Is the Grass Greener Elsewhere?

Are you utterly miserable at your current place of employment? Does your boss irritate you, underpay you, or expect you to work eighty hours a week for peanuts? Maybe you don’t know why but you just hate going to work. Perhaps you’d be better of with a new employer – or would you?

There are many reasons why people become unhappy at work and it’s not always easy to define what it is that’s making you unhappy there. It might be one of the more obvious things:

• A rude, unpleasant employer or nasty colleagues;
• A workplace culture of discrimination and/or bullying;
• A dislike of the actual work that you do;
• A lack of appreciation of your good work or skills;
• Unacceptable remuneration for what you do;

Alternatively, it might be something you haven’t put your finger on. Perhaps it’s:

• Dissatisfaction with the path your life is taking – for example, you’re not doing what you hoped to be doing at your age;
• You feel that you don’t fit in with those around you;

If your misery is caused by an unpleasant workplace culture, there’s every chance that the grass is indeed greener elsewhere – so start looking! If the level of remuneration is a problem, you can always ask for a pay increase – and if the response is unsatisfactory, scout around for a new position if you believe that a higher income would make you happier.

A lack of appreciation is a little more difficult to deal with because there are a great many employers who don’t appreciate their employees. Some take the attitude that you’re being paid for what you do and that is sufficient appreciation. Of course, there are also many employers who really do appreciate employees but don’t take the time to express their appreciation. Think about which category your boss falls into. If it’s the latter, look harder, and you just might start to see more signs of appreciation. When it comes to being appreciated, the grass is not always greener with another employer.

General job dissatisfaction is perhaps the most difficult to address because it’s usually about so much more than the job. Sometimes we just feel we’re in the wrong place – but going elsewhere is going to be a substantial change, and one that we cannot guarantee will turn out as we hope. The thing is, if you don’t begin to explore the possibilities, you’ll never know.

Perhaps you have creative tendencies that you don’t have the time or the energy to express. If you’re an aspiring writer, artist or musician, being unable to express your creative nature can make you miserable – but when you have to work five or six days a week, it leaves little time or energy for creative pursuits.

If this describes your situation, you’ve got some serious thinking to do. You’ll need to find time if you want to develop your passion and get happy so you’re going to have to think outside the square. Can you afford to decrease the time you spend working? Is there another position or occupation you could slide into that would allow you to bring your passion to work? Reducing your lifestyle expenses and decreasing the amount of time you need to work to pay the bills can be another alternative.

It might just be the case that you fell into an occupation by accident, or because it seemed like a good idea at the time – but now you feel you’ve wasted years of your life and you can’t see your way out of it. Look harder! Decide what it is you want to do then set about researching how you might get there. When you know what you’d prefer to be doing, try this simple exercise:

1. On a sheet of paper, write down the occupation you’d prefer to be in.
2. Now list any qualifications you would need to obtain in order to enter that profession.
3. Find out which facilities offer the training you need, how long the course is, whether you can do it part time or online. Note down the details and how long it would take you to complete the training.
4. List the ways you could complete this course – for example, on your next annual leave; online in your spare time; by correspondence; by taking an afternoon off work each week etc.
5. Think about what your new life would be like when you are able to enter your chosen profession.

You might very well find yourself filling out an application form. Once you’ve started to learn your new skills, there’s every chance you might find a position where you can utilize your skills even before you’re qualified – and you may well discover that the grass is indeed, greener on the other side!