I Have a Dream… a Perfect Job

And this is not a fantasy

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

I always ask people one question: “Are you happy with your job”? I can tell you that in most cases, the answer comes up as (you guessed it) “No”. While most of them are down in the dumps because of low salaries, lack of promotion opportunities, workload stress, and bad managers, others are unhappy because they simply do not like their jobs.

If you are at work and reading this story, I hope it touches you in the most positive way, regardless of whether you are satisfied with your job or not.

The Status of Today’s Employees

I shared with you above a conclusion based on the responses I got from my relatives and friends, but what do studies tell us about job satisfaction? Get ready for some eye-opening and disturbing findings.

In the United States, the Workplace Health Survey collected responses of more than 17,000 employees across 19 industries between 2015 and 2017. Some of the findings are represented in Figure 1 below and they clearly show that employees are unhappy with the state of their workplace, including salary, recognition, support, work environment, and policies.

Figure 1. Workplace Health Survey Findings

In Europe, job satisfaction is not in a different class. The sixth edition of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) was conducted in 2015, and around 44,000 workers in 35 countries were interviewed. Figure 2 below shows what employees in some countries think about having good prospects for career development in their jobs, and as you can note, the majority of employees DO NOT believe their jobs have good prospects for career development, except for Switzerland and the United Kingdom. If you are curious to uncover more findings of EWCS’s sixth edition, you can click here and select any question to view the responses of employees in various European countries.

Figure 2. European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS): Good Prospects on Career Development

Working Conditions: Past and Present

The courageous labour movements throughout history fostered labour rights and paved the way for fair working conditions. These movements put an end to slavery, long working hours, low wages, child labour, and much more. So, why are workers of today not satisfied?

1. Workers in developing countries still suffer from poor working conditions, or what is sometimes referred to as “slave-like conditions”. They work for long hours in low-paid jobs, and have to deal with verbal and physical abuse and an unsafe work environment.
2. Workers in developed countries give the impression of being satisfied with their jobs, but not all of them are. The studies and figures presented above are proof. A large number of employees work for long hours and on weekends to show that they are loyal to their jobs. They put their jobs as a number one priority to attain the stability they always wanted. And guess what? These employees can be easily passed over for promotion, and even replaced in a matter of days.
3. Workers in both developed and developing countries face capitalism and an unhealthy employer-employee relationship. Employers are dictators getting richer day by day, while employees are captives whose lives are at the mercy of their bosses.

We spend a quarter to a third of our lives working. As an employee…

I do not want gym memberships, I want a flexible schedule.
I do not want a fancy desk, I want to be able to choose to work remotely.
I do not want overtime pay, I want the work to be divided equally.
I do not want to ask for a promotion, I want fair employee appraisals.
I do not want a low pay raise, I want the pay gap to shrink.

Do you think it is time for a new labour movement? Share with me your thoughts before we discuss in the next story a few ways that can help us increase our job satisfaction. Do not forget to follow the publication on Medium and follow me on Medium and LinkedIn. Thank you for reading this story.