Do People Hate Work and the Workplace?

There has been considerable buzz about an article that appeared in the New York Times. It has the provocative title, “Why You Hate Work.” It followed on the coattails of recent Harvard Business Review covers touting “A Great Place to Work” and “Work vs. Life: Forget about Balance — You Have to Make Choices.” The question is, why now and what can we do to straighten the course?

Let’s look at why qualified and success-driven employees start thinking they hate work. My research and interaction with executive coaching clients tells me it’s because they:

1. Don’t feel appreciated.
2. Can’t do their real job.
3. Lack a sense of engagement.
4. Fear or are experiencing burnout and exhaustion.

The article’s author would argue. There is a needs hierarchy in all of us, even when it comes to work. They include, physical, emotional, and mental.

Physical needs are very basic but often neglected. The experts tells us people who recharge — walk away, distract, and/or nourish themselves in some way every 90 minutes — produce higher quality work and get more accomplished. For those of us who work in a more scheduled way (I have one-hour coaching sessions with clients, so my focus changes every 60 minutes), it’s easier. But what about most people who are barraged all day, in the same setting, with a seemingly never ending list of tasks, questions, and replies? For you, I suggest a timer. I mean it. Set the timer on your phone or place a reminder in your calendar. If you simply stand up, stretch, and move your neck and jaw around, you’re ahead of your colleagues. Schedule times to eat. The tech industry has fostered ways to get people out of their workstations, and moving around. The benefit is a diversified group of people share ideas over coffee in the lounge.

Another aspect of the physical is measuring success with time spent. Many professions — lawyers, accountants, consultants, to name a few, are hour billing driven. This has changed somewhat because customers are demanding a project price but the mindset remains, “How many hours did you put in?” It fosters an approach that is driven by the clock rather than the quality of the work or the efficiency of the effort. It sets up a culture of boasting around time that encourages a sick kind of competitiveness and burnout. Research also tells us at somewhere after 40+ hours our quality and effectiveness begins to decline and does so rather rapidly. Simply said, measuring hours worked is probably only measuring exhaustion.

Emotional needs. Two important ones are feeling valued and a sense of purpose. Employees, at all levels, who know they are seen as individuals, shown respect, and sense they are cared for by their supervisors, stay longer and show a higher level of engagement with their work and company. There is a compelling argument this would be easier to achieve if senior managers had more direct reports, rather than following the long held belief the fewer direct reports the better. Experts believe eliminating some of the layers between top and middle management allows for increased contact and greater engagement with top management. This of course assumes top-level managers are in regular contact with their staff.

Added to this is a sense of purpose, meaning what you do makes a contribution, an impact, or a difference. Often it is difficult for an individual to see this considering the number of people working on a project or idea. It’s the leaders’ obligation to give vision and outline “Why we are here.” Taking a personal inventory of accomplishments can also help fill the void.

Feeling valued means you are trusted and encouraged to do what you are charged with. Differences in your approach and work style are not only tolerated but fostered. Micromanagers never build trust or loyalty: there is no breathing room for it.

I harp on this often because I so strongly believe in its value and power. Everyone wants and needs recognition. A salary or title increase is important but it is not what motivates most of us. People want positive examples of what they’ve done well and often for more basic things. I’m not sure why managers find this so hard. Do they think it shows weakness? Fear of embarrassing themselves or the employee? No time? Seems frivolous? All or some of these? I really don’t know but I guarantee you you’ll get results with providing words and actions of encouragement and expression of gratitude (privately and publically), especially from your most reliable, low-maintenance, you hope they stay forever people.

Mental needs are last on my list, surely not least important. I see this unmet need frequently with my executive coaching clients, most of whom have high intellectual capacity and are well educated. Meeting these needs requires a longed for sense of time and space for thought and inspiration. It also focuses on doing what you love and are strongest at doing. I always encouraged my managers to book “think time.” That is 15 minutes, an hour, half a day to imagine the future, take that idea a step or two further, or find a more elegant solution. People crave it. Creativity needs time, space, and nourishment. All of these are sorely lacking in many organizations.

Deadlines are in fact deadening. The sole goal on meeting this month’s number blurs our focus on the bigger picture. In addition, multitasking has been repeatedly shown to increase mistakes because of broad distractions. Can you impact this yourself? Of course you can. Would it be easier with your supervisor on board — definitely.

The most impact you can have, which will then reverberate back to you, is if you take the following approach with your employees. Unless you strongly encourage, might I say demand, they spend time using their true talents; you risk losing the best ideas, the best results, and the best people. Cut the meetings, forbid “reply all” to emails, question every task with a “what would happen if we didn’t do this,” introduce your staff to “delete,” delegate only, and then do. Ask your direct reports in supervision “what ideas have you been mulling over?” to encourage creative thinking and less reporting.

Do people really hate work? I think most would say “no.” What they dislike is the unnecessary physical, emotional, and mental stress prevalent in the workplace. The availability and dedication to reasonable, supportive working conditions, with restorative breaks, recognition, and a sense of purpose with work, coupled with room for creative thinking is all they ask.