No One Ever Says 'Good Job!'
After the abrupt departure of his work partner, Charles Poling worked night and day for 11 months, not only completing his own projects, but the ones that his partner had left hanging as well. No one seemed to notice and there was no talk of a bonus or pay raise.
Charles got up the courage to talk with the other project managers and the company's owner. They worked out a system of bonuses and also began talking about how project managers could keep each other posted on their initiatives. It turned out that one major reason no one ever said "good job" was that they rarely knew what was going on in other departments! They also discovered that Charles and his colleagues were willing to continue putting in extraordinary efforts if they felt informed, acknowledged and had a shared stake in the enterprise.
#4 Community
Burn Out: Tensions with others on the job make you feel frustrated, angry, fearful, anxious, disrespectful and suspicious. Community also evaporates when you are physically or socially isolated from colleagues.
Stay Cool: You share ideas, praise and humor with people you like and respect. There is greater cohesiveness, team spirit and support.
There's No Team Spirit Here!
When Russell Assurance Group, an insurance company, was downsizing, rumors of a merger were flying. Betsy Lobell noticed a general breakdown of trust, marked by gossip and political intrigue. "There's no team spirit here," she said. "There's not much communication about what's happening to the company, so people are left to draw their own conclusions, which tend to be pretty cynical."
Betsy couldn't do much about the future of Russell Assurance Group, but she decided to try to improve her own department's morale. At the next meeting, Betsy shared the information she had collected on team-building. Her proposal elicited mixed reactions at first, but eventually people agreed to give it a try—a step in the right direction.
#5 Fairness
Burn Out: Perhaps your office loads the work on some and the pay on others; maybe the company mishandles evaluations and promotions; or maybe some get their grievances heard easily while other people's are ignored. Whatever the imbalance, you are left feeling distrustful, disloyal and cynical.
Stay Cool: Respect and justice in your office confirms your worth as a person. Mutual respect between co-workers is at the heart of any sense of community.
Favoritism rules!
St. Bartholomew's Hospital gave its staff a survey, the results of which sent management a strong message: "Favoritism rules!" Everyone expressed anger and disappointment with the way the hospital hired managers and rewarded good performance. As Joel Meckler, a staff member, put it, "Sometimes I think the metric is 'butt-in-chair,' rather than effective performance. Or maybe they are 'loyalty awards.'" As far as management was concerned, this attitude was a big problem: Since staff didn't believe the selection process was fair, they also lacked confidence in those selected.
In response to the survey results, Joel and several other staff members volunteered to serve on a task force with a mandate to design a more merit-based system of rewards. The hospital also revamped the way it filled supervisory and management positions. When the hospital repeated the survey two years later, no one complained about favoritism.
#6 Values
Burn Out: Sometimes a job can lead employees to do things that are unethical or that clash with their personal values (for example, to lie in order to make a sale). Sometimes you may get caught between conflicting values, as when the organization does not practice what it preaches. In either case, you feel bad about yourself and what the job is driving you to do.
Stay Cool: When your work is meaningful to you and is consistent with your personal principles, you are more likely to take great pride and satisfaction in your accomplishments.
They Say You Can't Fail!
At FBX Inc., a manufacturing company, employees always felt caught between contradictory values. As Gaff Weber said: "They say they want you to be creative and take risks, but then they say you can't fail! The mantra around here is 'better, faster, cheaper,' but you can't do all three, so then what? Now the company is preaching about 'having a balance between work and family,' but they're not changing the work demands or the leave policy or anything, so the whole balance thing is a joke."
Eventually Gail and a group of employees complained to management, making sure to include the "Boy Scouts" who work hard and never complain. In response, the company made its priorities clear: The economic bottom line of cheaper took precedence, but a small part of the budget was allocated to risky new projects. As for Gail's complaint that she wasn't able to balance work and family, the company created a policy to limit required overtime.
Try as you may, of course, there may be a time when all your efforts do nothing to improve your job. At that point, you'll have to decide whether to stay or move on. Whatever you choose, it is helpful to use these six areas as guideposts for assessing your fit with the job. The better the match, the more likely you are to be happy and avoid burnout. And the more engaged you are with the job, the better you will be at it. With patience and persistence—and attention to the burnout factors—you can take big steps toward creating a healthier and more humane workplace.
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