Are people still quiet quitting? Rage quitting? Staying or leaving their jobs in some other manner with a sexy/trendy moniker as highlighted in the WSJ and at SHRM conferences?
Probably. People, tired of putting up with management nonsense and crappy work environments for decades centuries millennium, have always let their feet do the walking.
And leaving a job is often not just because of one BIG thing; oftentimes people decide to look elsewhere due to the proverbial death by a thousand paper cups. The little indignities suffered every day. The piling on.
But wanting a new job and finding one don’t happen on the same timeline; it may, sadly, take months. So how to drag yourself to work each day in the meantime?
When your job description changes for the worse
Companies are forced to be agile and rapidly adjust to changing needs in the marketplace and this means your job can be drastically changed at any time, seemingly at the whim of your employer. The first thing is to assess if these are duties you just don’t like or duties that signal a “demotion” or loss in responsibility.
If they are duties you just don’t like (“Peggy, we’re putting you in charge of answering the front desk phone whenever Barb goes to lunch”) and it seems like a permanent change, you need to personally assess if its something you can live with or if you feel the need to move on. If you enjoy your job 90% of the time but this change means 10% of the time your head wants to explode, is that 10% enough to make you move elsewhere? To the unknown? Where this could happen again? Only you can answer that question.
If it seems like a demotion, it may signal that your employers doesn’t think you’re doing a great job in your current role and they’re hoping you may quit. It’s the weasel way for sure; they’re too afraid to have a meaningful conversation and merely hope you will become so miserable that you’ll decide to resign.
If your job changes radically with no explanation have a direct conversation with your manager. You will want to find out of this is part of a longer-term strategy or merely a temporary shift due to budget or staffing issues.
Talking to your boss about making changes
The key to having this conversation is never to make it all about you. Sure you may be absolutely miserable, bored beyond belief and feel as if you’re soul is withering away but hear this: your boss probably doesn’t care. Your boss cares about looking good to their boss so you need to make any job change ideas seem like their idea; focus on how changes to your job will bring value to the company and make them appear to be a leader in talent development. At this stage any conversation should focus on organizational improvement and value-adds for the company and there should be no discussion about additional compensation or money; you’re asking for this because you need and want new challenges and excitement, remember?
Prepare for this conversation by getting ready to answer questions your boss may have such as “if I let you take on XYZ task how can I be assured you’ll continue to get the rest of your job done?” or “if you’re responsible for XYZ then who will handle ABC?” In addition, you can proactively do some research; if these job changes will require that you acquire some new knowledge or master a new technology let your boss know that you are prepared to acquire it because that’s how excited you are to take on this new responsibility.
Phoning it in
Make sure you’re still hitting your goals (even if your heart is not in it), meeting deadlines and fulfilling obligations. Remember that the people you’re working with today will be the references you need for your next job(s) so don’t burn any bridges or cause them to only remember you as “that person who never completed the TPS Report on time.”
Making the most of enforced merriment
There is, quite often, nothing worse than being forced to endure the fake smiles, awkward silences, and inane chatter that accompanies the office “birthday party” celebration. But even if you absolutely cannot stand the thought of interacting with the ‘birthday boy’ it’s a sign of camaraderie and respect for your fellow human beings who toil alongside you day-in-and-day-out to at least put in an appearance. Because you know what? They probably don’t want to be there either!
While you may not want to join in on the singing and have no desire to eat a piece of sheet cake festooned with flowers made out of 5-inch frosting, you can pop your face in, offer a semi-heartfelt “hope you’re having a good day Bob” and then gracefully make your exit.
If you get a sense that no one in the office enjoys these forced events it’s possible to make a suggestion to whoever plans them (it’s usually some nice lady who works in administration or HR, isn’t it?) that the style of celebration be changed to something that fits with your organizational culture and that people will enjoy. Be warned that this can be hard to accomplish however when the company is paying (i.e. purchasing a cake and punch is cheaper than taking the whole team our to Happy Hour) or there’s a legacy program (“we’ve been celebrating monthly birthdays for 20 years!”).
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Can you muddle through at a job that you hate? Probably. But when it’s neither fulfilling or delightful you need to take care of YOU: pay attention to your emotional and physical well-being and find things to do outside of work that bring you joy.
Remember…you’re number one!
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