Defining what I would consider to be my ideal ‘happy’ work life is difficult. On one end, I would like my job to be intellectually challenging, fast paced and people oriented. I would like to spend time both being a mentor and working with fellow staff members to accomplish a goal. This ‘happy work life’ I am describing would ultimately result in financial reward and recognition which would help make the work life and personal life a good balance. The question at hand though is how do you define happy? I think each individual has their own set of standards at which they know they like to work. Items like work culture and task orientation is very important to me. I wish to not be stuck behind a cubical without interacting with other coworkers. It’ll be important for me to be hands on and a true voice on company projects and tasks.
In Fraser’s piece “The Pace Was Insane”, Fraser describes a friend, Catherine’s, miserable work life. Over worked and under paid in horrific conditions through IBM. Traveling all the time and constantly taking on an unmanageable amount of work, Fraser discussed a few reasons why Catherine stayed at this position. First, the job at IBM was continually demanding for all its employees, not just Catherine. She just accepted that this high stress job culture was supposed to be that way and no one was being cut any slack. With so many years working for the organization, it was also difficult to consider leaving after climbing so high in the company’s hierarchy.
I have no issue with Catherine being a workaholic. In fact, I understand that in today’s day and age, in order to succeed, you must put in the extra effort. However, there needs to be a balance in order to remain happy and stable. One concept I value in a happy work life would be friendly and accommodating work culture. Even if the job requirements are demanding, you need to enjoy what you are doing in order to reach self fulfillment. A concrete communication tool we use is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy is a scale of people’s basic needs for food, shelter and belonging that must be satisfied before they can move towards achieving their full human potential (or, “self actualization). With a job, you must be happy and satisfied in order to reach this high goal. If you are over worked, stressed, not getting enough sleep and unhappy at your position, the likelihood of you reaching you full potential within the organization is rare. Additionally, the likelihood of you wanting to becoming something great in the company runs thin as the expectation to do more and better pressures you into not being happy with the job at hand.
Even though my ideal work life would consist of minimal work with the most amount of progress, this only happens by putting in time in the low ranks. I recognize that I will not necessarily achieve my dream job within the next year of post-graduate work. However, with hard work sand high standards set, I feel I am aware of what would be considered an ideal work environment and I will mold the perfect job as I climb the ranks in whatever organization I decide to work for. As for now, I will just continue to research and challenge my own intellectual level of thinking and work to help myself realize what would make me happy and high achieving when choosing a career and occupation.
In Fraser’s piece “The Pace Was Insane”, Fraser describes a friend, Catherine’s, miserable work life. Over worked and under paid in horrific conditions through IBM. Traveling all the time and constantly taking on an unmanageable amount of work, Fraser discussed a few reasons why Catherine stayed at this position. First, the job at IBM was continually demanding for all its employees, not just Catherine. She just accepted that this high stress job culture was supposed to be that way and no one was being cut any slack. With so many years working for the organization, it was also difficult to consider leaving after climbing so high in the company’s hierarchy.
I have no issue with Catherine being a workaholic. In fact, I understand that in today’s day and age, in order to succeed, you must put in the extra effort. However, there needs to be a balance in order to remain happy and stable. One concept I value in a happy work life would be friendly and accommodating work culture. Even if the job requirements are demanding, you need to enjoy what you are doing in order to reach self fulfillment. A concrete communication tool we use is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy is a scale of people’s basic needs for food, shelter and belonging that must be satisfied before they can move towards achieving their full human potential (or, “self actualization). With a job, you must be happy and satisfied in order to reach this high goal. If you are over worked, stressed, not getting enough sleep and unhappy at your position, the likelihood of you reaching you full potential within the organization is rare. Additionally, the likelihood of you wanting to becoming something great in the company runs thin as the expectation to do more and better pressures you into not being happy with the job at hand.
Even though my ideal work life would consist of minimal work with the most amount of progress, this only happens by putting in time in the low ranks. I recognize that I will not necessarily achieve my dream job within the next year of post-graduate work. However, with hard work sand high standards set, I feel I am aware of what would be considered an ideal work environment and I will mold the perfect job as I climb the ranks in whatever organization I decide to work for. As for now, I will just continue to research and challenge my own intellectual level of thinking and work to help myself realize what would make me happy and high achieving when choosing a career and occupation.
No comments:
Post a Comment