If you hate your job so much, why do you stay?
“In the 2009 edition of an annual job satisfaction survey conducted for The Conference Board, only 45 percent of Americans said they were satisfied with their jobs, which is a marked drop from the more than 61 percent who said they were satisfied in 1987″. This quotation is from the I Can’t Get No … Job Satifaction, That Is report by John M. Gibbons of The Conference Board, a global consumer research firm.
What does it mean exactly? It means that there is more and more reason to get behind the pursuit of alternative forms of income. Building up multiple streams of income. That’s what this blog is about after all.
When I see statistics like this it makes me a little sad. Although I have a million and one things I’d love to be doing outside of work, I do still enjoy my day job – it’s a profession I worked hard at university to get into.
But as with any profession, being a programmer I get frustrated with my job all the time be it because of sifting through requirements, or waiting on others so I can get started, all the way to those “why won’t this freakin’ code work the way I want it to!!!” moments. It can be super frustrating sometimes, but I also make a point of finding the rewarding parts of it.
For those that aren’t so happy apparently there are 5 main reasons that employees stay in the jobs they hate. For me compensation is a bit motivator (it’s rare that it’s not at least a factor for 99% of people I’d say), and by taking on side projects it’s something I’m hoping I can eventually replicate with a business of my own.
Are you stuck in a job you hate? What do you think the reason is that you stay? Maybe you don’t hate it, but just have that gut feeling that you know you don’t belong there. Then again, maybe your co-workers are assholes?
For the record my coworkers are a great bunch of people, I’m just curious to know what your reasons are. Let me know in the comments and yes, you can post under a fake name if you want… 
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You should be careful when blogging about your day job. Especially in the context of hating it. (at least, if you’re not your own boss.)
Fortunately, I haven’t had a job I’ve hated since I was a teenager.
In today’s economy (the United States at least) I think a lot of people are staying at jobs they hate because they’re afraid they won’t find work elsewhere.
Lynda I couldn’t agree more, blogging about your day job can be a little risky (very?) and I’d never recommend people bad mouth the people that are paying their wages and putting food on their table, that’s just silly..
I actually really enjoy working at my job, it’s great having a steady income and to me that’s very important (if it’s important don’t jeopardize it right?).
I do also think it’s important that you don’t try to hide the fact you’re making an effort to better yourself and do freelance work outside of work hours, especially if that’s what you do for fun. I was quite upfront about my freelance work and building websites in the interview so it was always open and on the table.
It can be a fine line though taking on freelance work and it’s important you don’t let your outside work effect your day job, moonlighting is a serious problem for business owners and I’d hate for it to happen to me let alone happen to someone else I work for.
These are all reasons why I personally feel comfortable looking at and blogging about these statistics, it’s very interesting to me that people dislike what they do on a day to day basis and would like a way out. If you’re wondering why programs like Earn1K by Ramit Sethi were so popular, it’s because of this very reason.
Hate is probably too strong a word (but hey, it makes for a catchy headline right?) but I think it’s an interesting statistic that a lot of people dislike what they do on a day to day basis.
What does everyone else think? Use a fake name if you want to reply anonymously!!