So many of us go to work, do what we’re paid to do, punch out, and go home. But are we truly happy? Studies suggest most people aren’t — even though they pretend to be. On the other hand, if you exhibit a majority of the following traits while you’re at work, the odds are good that you not only enjoy your job — but you’ve also picked a career that’s right for you. Here’s how to know if you made the right career choice:
You Go the Extra Mile
People who love their jobs don’t have to be asked to do something. Their overall sense of job satisfaction makes them more efficient; so they breeze through tasks because they don’t view them as chores. And they recognize that good things come to good employees who go above and beyond. Cynics call them “brown-nosers,” but eventually they end up calling them “boss.”
You Put in Extra Hours to Meet Deadlines
People who are halfway to the parking lot as soon as that clock strikes 5 p.m. aren’t helping their coworkers who are stuck picking up the slack. That’s also not the best strategy for getting a raise or promotion either. The good news is it’s possible to put in extra time to get things done correctly and by the deadline, and still manage to enjoy a decent work/life balance.
You Encourage and Recognize the Work of Others
You know there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ and understand that encouragement and praise helps keep everybody motivated. People who made the right career choice let their coworkers know that they appreciate them and all of the hard work they do.
You Share the Credit
People who are happy at their place of employment realize it takes a village to keep the parts moving. They understand that even when they’re working alone on a project, there are bound to be at least a few people who helped them along the way whether it’s a secretary, assistant, coworker, or an intern. This is why they always say “thank you” when the time comes to solidify their status as a team player.
You Speak Positively About Your Job Outside The Office
You know that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. People who love their jobs never badmouth it — or any aspect of it — and instead find positive solutions to conflicts that arise. “Outside of work, they become great brand ambassadors for your company. They talk to their friends, families, and strangers about the work they’re doing and even say that they ‘love’ their jobs,” says Shayleen Stuto, talent coordinator for TechnologyAdvice.
You Steer Coworkers Toward a Path of Success
If you’re successful at what you do, you should want other people to be successful too. People who love their jobs are eager to help their coworkers get a leg up by mentoring them, offering assistance if they have time, helping them catch up after a few days out of the office, checking in from time to time to make sure everything is on track personally and professionally, and speaking positively about them to superiors. They understand that when the whole team is successful, so are the individual players — not the other way around.
You Learn New Skills to Enhance Your Performance
Those who love their job eagerly embrace learning new skills because it makes them better at what they do. You also understand that advancing the company cause through your own continued education sends a message to your superiors that you care about your company’s progress and growth. It also shows that you want to be a catalyst for that. As Stuto notes, for people who love their jobs, “Reading articles and books relevant to their position, or attending industry events and seminars aren’t chores, but areas of enjoyment and learning.”
You Inspire Others to Perform Better
Here’s another sign you made the right career choice: People who love their job aren’t afraid to show it. And they do so in all aspects of their performance. “People who love their jobs are passionate about them,” says David Niu, CEO and founder of TINYpulse. “They come to work with a great attitude that inspires others around them. Their passion shows in the quality of their work. And when people are content and passionate about their professional life, it flows into their personal life as well.”
Photo Credit: CrinkleCrackle.com
When you’re happy at work, you’re happier in life. If you find yourself with a smile on your face or find that laughing comes easy, even if you’re not in the office, you can often look at your happiness at your job as a big part of that. After all, you’re spending roughly 25% of your time at work in a normal 40-hour week, so your happiness at work has a very big effect on your overall state of mind and well being.
I think your list really applies best to jobs in larger organizations. Where I work management’s top priority is building up their team, even ahead of ‘bottom line’ quarterly profit numbers. They recognize that over the long term, a happy cohesive and productive team is much more valuable than what appears on an accounting statement. I’ve worked here long enough to recognize how we got there.
Most of your points boil down to an employee who is willing to put the team’s success ahead of his or her personal interests. We get this first by very careful hiring. We actually avoid the superstar Heisman trophy winners– instead we aim to find talented people who would rather own a Super Bowl ring. For fresh grads we aim for a solid “B” grade average and lots of curiosity, and for experienced hires we look for those who have built a solid expertise– and carry just the right amount of ego.
Another part of this management style is the subtle use of peer pressure to ‘nudge’ teams towards business ends rather than managing by edict. I’ve seen brilliant strategies on paper fail miserably due to lack of buy-in from the team members. Some consider meetings to be an unproductive waste of time, but this is how our team finds its course, and the goal of management is to help the team set its direction towards the needs of the business.
Finally we keep a compressed association between span of responsibility and status. Managers here don’t govern by authority, they wield influence by their ability to serve the team. New kids get the window offices, seniors sit in the middle, and managers are relegated to the dark closets. Most of those who are not in management see it as a lot more work for a relatively small bump in pay, so we don’t have much competition for management slots (in fact we find them hard to fill). This atmosphere enhances team cohesion because there is nothing to gain by backstabbing or stealing credit.
So if you’re wondering why you don’t see more of these 8 telltale signs in your organization, you might try some pages from our management’s playbook.
Many items on the list are simply traits of a responsible person. I have always believed that most people want to work flat out until the organisation, or lack thereof, defeats them from doing so. And some simply move on because there is no fit for them. The role of management is to foster these positive traits and the best way is by example.
As for meetings, if they are important they will be on ‘company time’, not out of hours, and only valuable if there is something worth meeting over. Staff meetings as policy will quickly produce disillusionment and cynicism among employees. Out of hours meetings illustrate the employee’s time is not important to the company and the employee has been disregarded. Meetings held because it is simply policy and not to address a particular problem or achieve a worthwhile goal is a double insult. People’s time is important to them and should be respected, at the very least paid for and appreciated. A further warning, ensure any presenter is doing so with a purpose beyond getting noticed and getting ahead. It is soul destroying for employees forced to listen/participate, and most people will be too polite or ________ to speak up or walk out unless they are with friends they trust. Once again, it devalues the captive individual. Hint, a decent food platter goes a long way to buy-in.
A few of us were laughing/talking the other day about some of our past jobs. My observation was that if in the interview process they talk about how they operate like a family, don’t. If you find out the owner’s kids are running the company, run. Everyone agreed.
And last but not least, professional and worthwhile organisations do not have an obvious Team A and Team B. We’ve all seen it. It stinks of decline. I have friends that were on Team B, and over time they just went through the motions. What a waste of potential. And by the way, everyone knows what team they are on in that kind of workplace. Yes, it exists.