Are We All Really So Miserable?

I spent a good amount of time over the past weekend researching the effective use of social media for professionals in general. This involved reviewing other people's weblog postings, scanning Twitter posts, following links on Facebook ads, studying Instagram marketing programs, and reading LinkedIn Pulse articles. (A marketer-turned-attorney never stops thinking of ways Former Profession can help Current Profession, even on Labor Day.)

I'm particularly drawn to concise, plainly-written articles that are easy to understand without being overly-simplistic. One such article is "Why We're So Unhappy With Work - and How to Fix It", by Professor Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore College. Professor Schwartz recently published a book entitled Why We Work and the article needs to be read with that fact in mind. The statistics in this article are attention-getting and sobering, as befits a marketing piece presenting itself as a news article.

For example, Professor Schwartz cites a 2013 Gallup poll which found that almost ***90%*** of workers were either unengaged or actively disengaged with their jobs. (I'd love to learn more about the methodology behind that poll, because I find it hard to believe that people are that disheartened or jaded with their jobs and/or with life in general.) Accurate or not, Professor Schwartz uses this result and other observations to reach a conclusion with which I 100% agree: that an efficiency and wage-driven approach (without more) is out-of-touch and ineffective in modern times. People want work that is meaningful, challenging, and engaging, even if it means bringing home less money.

While these ideas are hardly new, some feel that employers still haven't sufficiently embraced them. The article doesn't address why that might be (although perhaps the book might.) I'd like to suggest one reason why employers still focus on the nut-and-bolts of business operations: because it isn't my employer's job to make me happy and fulfilled. That's up to me. It's also not my employer's job to make sure my job is well-aligned with my personal beliefs and life goals. Again, that's my personal responsibility. (Yes, I'm preaching to you, Kentucky Clerk.)

This doesn't mean that smart employers shouldn't be thinking of ways to attract and retain the best employees or that smart employees shouldn't figure out ways of making themselves more valuable to their employers. However, at the end of the day, employers are primarily concerned with keeping their businesses operating profitably and employees are focused on financially supporting themselves and their families. While reasonable accommodation makes good business sense, neither employers nor employees should have to sacrifice their ultimate interests and goals for the other. Businesses are not charities and workers are not volunteers. Rather than taking on the yoke of ensuring worker happiness, perhaps employers should offer programs to help employees take on greater personal responsibility for their own actions and happiness.

You can read Professor Schwartz's LinkedIn article here.