THE DEAD END

Where is the working world going – Is it hitting a dead end??

Is the basics of humanity vanishing in the employment world with the increasing desire to be on top, the richest and most powerful? – is it even leading us anywhere?

Let us make an attempt to analyse the deteriorating work culture which is creating extremely disinterested and demotivated employees in huge numbers. As all of us spend most part of our lives in our work places and also maximum time of our day there, it becomes extremely important to understand and analyse where we are going wrong as most of the working class are being affected with depression, low confidence level, lack of interest to live, fear to acquaint with people, fear to believe friends/colleagues, deteriorating mental and physical health and most importantly they are failing to find meaning in whatever work they do. Now a day’s people are of the opinion that all their hard work and efforts are serving no purpose at all.

While conversing with a handful of employees working in various sectors about how they feel about their life currently, there was a collective shout out saying “Miserable” with a big sigh. This conversation helped me break this complex topic into simpler parts as below listed factors and analyse better.

Impractical/Unreal Targets : In most of the companies whether it’s well established or a start-up firm, employees are given impractical, meaningless and irrelevant targets to accomplish with a view to survive in the most unhealthy competition of business which ultimately does not serve the purpose but demotivate the employees. The immediate managers are extremely reluctant and incompetent to understand this and put it across to the higher level as their only aim is to make their subordinates complete the task and report it to the higher management. This is causing extreme frustration and anger among the working class and making their work life stressful.

Unhealthy competition: 30 – 40 years ago, during the time of our parents and grandparents, the thought of going to work was a bliss and never a pain. This was because of the ethics, values and principles that each one in that generation followed. During that era the main motto at work place was “rising by lifting our fellow workers”, but now the motto is” growing by pulling down our fellow workers”. This is causing extreme distress and pressure among the employees as most part of their days are spent in such kind of an unhappy, negative and hostile environment.

Incapable managers / leaders: In the earlier days promotions were given purely on the basis of merit and experience. But now even those who are incapable to handle the basic stuff are going up the ladder based on how well they favour their bosses. Due to such unethical practices the most deserving ones are being deprived of the opportunities creating disinterest in work as they feel true potential is not being valued. A good leader gets the work done by motivating and encouraging his subordinates where as a bad leader gets the work done by pulling down the morale of his team mates thus developing an unhealthy atmosphere within the team.

Long working hours: Due to improper work allotment and also due to managers not having a timely check on the same is causing unnecessary long working hours which is hindering the work life balance in turn lowering the productivity of the employees. Long working hours is also due to not having a balanced work allotment within the team, this is causing heavy work load on just a few team mates which is again leading to negative and imbalanced work atmosphere.

At some point in time, we need to stop this negative and unhealthy work culture to spread even more,  before our next generation starts to believe this is what the real employment world is said to be and stop aspiring to achieve anything in life as it seems pointless to suffer this way. So it’s high time we take the necessary steps to eradicate this culture and bring in a positive attitude at work places across the globe.

After an effective brainstorming session with a panel of employees of different levels from various sectors, certain effective ways through which we can increase the standard of work culture have been found which are as below:

1. Impactful leadership programs stressing upon supportive and democratic leadership
2. Timely sessions on self-improvement stressing upon the importance of respect for fellow mates , kindness, communication skill, growing by inspiring team members etc. and other soft skills required to improve one’s character.
3. Timely check on balanced work allotment among the team members.
4.  Working hours to strictly not go beyond 10 hours a day to ensure work life balance and better employee productivity.
5. Timely check on managers’ behaviour with his/her team members.

World hasn’t changed, rather we have changed the entire concept of the world for bad. As all of us are aware that change is inevitable but at the same time should also be for good .Its high time we make the world a better place to live. The ultimate solution to save the working world from hitting a dead end is that each individual living on this earth should realise his/her purpose of life. Every employee, whether at the basic level or higher level, should start auditing his/her behaviour at work place often. Reason being, workplace is our second home and colleagues are our second family. As we are aware that at least 30 -40 years of our life is spent in our work places and if that’s not comfortable and positive, it can be dangerous as it may lead to development of negative attitude, losing  faith, hope and ultimately lose interest to live.

Let us all redefine work life from hell to bliss and recreate a beautiful world filled with positive, happy, uplifting and inspiring humans.