Why do so many people seem to dislike their jobs.

When I started in my last job I loved it. Most of my team did. I was promoted to it from another position and i worked my ass off to prove I could do it. 4 years later and I hated it. Everyone in the team hated it. We were depressed and dreaded work. Managers took on more work for us to do. We were given no training. None at all. In the beginning that was part of the attraction. You needed to be a self starter. 4 years later our responsibilities had at least quadrupled and we were never trained up for anything. We were overwhelmed.

Add in a management that dangled a promotion in front of us (only an extra 5k a year but a snazzier title) that we could never achieve and that was the final straw. They actually changed the job description for the promotion after I was there a year. They added in that a degree in anything was necessary. So I got a degree, as did two others in the team, and they changed the description. So I got a masters too. Still nothing. They said that certain experience was needed but they refused to allow us to get the experience (even though it was in our job description) because there was too much other work to do.

In the end I left.

For a lot of people, if you're in a job where you have no chance of promotion or moving on in anyway, then you'll grow to hate it. I knew people in my previous company who worked in the call centre section. They were on just over 30k a year because they had been there for years. They were turned down for every promotion in the company. They got no guidance, training or mentorship so they would probably always be call centre agents. They couldn't leave because that would be a cut in wages and they'd be lucky to get 25 anywhere else. So they were stuck and they hated it.

I think some of it comes from deciding at 18 what you want to do for the rest of your life (as in college course - which gets you the job) If I had to go back now, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do now what I did then. Hell I'm 31 and I STILL don't know what I "want" to do for the rest of my life.
Last year I was in a permanent job that I was completely miserable in, left it for a pay cut and a 3 month contract and really enjoyed my job then. Was kept there for 8 months and the headcount was cut and I was moved to a different dept.. not loving it so much now but I have a wedding to pay for next year so can't rock the boat just yet. Have ideas of what I would enjoy doing (complete 180 from what I'm doing) but it takes money and time both of which I haven't got in excess right now.. after the wedding is done and paid for, I'll reassess

It's a combination of factors for most people. Common themes would be:

o Unpaid overtime. 37 hours is really 45-50 hours.

o Wages that are eaten by childcare and living expenses

o The good team members are covering for the lazy team members. Management won't address the bad workers.

o You are 'public-facing' and get abused all day long

o You know that you are better or more qualified than your peers and manager, but you are always passed over for promotion.

o Cliques. Some people are very friendly with management and are permitted to coast.

o Monotony

o Bullying

team_actimel wrote: »

I think more companies should be giving employees flexibility to their hours. Unless you're in a customer service job and having to be on the phone/email all the time, I don't see why most employers insist on 9-5.

While i agree with some flexibility depending on your job, in reality people need to interact with other employees to get the job done.

Say for example i had the flexibility to put in a 40 hour week however i wanted, so i decided to work from 3-11pm every day. But the rest of the staff decided to work from 7am-3pm. We would never be in the office at the same time and if i needed to ask anything i would need to rely on email.

Thats an extreme example but flexible working hours does impact performance.

But i would agree with limited flexible starting time +- 1 hour from 9am. So you could start anytime between 8-10

Cheer up people, there's always the sweet release of death to look forward to.

Because life is **** & there is no such thing as happiness!......

midnight city wrote: »

Its the hours for me, 9 to 5 every day of the week and only 2 days off. One of those days most places are closed up. Must we work 5 days a week, must we work 8 hours a day. Most jobs out there are a repetition of the same things too. Whats to like about it.

Very good point. The last company I worked for has recently decided to change their policy. They used to have a flexitime arrangement anyway, they still do, but they have decided to dispense with the idea of a core hours concept (you had to be in by say 10, and you couldn't leave before a certain time in the late afternoon).

Essentially they can work whatever hours they want so long as their clock balance is at least: [standard hours - 10 hours] at each month end, standard hours per week of 37.5. Seems very good to me.

Deleted User wrote: »

That reminds me I have to fill in my timesheet.

Oh Jesus, timesheets. My sympathies.

jester77 wrote: »

I don't understand this being in a job you dislike. It is where you spend the best part of your day. Why settle for something you are not happy with? If you are not happy, then do something about it. Life is too short to be getting up everyday for the next 30-40 years and feeling miserable before you even get out of the bed. Feck that.

Some people just dislike working 40 hours a week every week. I would be one of them, my job is ok, it's probably as good as it could be. But even my favourite hobby, I wouldn't like to have to do it for 40 hours a week every week.
Most office drones probably feel that way at least sometimes.

As jobs go my job is good , secure , well paid, regular hours , flexi time and good annual leave.

going to work still wouldn't be my first choice of things to do of a morning and if i were to win the lotto (significant amount) i'd pack it in in the morning happily and spend my time doing stuff i actually enjoy like travelling , cooking , exercising , looking after animals that kind of stuff.

I don't work because i want to get out of bed every morning at 7:30 spend all day away from my Finance , family , friends and Kittens , processing stuff that really don't matter a toss to me personally and then eventually get home at 6:30. I do it because it funds the lifestyle i want , quality apartment with loads of nice things , nice cloths , expensive foreign holidays and nice meals out. I think that's more the way it is for most people its something you have to do not something you choose to do.