Job Dissatisfaction

We’re all different when it comes to what we most value in our jobs. It isn’t just about the compensation, but more often, a combination of things. If you’ve been catching yourself perusing the job boards lately, it’s essential for you to identify which aspects of your current job are unacceptable. Do you have ‘itchy feet’ from waning interest in the work itself, or because of workplace difficulties or shortcomings. Inexperienced employees often have no basis for comparison, or haven’t experienced all the ‘issues’ that can challenge an employee’s loyalty to a job. Here’s a partial list of issues that motivate employees to change jobs.

• Inconvenient location from home/difficult commuteInflexible work schedule
• Lack of on-site daycare
• Difficult co-workers
• Caseload is uninteresting or excessive in size
• No potential for career advancement
• Lack of meaningfulness to the work, or lack of a sense of belonging to a team
• Poor workplace space, outdated equipment or poor general state of the facility
• Disreputable employer/company
• Lack of continuing education opportunities and financial support of them
• Bad management / management is not personally experienced in the rehab professions
• Desire to pursue other areas of the profession that cannot be pursued in your present job
• Pressure to participate in unethical behaviors or business practices
• Lack of interaction with other professionals
• Insufficient funding to support services offered
• Insufficient administration time
• Requirement to perform duties unrelated to one’s profession
• Unacceptable compensation including wages, vacation time, and other benefits
• Lack of professional autonomy
• Workplace harassment

Make a list of all the positives about your present job, and make a list of the issues that are irritating you in your present position. Consider each job posting with these two lists in mind. At job interviews, don’t forget to bring questions pertaining to your two lists. The job interview is one of the best opportunities to find out how workplace issues are dealt with, what the leadership style is, and what career opportunities are coming up in the next few years (e.g., someone is planning to retire so her interesting caseload will become available).

Many experienced employees would agree that there is no perfect job, but there are some that are pretty close to perfect! There are always some issues to contend with, and there seems to be at least one difficult person or one intractable situation in each office. Sometimes it’s just time to change jobs to refresh your mind. Perhaps a change in schedule, such as reducing one’s work hours each week, can be enough to sustain interest. Sometimes what’s needed is a change from clinical to administrative work or from clinical work to a business role related to speech-language pathology, or vice versa. Variety is the spice of life, after all.