Situation
We see lot of youngsters around us frustrated and dissatisfied with their job and the company they work with. One of the common complaints is that they do not get valued or appreciated in their job despite their qualification and hardworking. Being dissatisfied in your work is a huge marker of not feeling valued.
Many of them talk very badly about their managers and company, some of them think of job changes, some just show helplessness and lowness. A study shows that a high work dissatisfaction leads to more burnout, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of anxiety and depression (Faragher et al., 2005). Such dissatisfaction of the employees not only affect them but the employer and the company the most. More dissatisfied the employee more disengaged he or she will be from the job. A study in US shows that companies lose USD 450-500 Bn annually because of disengaged employees. This is the hard truth of corporate life; every company looks good till one join there.
Now, as an individual what could be done to avoid personal loss? I have some analysis of this situation from my personal experience of working with many companies and interacting with the young people.
Consequences of feeling of being ‘Not Valued’
The feeling of being ‘not valued’ and hence dissatisfaction generally reflects on one’s behaviour. One can have a simple introspection to check if you are suffering by looking at following signs:
- Lack of interest: You start losing interest in the day-to-day work. You may start heavily texting friends, browse the internet or social media, and posts the materials, quotes or memes exhibiting the anger against the employers, sadness, frustrations etc.
- Procrastination: Sudden change in attitude towards work and increased procrastination is another sign of job dissatisfaction. You may begin delaying the actions and decisions in your job.
3. Absenteeism: When you start feeling like avoiding your job and begin to miss days by giving excuses or making up some is a clear indication that you have a low job satisfaction.
4. Declining Productivity: May be due to the above-mentioned reasons your productivity starts declining in form of not meeting target, presentations or deliverables. This reduces your rewards from the job, hence the dissatisfaction.
5. Ineffective Communication: Impact your communication. Not being engaged in your work can make you feel inept in participating in meetings and interaction, which further adds to avoidance and absenteeism.
Such behaviour subsequently has many adverse outcomes on one’s career, such as –
- Career growth slowdown: Due to declined efficiency the career growth of such person in the organization obviously gets affected
- Learning opportunities lost: When you are not involved in your job, you are likely to lose to learn lots of things. Such learning could be some practical traits or technical skills which enhance your experience useful in long run.
- Self-development opportunities lost: When you are not 100% involved in the job, you tend to lose experience across various situations and people which teaches you lots of soft sills such as- problem solving, dealing with the ambiguity, facing the agitated people, communication, effective articulating your views etc.
Apart from the career, such feeling of ‘not valued’ has seen some serious effects on personal life too, such as:
- Physical fatigue
- Depression
- Fear of failure
- Low self confidence
- Impulsive decisions
- Family quarrels
Reasons
It is important to know and understand the reasons for one being ‘not valued’ in their job and dissatisfaction. Some of the common patterns observed are as follows:
- Unable to see the big picture in the organization.
- Unable to match with the organizations culture and values.
- Unable to understand the job expectations.
- Unable to understand the appraisal and R&R system.
- Unable to have realistic self-evaluation and competition.
- Unable to be relevant in the organization.
- Low self-esteem and confidence.
- Surrounded by negative minded people.
If you find some more reasons, please note them and also let us know.
We at Butterfly Psychotherapy Center, under the Beehive-Preventive Mental Health Services offer workshops and webinars which help you build skills and process issues like these. Check out this space regularly to keep updated and have a chance to learn.
Uday Deshmukh
Industry Expert