Work takes up a huge percentage of one’s life, and each of us have different expectations of how their work should be. When their jobs’ expectations are not met, it can bring feelings of bitterness, stress, disappointment, which will result in being dissatisfied with job. In this guide, we’ll take a closer look into job dissatisfaction, explore the causes of job dissatisfaction, the signs of it and walk you through steps to overcome it.
When Employees Are Dissatisfied With Job?
Job dissatisfaction is when employees’ expectations for their job are not met. This leaves them with negative perception and lack of motivation and commitment to their work and the organisation. This, in turn, affects the organisation’s performance.
What Causes Job Dissatisfaction?
Job dissatisfaction can arise from numerous factors. However, if you confront potential sources with corrective action, you can prevent the problem:
Lack of appreciation or recognition
Every human being wants to feel appreciated and valued in both our personal and professional lives. Without recognition, employees can lose their sense of purpose and become dissatisfied with job. According to an Employee Appreciation Survey by Glassdoor, 53% of employees admit they would stay longer with the organisation if they felt appreciated by their managers. Creating a culture of appreciation, therefore, is extremely crucial in retaining employees, and you could look for different, creative ways to show recognition to your employees, e.g. implementing an employee appreciation program or having periodic rewards such as free team lunches, “Hero of the Quarter” nomination.
Being Underpaid
Although wages alone could not guarantee satisfaction and commitment, believing that you are underpaid can lead to job dissatisfaction. If an employee thinks their wages do not reflect their performance and competency, they will feel undervalued and seek new opportunities with higher pay.
Any organisation should do sufficient research to acknowledge if they offer competitive salaries that are at least at the market rate. If you don’t have a clear, well-defined pay structure, it is recommended to devise a payroll and compensation strategy that offers bonuses to support employees’ career trajectories.
Poor Management
If employees do not have a good relationship with their managers, their loyalty will start to unravel. As a matter of fact, managers with poor leadership skills can harm the success of a business. People expect to be led with clear instructions and be supported and empowered throughout their work days. Training for managers on their leadership skills should focus on practising and promoting open communication, championing employees professional growth and providing consistent, constructive feedback that emphasises positive attributes.
Unhealthy workplace relationships
There is a crucial connection between work relationships and employee satisfaction. Even if the job isn’t ideal, having a tight-knit team with trusted colleagues makes you feel happy when being around them at the office, leading to more joy and fun at work. Furthermore, when teammates have strong relationships, they are more likely to communicate, share ideas and thoughts openly, resulting in better understanding, problem-solving and effective collaboration.
Signs When Employees Are Dissatisfied With Job
When employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, they can display many different behaviours. Some typical indicators include:
Lack of Interest and Enthusiasm
One of the early signs of job dissatisfaction is being distracted and lack of interest at work. Browsing through the phone for a long time, simply staring at the ceiling, doing personal stuff at work shows a lack of interest.
Procrastination
A lack of interest often leads employees to procrastination. They will wait until the last minute to finish a task, even when it’s a very simple one. They would also make excuses for not working earlier and not putting enough thought into their work due to the limited time.
Absenteeism
When people are not content with their job, they tend to avoid responsibilities. Therefore, they might call in sick frequently. This is a sign showing when an employee is unhappy, unengaged and uncommitted.
Low quality Performance
If an employee does not invest their expertise and talents into their position, this shows that they are dissatisfied with job. People who are happy with their jobs tend to have more zeal to succeed in their roles.
How to Overcome Job Dissatisfaction
Overcoming job dissatisfaction requires great work in tapping into each employee issue. There are a number of ways employers can attempt to boost the employee morale:
- Provide recognition: Praise employees for their hard work or incorporating a reward system can be very effective in making employees feel appreciated and recognised, leading to better engagement and satisfaction
- Wages review: Do you have a payroll and compensation strategy that ensures you’re paying the employees rightly? If not, try to assess your whole payroll system and address any situations when employees are paid lower than the market rates or if the rates do not match their competence.
- Provide training and mentoring: A research by CNBC/SurveyMonkey shows that 50% of workers said they are significantly happier with their jobs when they have a mentor at work. Mentorship has an enormous impact on a worker’s career and is a key component to an employee’s work life happiness.
- Listening and responding: Being heard and supported is very important for employees to feel valued. Managers can have regular 1-1 meetings to address any potential problems and provide constructive feedback for employees to improve their performance.
As an employee, if you’re dissatisfied with your job, there are some general responses to express your concern and improve the situation:
- Self reflection on the sources of dissatisfaction
- Communicate openly with your line manager about your concerns and be specific about the issues causing dissatisfaction
- Be professional and try to seek solutions with your line manager
- Practise appropriate venting: avoid sharing your work frustrations on social media – it can be healthy to vent but choose your audience wisely.
- Use feedback channels: utilise feedback channels within your company to give constructive feedback
- Consider external opportunities: if necessary, update your resume and explore external job market
Takeaways
Despite being a common workplace problem, job dissatisfaction can be improved if you take the initiative to determine what causes job dissatisfaction at your organisation. For many people, their job is one of the most important things in their daily lives which takes up a large amount of their time and provides financial support for their family. Therefore, being dissatisfied at work can have an extremely negative effect on other aspects of their lives. In the end, finding a job where you can learn, grow and thrive is worth searching for.
Frequently Asked Questions
What to do when you are dissatisfied with your job?
When you’re dissatisfied with your job, the first thing you should do is to self-reflect on the sources of dissatisfaction, whether it’s because of the low wages, lack of recognition or poor management issues. Then you can be professional and actively seek solutions with your line managers. Request a meeting to openly communicate your concerns. Remember to always express your dissatisfaction professionally and focus on finding constructive solutions. You can also utilise your organisation’s feedback channels. When you think the situation can’t be improved and this is not the right job for you, you can update your CV and look for external job opportunities.
What are the responses to job dissatisfaction?
People respond to job dissatisfaction in different ways and ideally, the first crucial step is self-reflecting on specific aspects of your job that cause dissatisfaction. Once you’ve identified the sources of dissatisfaction, you can move on to the next step of communicating your concerns to your supervisor or line manager and professionally explore solutions.
How do you express dissatisfaction at work?
Expressing dissatisfaction at work requires a professional approach. You can:
- Initiate a discussion with your line manager to communicate your concerns
- Be specific about your issues while maintaining a constructive tone
- Utilise formal feedback channels within your company
If the dissatisfaction persists despite your efforts, the practical step is to update your resume and consider other job opportunities.
