When the Job is not Enough

by Chidiogo Mbonu

edited by Juwah C.A.

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I hear it wherever I go – at work, social gatherings and even on the bus. It seems it has become a mantra of some sort for Nigerians, especially young Nigerians. It takes different forms, but falls generally within the lines of, “I don tire for that my work”, “Ooh, tomorrow is Monday” and “I can’t wait till its Friday/Make Friday come abeg.” Rarely anybody today seems happy to go to work or seems fulfilled doing what they do. I am in the same shoes – the unhappy ones – and my curiosity or should I say my fear of never escaping this gloomy pit has set me to discover the reason for the widespread song of job dissatisfaction.

The first step I took was to randomly ask people what their ideal job would be. It turned out, interestingly, that most people did not have any particular kind of job in mind. All that mattered, they said, was how much they were going to get paid. A few other people, however, did not care so much for the money. These other people just wanted a job that afforded them an awesome work-life balance. There were those still who said that their current jobs were the furthest possible thing from their dreams and so they wouldn’t hold their breaths waiting for happiness. This third group say they just work because the nation has nothing better to offer them.

Now I was making some progress, I had in a way determined three fundamental causes of employment unhappiness – small salary, zero work-life balance and negative passion. The next thing I did, and my second step, was to conduct an online survey. My aim was to expand the sample pool and by so doing, find out if more people agreed with the premises I had extracted from my enquiries. If people did agree with my fundamentals, then I wanted to know which premise, in their opinions, posed the greatest obstacle to being satisfied with work (in Nigeria).

The survey consisted of 10 simple questions ranging from, “How satisfied are you with your job?” to “Will you be willing to leave your current job even without another?” Below are my findings, but first I should mention that the survey is still open and that the research is still on:

1.     80.8% of the respondents agree – 42.3% strongly so – that a significant pay rise would make them happier with their jobs.

2.     61.5% of the people are dissatisfied to various degrees but 15.4% are not satisfied at all.

3.     57.7% say that their current jobs were in line with their dreams (but remember that 61.5% of the respondents are dissatisfied.)

4.     57.7% again say that they have a healthy work life balance (yet work doesn’t seem so great for 61.5% of the total respondents.)

5.     23.1% of the population do not feel appreciated at work but 38.5% do, the rest, however, are not sure how they feel.

6.     65.4% of the people disagree that their colleagues make the job difficult but 15.4% agree

7.     50% of the repliers – 26.9% strongly so – are of the opinion that a lack of tools and resources make work difficult; 15.4% of the population are indifferent.

8.     96% of our respondents believe there would be better job opportunities if the economy improves, not a single soul disagreed with this, almost unanimous.

9.     81% of my population is not willing to resign without having another job (neither would I, ”A bird at hand is worth more than ten in the bush”)

10.  As for the alignment of personal with organisational goals, it was close: yes, 38.5%; no, 34.6%.

I had subtly initially assumed that job dissatisfaction partly stemmed from elements of the working environment but the significant percentage of respondents who were fine with their work environment quenched that thought. In fact, an early interviewee actually told me that he wishes he could have his colleagues around during the weekend as well.

The summary of the responses for me is that there is still no summary, I definitely have more work to do. Nevertheless, I have gained some insight that I feel is worthy of being shared. I believe many people would quite naturally be happier, but not necessarily happy, with work if their pay increases. I perceive that having a job that you are passionate about or that you feel is adequately challenging is perhaps not enough to bring full satisfaction. I was surprised that even people with enough time for life outside work were not quite content – another initial assumption quashed, how wrong I was.

To conclude, as every great write up must have a conclusion, I believe, for now, that being satisfied with anything including a job remains in the state of the mind. I strongly believe that an important part of all that is needed is for an individual to pursue his/her interest in a particular field and to keep developing himself/herself in that field. For now you need to re-wire your brain to see the best in your colleagues and the tasks at hand. You must create your personal priorities in life, develop your abilities and attitude, and finally build the mentality of being part of something greater than yourself. I truly believe all these will make you different and special, hey, it’s working for me.

This true life story adapted from John Nemo’s ‘Fired Up: Ignite Your Passion. Love Your Work. Live Your Legacy!’ embodies my point, it goes:

‎During a visit to the NASA space centre in 1962, President John F. Kennedy noticed a janitor carrying a broom. He interrupted his tour, walked over to the man and said, "Hi, I'm Jack Kennedy. What are you doing?"

"Well, Mr. President," the janitor responded, "I'm helping put a man on the moon." 

‎To most people, this janitor was just cleaning the building. But in the more mythic, larger story unfolding around him, he was helping to make history.

Here's the point: No matter how large or small your role, you are contributing to the larger story unfolding within your life, your business and your organization.

And when your entire team embraces that type of attitude and belief system, incredible things happen. Satisfaction is achieved. ‎

Without this satisfaction and appreciation, the job you are doing will always be problematic or boring, and will heavily impact on how long you keep at it, whether or not you have all the incentives in the world.‎

The End (…for now)

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