Job Satisfaction

How could I forget her face when she left us saying she did not get any job satisfaction in that institute where we have been working for years together. I didn’t know whether her decision was right but only felt that she had a strong urge to leave the work she never liked to do. She wanted a little more freedom. She wanted to prove herself differently. She wanted to work according to her own terms.

In this free country if you talk about freedom, make sure that in what context you are referring to it. In a working place if you talk about it, it will be taken as rebellious and revolting. In any working place people who think on their own, work according to their special talent and give some innovative ideas which may be revolutionary, will never be welcomed and tolerated. They will have to face rather a challenging task of obeying the dictates of the boss, whether the boss is right or his dictates are detrimental to the progress of the institution. They keep a slogan on display in the office, ‘The boss is always right.’ This slogan teaches us to follow the leader and learn to say nothing but ‘YES BOSS’.

I happened to read the outcome of one research study that job satisfaction increases with age. Workers about fifty are the most satisfied while people under thirty are the least happy with their work. At fifty perhaps you have crossed all the turning points of career and you become contented wherever you are. But in the beginning of your career your expectations are high and you have more options to choose from. She was just 23 and the whole life with all its adventures was open to her. Moreover she was a little different and preferred to tread the un-trodden path.

She was different it was evident the way she left the job abruptly without a second thought. What was job satisfaction for her? We, ‘the cattle class’, never thought of that. Whatever work was allotted to us we did it sincerely and without any objection. We performed all the duties assigned to us so ceremoniously and religiously that there was hardly any chance of raising eyebrows over it. I also remember for this unquestionable demeanour we were classified as ‘bonded labour’ by her which I think is correct to some extent.

When she joined the office she was bubbling with new ideas and a passion to do something challenging. She was given a task where she had to follow the instructions of the superior, but she thought otherwise and declared that she was going to work according to her own ideas and the boss should only see the results. If the outcome was positive he could give his permission to continue the task. This was not acceptable to the boss. There were strict guidelines to follow for the working in the office.

For every new move she pursued, she started getting adverse comments with a warning to obey the given instructions. Perhaps it was her fault to be above average, to be innovative. She was perfect in her work. There was no problem of any dereliction of duties or negligence of work, as she was punctual and honest. The only problem with her was her thinking beyond a certain limit, the limit which delimited her to be within her limits.

We were all stunned due to her drastic move and were dumbfounded when she declared that she was leaving the job. In this recession recovering stage where there are varieties of jobs available in the wanted column only and the leaders of Vidarbha promised to have created thousands of jobs for the still jobless or underemployed youth, getting a decent job is greater than a Herculean task or should I say in sterner tone it is a mirage or el dorado which you can see from a distance but can not find when you get closer to it.

She did not think a bit about her future. When you leave a job you are expected to have a certificate from the employer or a relieving of a sort which may help you to get another job. She declared that she would not do any such jobs where her freedom was sacrificed. I gave a serious thought to it and found that freedom at a working place is something non-existing entity. If you think of freedom or in new terminology, a little more space, you will lend yourself in some serious trouble. Once you are employed, the real challenge of your life gets a kick start. The employers generally need a docile donkey and not a troublesome monkey. It is up to you to prove yourself either of these. Now I want to see whether she gets some decent job or remain jobless due to her mulish expectation. But her move was really exemplary.