but we have turned business away on a few occasions. It's a good position to be in.

heroics

The Peanut wrote: »

According to this, I would be happy and mediocre. But, I am know exactly what I want to do with my life.

I am on an excellent salary and I am relatively content with my job. However, in order to balance all aspects of my life, I do not want to climb any higher within the industry I work in. I do not want to travel much with work. I do not want to live out of hotels. I do not want to be getting phone-calls during the night and at weekends. I have done all that and it has gotten me to the level and salary I am now at. I want to see my wife and kids by 7pm every night. I want to see them at weekends. I want to be able to switch off at night and go for a run, etc.

It's certainly better for me. Clear head, no issues with going to work which can be a stressful job. Has to be better for the company on some levels.

This +1

I did long hours, lots of OT, phonecalls at all sorts of time plenty of travel etc in previous jobs. I am now well paid and at the level I want to be at for the moment. It means I get home before 5 everyday. this means I can see my wife every evening, never miss training etc and have no work related stress outside of 8-4.

I would not consider myself mediocre at my job in any way. I could try and get promoted in the job but that means more stress, being available 24/7 on the phone and in reality only 5-10% pay increase. No thanks