Maybe you don’t hate your job…

Maybe you don’t hate your job…. maybe you are in a season where you hate how it feels and here’s why it may be happening. 

There is the saying that do what you love and you will never work a day in your life. Well, I would like to challenge that statement.

As an IO psychologist, I study the relationship and influences between how organizations structure the business, how leaders lead and how employees perform.

As an employee working in fast food and hospitality, I struggled. The actual task with the work was not difficult. There were employees I enjoyed working with and I appreciated the conditions of the job that fit my lifestyle.

But there came seasons, when I hated my job. I would verbally say "I quit" during tough shifts and wondered if the job was still worth it or if there was a better option. In reality, I didn't want to leave the job that I had known. But I was exhausted, burnout, hopeless, and confused on what steps to take next. Everything felt wrong. Nothing I did seemed to make an impact anymore.

Taking a step back and putting on my IO hat, I know that these seasons were the outcome of misalignment and the challenge of expectations that were becoming increasingly harder to meet as an employee.

Organizations were providing more tasks and responsibilities, without additional resources. Customers wanted services and answers instantly. The process and workload they didn't see on your shoulders means it didn't exist. Every customer had "just" a quick question or “just” one thing. But an employee can only do so much within any given time. Yes, experience employees learn to multitask or create short cuts to get things done, but that becomes exhausting over time.

We all know, when leaders and customers’ expectations do not equal an employee’s capacity, there is misalignment that leads to stress as you care and work hard, but that stress turns into burnout when not addressed.

Let's break it down to simple terms.

- Leadership expectations are what the organizations needs and expects to keep the business going.

- Employee capacity is the time, energy, skills, staffing, resources, and support actually available.

- And Customer expectations are what the people you serve want, need, or have come to expect.

When all three are aligned, work can feel purposeful, manageable, and sustainable.

But when they don't align.... you are left with leadership saying "do more" customers saying, "go faster" and your capacity says "I don't have anything left to give.

You get stuck between a hard place trying to live up to your leadership’s expectations and to serve the customers in front of you.

It is exhausting, and one would be reasonable to want something different, because their body is becoming depleted with little opportunities to recharge.

Being stuck in the middle of doing more, leads to a situation in which something has to give because the demands have now outweighed the resources to handle your job.

It isn't you; it is the system that is not positioned to support you in supporting your customers.

One strategy to help during tough times is to remember when you applied for the job, when you got hired and first started, what were you looking forward to? Why did you choose this job over others? Why have you stayed as long as you have? Your response is a foundation and a reason to why you work matters to you.

Maybe you also enjoy supporting your leaders and feeling accomplished when you can meet customer expectations, you know you are the best person based on your training, work has just gotten busy.

So while you may be passionate about what you do, there will be challenges that arise that require you to use your skills and strengths to address. These demands are good as they encourage us to engage in problem solving and creativity, but watch out for staying in a position of stress too long without recharging because hindering demands can have a negative impact on your health.

P.S I remember the events that let me to feeling like I hated jobs, I appreciated. For one, I cared deeply and tried really hard to work by the book and enforce rules. The problem was I cared too much. I had wished my work and effort was valued more; I wish that I had better communication with my leaders to have worked through the misalignment.

For another, I wanted to do more problem solving, but they only expected the status quo, the same tasks that I had been doing for the past four years. I knew I was capable of providing more strategically. Faced with boredom, I found other things to focus on that challenged my potential while completing required tasks. This helped me in shifting my energy to focus on positive challenges, rather than being overwhelmed with negative demands that decreased my productivity, job satisfaction and customer service.

“People often think they hate their job when the real issue is a growing misalignment between leadership expectations, customer expectations, and employee capacity.”