There is a popular quote that goes “do what you love, love what you do” that equates to job satisfaction. What happens when you don’t love what you do? or haven’t gotten around to doing what you love. How many of us experience job satisfaction on this side of the earth; Nigeria?
When you work in one of the top regulators in the country; a coveted job by many, it seems ungrateful of you to open your mouth to mention any form of displeasure or complaint. After all, you’re working where you work and many would kill to have that which you do not want. So sometimes you swallow your words and smile when people say how lucky or blessed you are to have a job. Why should you reply that you hate your job or are unhappy when asked “how is work?”, especially when the person who asked you has been unemployed for three years or is underemployed? How do you really feel what you want to feel when everyone thinks the grass is luscious green on your side?
When I started writing this post, I had one of those difficult days at work where I took a trip to the toilet to have an emotional breakdown. I felt particularly frustrated at work and questioned why I was where I am and not in my dream job/organization yet. I couldn’t help but indulge in the self-pity thoughts knocking at the door of my mind and eventually the tears came. An insensitive comment from a principal manager in my office was the trigger. I had asked her a question related to our job and she replied that she didn’t expect such a question from me after all this time in the office and wasn’t going to answer me. It made me feel stupid and I cried. In retrospect, I may have been ovulating. However, it didn’t stop me from getting upset and then frustrated that I wasn’t at my dream job yet. I was upset that upon my resumption in the organization, I was sent to a totally different department other than what matched my background. I was upset that the organization wasn’t even in my primary field and why I was even in it in the first place.
Interestingly enough, some days later I felt some form of pride in my work when I completed a report that was to be submitted to the top management of my organization. On that day, I felt some sort of job satisfaction but was it enough? No, sadly it wasn’t. When I think of the quote above; love what you do, do what you love, my expectations are that the days of job satisfaction are more than a once in a month/quarter feeling. Am I expecting too much? After all, there are studies that show that when you love what you do, you perform better in those roles. When I think of Nigeria, where some people end up taking the jobs that are available over those in their respective field. It is not unusual to find medical background students working in a bank or political background students working in agriculture over here. I wonder how many of them can say they truly experience job satisfaction. I’m aware that interests change as one grows and that some people didn’t even study what they wanted and are happy ending up anywhere.
I have friends and peers around me who fall into both categories; those working in their desired field and those “managing what is available”. The general consensus from both is that they didn’t enjoy job satisfaction. Many quit their jobs, some found a new challenge within their organization and others are pushing through, because who wants to let go of a bird in hand with the rising unemployment. Is that any way to live though? For one, his frustration was with the office politics surrounding his PhD qualification and being young. Senior colleagues ignored or downplayed his input at work or tried to push him out of relevant conversations so much so that it felt like a punishment for being highly qualified. Isn’t that jealousy? And why should they even feel that way considering they’ve had their fair share of job progression? Plus if it bothers them so much, shouldn’t it challenge them to acquire more qualification? Unfortunately, he decided to quit because his work environment had become too toxic and I count it a loss for that organization. I wonder how many organizations are not enjoying the full capacity of their human capacity because of jealous senior colleagues.
From a poll on my twitter asking people if they loved their job, if they were doing work they loved and if they experienced overall job satisfaction, the results showed that 52% of the respondents did not love their jobs, 57% were not doing what they love and when asked if they had job satisfaction in their current role, 67% voted no.
I’m left wondering who is then experiencing job satisfaction. How important is it to love your job even if it isn’t your dream job? Should adulting in terms of work be reduced to such a simple quote of “love what you do, do what you love” when we have responsibilities to attend to? If the average person is to spend 90,000 hours working in their lifetime, then it’s surely important to derive some form of satisfaction in your career but how?
