We know that work sucks most of the time. The question is why? My wife and I have been pondering this question quite a bit lately because of her high levels of stress. She's basically working all the time and has little expectation of being rewarded beyond a raise and the yearly bonus everyone gets based on the performance of her company. Being on call 24/7 with tools that consistently go down as a new employee immediately creates problems. No matter what you do you feel like you're a failure. This is where the quality of your manager can really step in to make you feel better about the job you've been doing. According to a Danish study this is what causes work driven depression, not the amount of work you've left to do. I completely agree with this. I know that I've gotten depressed when I've had minimal work to do and had been successful with my work because I had a bad manager (he was giving raises to the women in the group he obviously had a crush on). When your managers have poker faces and basically treat you the way they expect to be treated, no awards, recognition, and more work with less time for a job well done are causes of serious workplace depression.
The article doesn't really provide many ways to address these problems. However, from my experience I know that there are some definite ways to address this type of depression. First, look for co-workers that inspire you and can motivate you. Get peer recognition and make sure you recognize your peers that you feel are doing exemplary work. In many cases companies have spot awards - use them regardless if there's money associated or not. The recognition really makes people feel good. Furthermore, as more of your peers begin to show recognition it will actually put pressure UP to your manager to do the same. The manager will be the aberration of the group and will likely want to conform, especially if manager sees improvement in the organization.
Work with cross-functional teams. You are more likely to get rewarded when you work on projects with larger scopes. This provides several benefits for you, first you learn more about the organization than just your silo. Second, you are able to see how other leaders treat their people and if you like how a leader in a different group treats their people, you should consider moving in that direction. This will enable you to develop new skills and potentially learn the skills you need to get into a job you find more interesting and full filling.
Finally, if you don't find something that makes you happy at the company you're with leave. Not without another job lined up, but start looking for the types of jobs that you want and try to find out what type of manager you'd rather work for. In many jobs you can move around enough to learn what you like and what you don't like. I suggest moving around within a company, then looking elsewhere. Develop the skills you can while you're at your current job and try to find something you're excited about.
Many of the people I'm connected with on social media, such as the KBMOD crew have been able to do this, but not all of them have been able to. I hope they're able to do this soon, I know that my wife will be doing the same over the next few months. Work takes up too much of your life for it to suck that badly. Move on, if you had a failing review a company would do the same with you, why shouldn't you do the same if you're company's failing you?
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