From Susan M. Heathfield,
Your Guide to Human Resources.
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Explore how to make your current job - work, with the first suggestions in this article.

You Feel Overworked on Your Job

You probably are overworked. Employers have cut back on hiring and are expecting employees to do more with fewer resources.

At a local university, a customer service counter was staffed by five people until recently. Now, one person staffs the counter. Is she overworked or was the counter overstaffed in the first place? You will never convince her that the answer is anything but the first - overworked.

• Talk with your employer, after collecting good data and evidence, if you find that the job is indeed more work than one person can comfortably handle. Brainstorm options that include these:
  --hire a new employee,
  --assign a part-time employee or intern to work with you,
  --identify tasks you can stop doing, and
  --determine the value-added tasks and eliminate non-critical job components.



• Take time to flowchart your work processes and see where you have waste in the process. Are you doing rework? How does extra time or steps make your work processes more difficult and time-consuming than they warrant?

You Dislike Your Career Field and Job

Sometimes, people discover that they have chosen the wrong career or field of work. They dislike the activities and the actual content of the job.

When I was twenty-one, I taught special education. While I loved the young people, I disliked the school setting and had little in common with many of my coworkers. I was not challenged for long by the content of the work either. Now, it's thirty plus years later and I'm still teaching, just not in a public school.

You may experience something similar. If you fundamentally don't like the work, consider these actions.

• Spend a year exploring your career options and needs.
  --Meet with people already working in the fields you are exploring.
  --Determine education or credentials necessary to move on.
  --Read books by authors such as Barbara Sher and Annie Gottlieb. Wishcraft and other recent career and job search books are good choices.
  --Visit related career websites at About.



• Make a careful plan with a timeline, and move on.

You Dislike Your Employer, Coworkers or Customers

Maybe you like your work but dislike your current employer, coworkers or customers. Explore your options to move to a different employer.

Make sure that the unhappiness isn't inside of you, however, and that it really is due to the actions of others. (Perhaps your employer is unethical in his treatment of the customer. Maybe your coworkers are all miserable and constantly complaining about their work.)

Look carefully for a pattern in your own actions. As an example, do you repeatedly start out at a new job and location but then quickly becoming disillusioned? If you identify a pattern, the unhappiness may all be internally generated. If the unhappiness is inside of you, only you can make you feel better and make your job - work.

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• Start out by exploring whether you have any control over any aspect of the situation that is bothering you. If you identify areas you control, try fixing them. Perhaps sitting in the break room listening to people complain is ruining your good spirits. Stay out of there for awhile to see if your outlook improves.



• Consider transferring to a new work area or trading customers with a coworker.

You Can't Stand Your Boss

This is the number one reason people give for why they leave their current job or employer. When managers are nasty, abusive, and controlling, this is understandable. There are more subtle things some managers do, however, that drive staff away.

These include failing to:

• provide direction,
• involve people in decisions about their work,
• appreciate staff contributions, and
• help develop the talents and abilities of their employees.

If you find yourself in such a situation, try these actions.

• Talk to your manager about your concerns. Many people don't realize the affect their actions create. Others just don't care. See which category your boss falls in.



• If you are planning to leave anyway, you have not got a lot to lose. Talk with your manager's boss or your Human Resources department to see if they can remedy the situation.



• Transfer to a different department. Try to remove yourself from the manager's influence.

I trust I've given you some ideas about addressing your current work situation that might substitute for leaving your current job. There are, however, legitimate times and legitimate reasons for moving on. Let's explore those next in the The Top Ten Reasons to Quit Your Job.

More Job Solutions Instead of Quitting Your Job.