unhappy at work? why?

The issues in a workplace can be numerous and while some are to be solved as part of each individual's duties, some are often bestowed upon the worker and left alone to deal with or not. Some issues can be challenging, some makes the employee hit a rubber wall. Some can create aspirations while some can demotivate one individual with the epidemic effect of demotivating the entire team. Divide and Rule is one of the technique some not-so-wise managers put in place when they have limited ability in dealing with teams. This can take different shapes. It can be promising to one or more individuals some career enhancement providing some specific results are achieved. Overloading the employee with impossible tasks so that s/he can prove that a step up in the career ladder is well deserved. Here I try to reproduce the spirit of someone joining an organisation full of enthusiasm and ending up demotivated and disillusioned. It is not like this for everyone, but most people I have come across share something like this. I hope you will enjoy the reading. Before joining, the job description is appealing and the responsibilities coming with the role are a perfect match, perhaps even a bit more challenging than those you currently have. The job is a good step ahead from your current position. The company culture seems to be taken out of a fairy tale: ethics, social responsibility, environmentally friendly, perfect balance work/life, equal opportunities... Ok, that is a keeper! Apply. Interviews... Wow! What a company and what a nice bunch of people. You found your ideal job. Yes, the job description is not as it was on the ad but, overall, it's better than the job I currently hold... People seem nicer and more relaxed. They expect a lot from me, but I am more than sure that with my skills I can make a difference and the career perspectives are great. Job Offer. At last it comes through. Great celebration, exactly as it was last time, but you don't think that way because you have to hope that next time is better. All good, let's leave aside the salary negotiation part and the resignations psychodrama from your current employment. You are now ready to start working with your future ex employer! First day at work. The usual hand shaking with dozens of people, you will learn to love, hate, like, dislike in the years/months to come. You get chaperoned around to get all your passes, being shown where the coffee machines and the toilets are. You are thrilled by the new challenge ahead and once you get your desk, you could already go home as you are confused about names, acronyms, departments, rules, management lines and a few books to read and documents to go through, just to understand where you are working. You start sensing that at the beginning the balance work/life will be a bit unbalanced , but it is ok, it's just the beginning. First week(s). You have been talking to James, John, Janice, Jing, Jong, Jay, Jey, Jeez... And you have heard everything about the company, the department, each one of them. They have been warning you about just everything. Some have already told you they are planning to leave, some tell you why the person you replaced had left, but you, you are the flavour of the month and you are full of enthusiasm and you know, you can do better and let all this go well above your head. Demotivation happens with time and these people must have been too long in their position and lost interest or reached a level of working knowledge that makes their job inadequate. It was the same for you, wasn't it? First month(s). You are now well in the job and you take part to meetings where people talk about things you never heard about. Terminology used is completely unknown to your poor ears and the way meetings are conducted are not the way you have done in the past or you would have. Everything at work seems different from your previous job, the one you left, but you still appreciate the way you worked in the old company. However is too early to tell what you think and in the JD was clearly stated that you will be one of the main driver in the processes reviews. For you this is something you can keep aside for when you will have the right recipe to solve all of this company's problems! Not so first months. You are now in the organisation. You do not say anymore you, but you start saying WE. You start feeling that the JD must have been a bit misleading but you are now in it and before starting complaining, like everyone does at the coffee machine, you are still trying to find solutions to "their" problems. You were hired also for that. You were hired to change the way a company with 100 1000 10000 100000 employees work. Yes, your title doesn't say that, but in this company we take seriously at heart everyone's feedback and proposal as our organisation is pretty flat. That flat organisation you joined has complex reporting lines, it takes sometimes 10 reporting lines to reach the guy sitting at the top floor of the skyscraper, but you still are in a flat organisation. Probably this is because everybody calls each other by name? Time to start making the first proposals. The mail might stay in the inbox of your non-boss for weeks before s/he even looks at it but it's ok. Perhaps he is proposing it to his non-boss... A year gone. Your yearly review has been ok-ish. It's usual the case the first year because of the adjustment it takes to anyone new joining our organisation. Hold on... It was a friendly, easy one, no hierarchy, the balance work/life thingy, you could make a change, you were the Messiah. Yes, that was the organisation you joined but things have not been, so far as expected and your partner is not so happy to see you at home late, you have not really seen much of your proposals to improve the workplace go through and your boss still talks you sweetly into increasing the workload for next year in exchange of a good bonus and a nice increase of salary. But, for this year, you will not get any as it's your first year and your performance has not been as good as expected... The reason? Read again this full paragraph. I know, you will not find a right answer, but that is the reason. Year two... If you reached so far, you have found already a bit of a niche, a sort of comfort zone. You feel that you are slowly getting used to it, you even remember the names of just anyone who's new, you are well entangled on LinkedIn and you know who wants to leave and who doesn't. You are an old member of staff... If by chance you can still find your JD, you realise that the same JD has been published for another position, different from yours but, as you know, some stuff is just standard blab and overall, it is ok. I just do my job, I have an ok balance work life, salary is not that bad and next year, the boss, promised me a good increase of salary and a promotion... You start wondering though, how come also the other team members are ok. Did they get an increase? If not, how come they are happy if I am going to get promoted? Of course s/he cannot have promised the same to everyone... Perhaps you wrong... think again... Second appraisal. Thanks to your effort, you are getting now a good pay rise. That is an amazing 5%. Promotions... Well... budget changes, last year company's performance wasn't that great, market is still bearish, we will not go ahead with all the initiatives we were planning so there is really no need to go ahead with any promotion this year. Hey, you must have forgotten already that you work in a sort of flat organisation... Now you start remembering something from last work. It was the same, actually not, it is worse this one. This happens because you are a romantic sort of person and you tend to remember only the good things about the past... Frustration is piling up... You start feeling that you have been let out.. All those J people have left, now i the turn of Kylie, Kim, Koon, KJ... and you are still a J in a word of K... Time to change. Time goes by and you are job hunting. You want to apply for something good this time. Hold. It was the same last time and you landed into this. So you start thinking what was that went wrong. End of the story... the conclusions are left to those who have been there...