3 Ways you damage your career by staying at a job you hate
Most people put monetary value on success, which is not always a good thing. When it comes to your career success is not only getting paid, it’s getting paid to do what you love.
Over the years i’ve spoken to different people about what staying at a job you hate can do to your mental and physical health. In fact, a Gallup Engaged Employees Less Likely to have health problems report, shows that disengaged employees have a higher risk of being diagnosed with depression, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, physical pain, and stress. Sadly many people think these things are normal and come with the territory.
So I say, what if I told you that staying at a job you hate can also badly damage your career. Here’s how:
Someone knows you hate your job and plans on replacing you
If you have been at a job for a while, people have watched your behavior and when your behavior changes people notice. This includes but is not limited to; coming in late when you used to come in early, not speaking to anyone outside of a work assignment, when you were previously chatty, and doing the bare minimum when you used to be an overachiever. All of these things are very noticeable.
One of the major things you need to understand is that, there may be cases where your employer allows you to dig yourself into a hole, simply because they are still getting work out of you. It’s not an uncommon practice. They may be keeping you around until they find someone else or you may already be training your replacement and don’t know it. Though it may not be as easy to replace you as they would like, someone knows and talks to replace you have already taken place.
You stop yourself from advancing
You either dislike your job because there is no room for growth, issues with management, co-workers or money. No matter which way you look at it, all of these things cease growth.
When you come to work you are no longer focused on learning. You’re more focused on just “getting through the day”. Not to mention, if there is a case where someone knows you hate your job if they are powerful enough, they can make sure you don’t get any new opportunities.
You’ll keep doing the same things that everyone knows you are good at and you will not grow. Technically they won’t be completely wrong for doing so. Simply because your lack of engagement could be considered damaging to the company’s growth. This is definitely something you want to watch out for.
You ruin your reputation
You could very well be in a situation where you are dealing with some major issues at work. You may have raised concerns and became a little discouraged that nothing has changed. So it’s understandable that you are not happy. Unfortunately, what is not understandable is a change in your overall behavior. When you are part of any organization, you have to be very cautious in how you handle adversity.
If your reputation has been built on your work ethic and how well you handle things, you want to ensure that’s what people remember about you when you leave. It is unnecessary to stay at a company you dislike for so long that it changes your personality and work ethic. People always remember the way you leave, whether you were right or wrong.
If you truly can not find any happiness in your job, I suggest you set up a plan and leave it. Spend less time worrying about the extent of your job search and more time worrying about the damage you will do to your career.
