A common misconception in today’s job market is the equation of job satisfaction to remuneration and anyone that has worked with the stereotypical boss from hell will tell you that is so not true, in fact, most of those employees will tell you they’d gladly take less to work at a job where they are respected and at a role that they love.
So, what exactly is Job Satisfaction and how can you thrive to get it. It is simply put as contentment with and in your job. Several studies have been conducted in delving into job satisfaction especially amongst government employees in Nigeria and it’ll come as no surprise that an alarming number of these employees report that they are not satisfied with the jobs that they have mainly because they are not provided with the amenities and tools to be able to adequately execute their roles, but that is a discussion for another day.
Lots of factors key into job satisfaction most of which are within your control, with effort you can either find a job that gives you the satisfaction you desire or learn to derive satisfaction from the one you currently have, some of this factors are discussed below.
Engagement
Engagement requires hard work, dedication and focus to whatever activity you are conducting, and it comes as no surprise that jobs that utilize your complete skillset are usually the most engaging and take up 100% of your focus and attention. A reason you might not be fully engaged at your work is that you do not feel like you are utilizing your full skillset. People are more engaged in jobs that require use of their talents and skills and the truth is, your talents can be utilized in any job you find yourself doing. Yes, you might be better suited for some jobs than others, but fully engaging in your work and finding ways to add your talents to your job description will positively impact your perception of the job and improve your contentment with the job. It also impacts your colleagues.
Respect and Appreciation
Regardless of the job, every human love to feel appreciated, and a survey in 2015 conducted by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported that over half the employees surveyed placed supervisor’s respect as very important to job satisfaction. Supervisors or manager vocally express their discontent when they are not happy with their subordinates or employees work, it is only right that they express appreciatiation when the reverse is the case. In short, working at a job where you feel underappreciated, undervalued or disrespected will most likely lead to feeling dissatisfied at work.
Motivation
Motivation is what gets you up in the morning, and the moment you start dragging your feet trying to get to work in the morning is when you need to conduct a self-audit of what your drive is at you place of work. If your motivation is just getting to pay day, then do not expect to be much energized at work. I suggest that you find a goal other than the obvious monetary ones that inspire you to want to be better at your job and gives you the motivation to work harder. Set short term and long term goals that are within reach, this gives you something to work for and look forwards to. If you can’t do that, then I suggest that you begin to search for other jobs.
By Olamide .T. Akinnagbe-Gbenga