Dilbert Day

 

I am a meticulous person. Trained as an accountant, I have a way of looking at things from a numerical perspective. 

According to my calculation, two hours are used up as transport time each day just to go to and come from work. This works out to 10 hours a week, equivalent to one full working day.

We head to work before the sun rises and reach home after the sun sets. Surely, that cannot do any good to the quality of life index, no matter how much one is paid.

I have met my share of people in the limelight and they often lament about their stress level and what they would give to be able to have a good night’s sleep and not feel like they belong to the company 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

I am not surprised that stress plays a critical factor in how one assesses one’s job. The methodology used was to tabulate points based on the five core areas that are key to every job, and stress is one of them. Apart from stress, the other areas are environment, income, outlook and physical demands.

Some of us may have routine jobs that involve waking up, driving through a jam, frantically looking for a parking lot, sitting in a cubicle, working on file after file, playing Solitaire or surfing facebook in between, taking a teh tarik break, working on file after file, and then heading home.

I am no management guru, but I believe that one of the key components to making a job great is that we are able to have a sense of belonging in the place where we work.

It does not matter whether we are a long-time worker nearing retirement or a fresh graduate. It does not matter whether we are struggling with a new work culture because our previous place of work is so different from the one we just moved into. It does not matter whether we are the so-called invisible workers that our busy bosses never take notice of.

What is important is that we know that our work matters, that there is a sense of ownership and what we do contributes to the greater good of the company. It helps that the people around us, from our colleagues to our bosses, make us feel that we belong. Whatever we do, we are appreciated. Nobody tells us that we are newbie’s and that we should behave like them or forever be seen as outsiders.

We celebrate our differences and work together as one, like different parts of the same body. In that way, we slowly overcome our daily trepidations and feel that we truly belong.And that would make any job the best job in the world. 

Note: Happy Labour Day