Some people hate their jobs. Some people love their jobs and loathe their bosses. But why?
#HatingWork
According to a new study by human resource firm Robert Half UK, older workers tend to be more unhappy in their jobs than their younger colleagues. One in six British workers over age 35 said they were unhappy—more than double the number for those under 35. Nearly a third of people over 55 said they didn’t feel appreciated, while 16 percent said they didn’t have friends at work.
Some of the reasons cited include being “performance managed” to death, the stress of being in a high-ranking position, the disappointment of not making it far enough up the career ladder, not having friends at work, and family caregiving and children taking the front and center position.
Cary Cooper, a workplace researcher at Manchester Business School thinks that these stresses are causing people to ask themselves, “What am I doing this for?”
Cooper’s advice? “Making work buddies can improve the situation, even if it can be hard to find time for happy-hour drinks,” he said, adding, “refocus on a personal project at work and make that your passion.”
The results of the research and Cooper’s advice seem more than a little superficial and lonely-making to me and sidestep the bigger challenge of engagement -- no matter how old one is. After coaching careerists and executives for 11 years, the number one presenting issue in my practice is how desperate people are to be coached in the workplace—to be developed, challenged, and mentored. As Daniel Pink would put it, they crave “autonomy, mastery, and purpose,” but most of them are led by people who don’t lead, but drive, direct, and micromanage.
Another study, this one by the Human Capital Institute and the International Coaches Federation, found that in organizations with strong coaching cultures, 60 percent of employees rated themselves as “highly engaged.” That’s double the national average in the U.S.
Moreover, “organizations that offer high-potential employees access to external coaches, internal coaches and managers/leaders using coaching skills reported engagement increases of 62, 61 and 59 percent, respectively, within this group."
Lest you think it's all an employee's me-me-me preoccupation, that increase in engagement also has a bottom line benefit. According to the same study, 60 percent of the organizations with strong coaching cultures experienced revenues above average.
But What is Engagement, Really?
Let’s take the buzz out of the buzzword. I particularly love the global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson’s definition of engagement. It’s comprised of three levels.
First, is engagement itself, the intensity of employees’ connection to their organization, marked by a committed effort to achieve work goals. Second is Enablement, or creating conditions that optimize performance in an environment of limited budgets and resources. And third is Energy, embracing practices and programs that promote broad well-being (beyond purely physical) to help people manage stress and find a desired balance between work and personal lives.
While coaching and developing people is not the panacea for solving all “I hate my job” woes, companies that adopt employee coaching and development as a management practice hold the potential of generating all three lev
