10 Solutions to Fall in Love with Your Job Again

Love for many is a fleeting feeling.

One day you are besotted with your other half, and the next you cannot get away quicker.

The same is true with our relationship with our work. One day you cannot wait to get started on a project, the next you are hopelessly staring at the clock waiting for it to chime five, or whatever time you finish. The end of the day cannot come soon enough!

If your work is heaven and you slalom through the traffic to get to your office early, you are a very rare and treasured human being. Give yourself a gentle pat on the back!

So, in what way do we fall in and out of love with our work? We have compiled an engaging list of 10 issues that affect why we employees fall in love with our jobs and also why we rapidly fall out of it. We will also offer up solutions.

1) Reigniting your self-motivation

It is all too easy to forget why we jump out of bed in the morning, have a quick breakfast, leave the house, and go to the office.

Most of us go to work to support our family. However, each of us has a ‘why’ that picks us up in times of struggle and is the key to rediscovering self-engagement. As a recruiter, your ‘why’ could be to help a candidate actualize their career dreams. Another example: as a nurse your ‘why’ could be to see your patient take steps towards recovery.

Alan Kohll writing for Forbes magazine argues that without a sense of purpose employees do not establish a connection with their work or their company. Research demonstrates that meaningful work increases morale, productivity, and satisfaction.

2) Refocus on your strengths

Research tells us that employees that pursue their natural talents are more satisfied and happy. If you want to discover what you are great at, why not perform the Myers Briggs Personality Test to find out.

Another way is asking friends or coworkers what they think your strengths are. For example, if you find performing a presentation energizes you, ask your supervisor at work for more similar opportunities. If you are the more introverted sort and prefer detailed project work, look into opportunities to get involved in this area.

3) Develop an actionable strategy that increases work satisfaction

Daniel Gulati, author of Passion and Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Minds in Business, says if you are in a spot of Groundhog Day blues – take action. Most of us plod on hoping something will change and are not proactive enough. Gulati adds, “too few people have an actionable strategy to progress from dissatisfied to highly satisfied.”

Gretchen Spreitzer, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, advises dissatisfied employees to add things they enjoy in to their everyday working life and find ways to do more of these things in their day.

4) Be open to opportunity and do not be boxed in by your job title

In his book The Quarter-Life Breakthrough, Adam Poswolsky tells the story of one particular career- driven millennial who initially worked as a cooperative social responsibility specialist for a company with offices in 130 countries. However, this millennial’s passion was directed to engaging with a younger audience. She took the opportunity and eventually ended up leading a 13-member team as head of this firm’s youth campaign. In their new role, this millennial employee built relationships with CEOs of global companies and created relationships with organizations, such as, TedXTeen and Africa Code Week. The lesson is clear for all of us. If we want to see the change in our working lives; we need to take the initiative to create it.

5) Mastering an old or new skill

Many of us can relate to the feeling of accomplishment when attaining mastery in a particular discipline or life skill. How much more so is this true in our everyday work life? Adam Polonsky writing for Time magazine says refining skills is one way of getting ahead. We all know people in different areas of life that are both happy and successful in their work. People such as leading entrepreneurs, Oscar-winning actors, or respected musicians; all of us can follow their lead.

6) Too much routine, not enough variation in the day

Working from the same desk day in day out can get boring. Research says that employees who work remotely from home are more productive and happier than employees who need to commute daily to the office.

For those employees whose jobs require them to be present in the office, tech entrepreneur and author Adam Poswolsky recommends changing their routine and taking breaks from the office. Why not go for a walk and take a lunch break outside of your work environment.

7) Flexible schedules are where it’s at for job satisfaction!

When employees find there is little room to move in their working schedule, they tend to lose their drive and passion for the work they do. All employees value a flexible schedule. If an employee has an urgent parent-teacher meeting at school, there has to be some leeway to make up the hours they are out of the office. Writing for Forbes magazine, Vikram Joshi, CTO, and founder at pulsd, a forward-thinking startup says, having a flexible working environment benefits his business. Joshi finds his employees are more promptly available and more productive.

8) Improving the work environment

If the work environment is not right, as an employee you are likely to feel a lack of motivation and not be at your most enthused. The reasons for a work environment not meeting employee’s needs could be a lack of recognition of employees’ efforts -even if they are not revenue producers, everyone needs to feel valued. It could also be a lack of support to ensure employees perform to the maximum of their ability. Peter Cohan writing for Inc. magazine suggests some ideas:

As an employee, if you are experiencing similar issues, there are solutions:

• Ask your manager whether they could give you more regular feedback and for ideas to help you succeed.
• Request a transfer to another department that does work that utilizes your strengths.

9) A lack of promotional opportunities in the workplace

Employees value opportunities to grow in their career and gain new skills. Research shows that employees were twice as likely to say they have moved up, if they agreed with the following statements in the survey produced by Gallup:

• “Someone at work encourages my development.”
• “In the past six months, someone has spoken to me about my progress.”
• “My manager or supervisor cares about me as a person.”
• “At work, they value my opinion.”

The same research demonstrated that 92% of workers (that agreed with the above statements) planned to be with their current employer a year later.

10) Being or feeling underpaid

One of the main reasons employees feel dissatisfied is because they are not getting a salary that reflects their skills or experience. With the rising cost of housing, food, and utilities; employees find they need to stretch their salary as far as they can.

However, in some situations, employees feel underpaid, even though they get a fair salary. There is a possibility that these employees are unaware of the benefits that make up their salary such as health insurance coverage, 401K, or PTO. In their role as employers, companies need to ensure their workers get a fair salary that is consistent with the going rate. They can accomplish this by evaluating the market rate on an annual basis.

Keeping engaged within a productive work environment

In our roles as employees, we have to make the most of the opportunities given to us… however small or large. In many cases, taking the initiative to change our routine or asking about opportunities to master a skill, will make our job more satisfying. The thing that we cannot lose sight of is that an employee’s happiness is down to the choices they make.

By: Jonathan Gordon