Just about every month, there’s a new research report detailing the seemingly higher and higher degree of worker dissatisfaction. Whether it’s a Gallup poll or a Conference Board report, the results are strikingly similar — workers are becoming more and more dissatisfied with their work.

While the majority of “reasons” for dissatisfaction usually point to elements of the workplace itself such as: management style, task design, work role, environmental conditions or opportunities for growth, few if any, of these reports ever point to the possibility that the employee himself or herself may be a major contributing factor to their own dissatisfaction.

Looking closer to home

In many instances of worker dissatisfaction, it’s a question of “physician, heal thyself.” In a culture of blame and victim consciousness, many dissatisfied and disgruntled workers should first look inside, rather than outside, for the root causes of their dissatisfaction. Here’s why.

First, I would echo Karl Marx, and paraphrase something he said: “Where the economy creates a class of losers, where wealth gravitates easily into the hands of the haves, the fortunes of the have-nots become more desperate.”

For me this translates into: in our culture, most everyone operates from an insidious and incessant need to be “somebody”. Thus, for me, the dissatisfaction I read about in workplace satisfaction studies such as the Gallup Polls and Conference Board Report is an aspect of this desperation.

My take on the dissatisfaction pointed to in such reports is that often one’s perspective of dissatisfaction is largely a philosophical one. Meaning? Many of the folks who are expressing and experiencing “dissatisfaction” have a misplaced world view, or perspective, that dictates how they view themselves and their life at work, and the meaning of work; and relatedly, along with the rise in dissatisfaction, comes a rise in stress, boredom, burnout and rustout. Rustout is a lack or deficiency not of energy, but of passion.

Look inward, where the heart rests easy

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in a Time Magazine article, states: “Anything can be enjoyable if the element of flow is present. Within that framework, doing a seemingly boring job can be a source of greater fulfillment than one ever thought possible.” The Dalai Lama says: “I do nothing.” His work and life are the same. Anything can be enjoyable. Anything.

These two do not say it’s the manager’s responsibility to make anyone happy. They don’t say It’s the flowers and plants that make folks happy. They don’t say it’s the extra percentage in the bonus, or the new training equipment, that accounts for one’s happiness. They simply point to what’s going on, or not going on, inside a person that accounts for their satisfaction.

The question of job satisfaction starts “inside.”

An important question to consider is: “What takes me out of that state of flow and presence and moves me in the direction of dissatisfaction?”

Until and unless you get to root causes of dissatisfaction and unhappiness, which are, at the end of the day, inside issues, more than outside issues, such job satisfaction reports can only describe the landscape surface. They certainly not explain why the landscape is barren. Again, you need to look underneath the surface of the barrenness.

Seeking deeper answers

Exploring and inquiring underneath the landscape, that is “going inside”, leads to some questions:

• Why can’t I forge true and real friendships and relationships at work; really, really, true and real relationships and friendships, not surface acquaintanceships? What gets in the way of that?
• Why are trust, honesty, openness, and an emotional feeling of safety lacking in so many workplaces and within so many teams and groups?
• Why are bullying and gossiping so prevalent in our workplaces?
• Why do so few find real meaning in their work?
• Why is true and real well-being lacking in so many work environments?

Perhaps, one day, not too far off, we’ll find that it’s not only about 401Ks, task design, work roles, the latest and greatest training tools, cool icebreakers, plants in the atrium, and the same business and leadership models, theories and concepts in new wine skins.

Perhaps, one day, not too far off, we can look outside the box of common dissatisfaction to “new” possibilities, new answers:

• People exploring and going after what truly brings them fulfillment in their work.
• Remembering that even a boring job can be a fine experience when one is in touch with oneself; and thus not completely dependent on “someone out there” making satisfaction happen for you.
• Discovering their values that emanate from their true and real self, their heart and essence, from their moral compass, rather than from their ego-driven needs and materialistic “taste du jour.”
• Feeling connected first, to their self, inside, their inner spirit, on an inner plane, which can then, and only then, lead to true connections, interactions, relationships and contact with others.
• Exploring their own internal deficiencies and feelings of lack which lead to petty jealousies and envy of others, dissatisfaction that fosters conflict, gossiping and bullying.
• Putting people before work, in an honest and sincere and self-responsible manner.
• Discovering you passion and the strength and courage to live it or seek it in work, doing what you truly love to do.
• Staying physically, mentally and emotionally healthy, and spiritually strong; and living a life rather than being obsessed with a lifestyle.

Perhaps the dissatisfaction element, as it relates to work, is directly intertwined with life in general; and, at the end of the day — the workday — there is no compartmentalizing of our lives. There may be something about the way you live your life in general that brings dissatisfaction, not only at work but in all the other aspects of too.

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