Determining whether you are satisfied with your job, whether it is right for you, and why that is important often involves personal intuition and circumstances. For some people, the right job might entail earning a certain salary. For others, the right job might involve having a supportive team.
With more than 21,000 participants in their study, researchers found that over a 40-year span, people who stayed in the same organization over time became less satisfied, and people who moved to different organizations over time became happier.

The Right Job

Job satisfaction can be defined as any combination of psychological, physiological, and environmental circumstances that cause a person to truthfully say that they are satisfied with a job.

Defining Job Satisfaction

Communication can be extremely important to retaining levels of satisfaction, on both a personal and professional level. 
It is exhibited in allowing employees to be open, collaborative, trustworthy, and even confrontational when needed.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Communication

Defining a company culture links to job satisfaction as it provides values and guidance about topics ranging from organizational goals to appropriate levels of interaction between employees.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Culture

It’s no surprise that once a culture is established in a workplace, satisfaction can then be enhanced by added feelings of security. Security may arise from knowing you work for a viable company with long-term goals, insinuating feelings of belonging to that company (Berg, Grant, & Johnson, 2010). 
This can be enhanced by having honest communication and transparency within a company.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Security

Tied into increased motivation for employees, leadership, or influencing a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals can lead to job satisfaction by making sure communication and instruction of tasks is adequate and easily understood.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Leadership

Employees can gain more satisfaction with their job when more challenging opportunities arise. 
This can lead to participation in interesting and diverse projects and get employees away from the monotony of a role.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Opportunities

Employees can become more satisfied with their job when they know there is an individualized plan for them. 
Beyond the formal nature of appraisals, if there is a path in place for growth, this can encourage employees to stay happier for longer.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Career Development

Job satisfaction can be increased if a resilient workplace is a cooperative environment. 
This means a place with respect for diverse ideas and opinions, honest and constructive feedback, mentoring opportunities, and freedom from harassment.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Working Conditions

Does the employee proactively seek out a manager for feedback? Does the employee go the extra mile to achieve tasks within a company? Does the employee try to stick to company goals, lead meetings, and ask questions when unsure about how to complete a task?
If yes, these employees are ones who can show more satisfaction in the workplace. Proactiveness in the workplace can lead to positive job appraisals, which when fed back to the employee, can lead to satisfaction.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: The Role Of Proactiveness

While pay and benefits are not the only reason employees find satisfaction in their workplaces, research going back more than 30 years (e.g., Gerhart, 1987) shows that pay and benefits, at least according to how employees view themselves in their roles, has ranked high on lists of job satisfaction factors.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Pay and Benefits

Beyond monetary gain and being paid fairly for the work they do, job satisfaction for employees means that promotional policies are unambiguous and in line with their expectations.
Satisfaction at a job is not exclusively linked to pay, but to the perceived fairness of how one is recognized at work for achievements.

Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction: Rewards and recognition

<ul>
<li>Increased profits</li>
<li>Higher productivity</li>
<li>Lower turnover</li>
<li>Loyalty.</li>
</ul>

The Four Benefits Of Job Satisfaction

Practical lessons for anyone who wants to find more happiness at work

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

health

Health

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

timemanagement

Time Management

Happiness At Work

Learn how to determine your own or your team's job satisfaction and why it matters. Or simply find out whether your job's right for you!

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

career

Career

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

What is Job Satisfaction and Why is it Important?

You may not love your job, but mostly, days are at least tolerable. But an OK day at the office can get much worse when you have a colleague who won’t stop complaining about how bad it is.
They grumble about how their holiday wasn’t approved, how bored they are, how much they hate their boss. Before long, you start to notice how this person’s constant complaining makes your workday actively worse. Over time, you may even start disliking your own job more, viewing the company in a negative new light.

That one disgruntled colleague

There’s evidence to suggest that certain attitudes and behaviours can spread from one person to a group of people quite easily, especially in work contexts: for example, employees are more likely to engage in immoral acts, like lying or stealing, if they work alongside others who commit such acts.
But subtler forms of workplace negativity – like a colleague who just doesn’t like their job and is vocal about it – can also send ripple effects through teams.

Your colleague’s discontent at work is contagious

Emotional contagion occurs when we, as social creatures, recognise emotions in others and subconsciously mimic them. For example, when we see a coworker in a bad mood after a meeting, it tells us that something did not go right in the meeting.
Emotional contagion is most likely to happen when one does not have a definite opinion about the situation and the person who’s displaying certain emotion is someone you respect or are close to.

Emotional contagion

There’s a range of effects on teams in which negativity is spreading. At best, workers’ satisfaction with their role, team or company could dip; at worst, unhappy workers could end up looking for jobs elsewhere in a mass-quitting phenomenon known as turnover contagion.
So, how can we stamp out the spread? If you’re in a situation in which you’re relatively happy, there are strategies you can implement to try and shut out other people’s complaints: classic tips include aligning yourself with positive people, creating boundaries with others and redirecting the conversation toward positivity.

Consider the context

Experts also say a crucial thing to keep in mind is if people are unhappy in your team, it’s often a much bigger problem than one disgruntled worker. It might not be one bad apple – it might be bad organisational practices.
For example, workplaces pressuring people to stay online late, bosses emailing people at 23:00 or conditions being kept in place that allow burnout to run rampant. However, that means some of the burden falls on companies to improve their cultures, and it’s difficult to know if employers will embrace change.

The bigger problem

Colleagues who complain can blight our days – but they can also bring down entire teams, too.

humanresources

Human Resources

The ripple effect of one employee who hates their job

Young workers in a competitive culture often expect their careers to reach their height in a short time. Younger generations bounce from job to job, maybe viewing their jobs as mere stepping stones toward better salaries and job titles. But this perpetual rat race can lead to burnout and disillusionment. It's better to regard careers with a long view.

A career mindset

If you're in a rush to move up, you could risk losing out on opportunities within your reach. Focusing on your current job will allow your skills to develop, while chasing new jobs may weaken your skills instead of growing them. Most Millenials stay at their jobs for an average of four years. That is enough to master a trade before you feel the need to move on. If you feel you're being nurtured and treated fairly, it's better to wait for the right opportunity.

If you like your job, stay for a while

There is a noticeable current of careerism in the corporate world. There are many would-be influencers who use platforms like LinkedIn to promote their professional image. This can be destructive for anyone desiring professional advancement. Considering this sentiment can make you a status-chaser and make your career feel inadequate.  Instead, focusing on yourself and developing your own skills will make life more enjoyable.

Tune out the hype

Try to view your career track like a graph that shows short-term vs long-term investment gains.  It will look volatile in the short term, but the long term will reveal an upward trend.

Visualize your career path over the long haul

In the hyper-competitive culture fostered by corporate America, young workers often expect their careers to reach meteoric heights on a quick timeline. Younger generations don’t stay at their jobs for quite as long as their parents did, whether it’s due to economic factors or the view that most jobs are mere stepping…

Your Career Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

It is best not to rush through writing up a summary of your year. Your employer will ideally let you know what the performance reviews are used for and the effect they could have on your career.Year-end evaluations can be a way to get your boss up to speed on what they may have missed, but they can also be used as part of the compensation cycle. Therefore, you have to be strategic about what you advocate for.

Performance review self-assessment

Vague statements include being a good co-worker, well-organised or a good communicator. <ul><li>Instead, mention specific and relevant accomplishments. Share how they happened and why you could achieve them. Ensure to quantify the impact it had on the business.</li><li>If you don't know how to mention a win, ask yourself why it mattered. What was the effect?</li><li>Consider the people you work with (your manager, colleagues, customers). Gather emails, reports and communications that support your work, then ask yourself what you did to make their life easier and how you can improve?</li></ul>

Don't be vague. Be specific in mentioning relevant progress

Leaving out areas for improvement could be a missed opportunity to make the evaluation a pitch to your boss about what skills you would like to learn or ideas you want to explore. If you want to move up the corporate ladder, ensure your self-evaluation reflects that. If you feel you are ready for more responsibility or a promotion, express that.

Share what you want to improve next year

Using the pandemic as an excuse for not performing your job in the best way is not going to put you in the best light. Language that shows you are stagnant, such as "we did not have enough resources", will taint your evaluation. Instead, use words that show you are moving forward, such as "I was able to be agile during our challenges and changes."

Don't blame others for your setbacks

It's difficult to remember in December what you worked on in February. <ul><li>Habitually keep track of emails, collaborations and projects that are applicable to the team and business goals.</li><li>Every month, ask what you did that month. What stood out to you? </li><li>Keep track of project milestones reached, emails with positive feedback, reports with sales numbers or other metrics and moments that make you proud.</li></ul>

Keep track of your accomplishments and results

False modesty is not helpful in a year-end review, but neither is vague praise.

How To Advocate For Yourself In Your Year-End Review

At the end of every year, we may look back on the past year and think about all the goals we had set but did not achieve. Then we may make inflexible goals and promises for the upcoming year. But this natural instinct may also carry some potential pitfalls. Before January is out, you may fail at all your resolutions. Then would start the feelings of disappointment and despair.

Desiring a clean slate in January

We should try not to see the previous year or the upcoming year as "bad" or "difficult". They're just numbers on a calendar. As you did the last year, try your best to achieve your goals in the coming year too.  Maybe we should stop being so hard on ourselves. The past year had many good and bad, and dull and ugly. But we don't have to focus on the bad. We can focus on the good because we know it is there. It always was.

Focus on the good

We choose to block our lives into chunks and ascribe meaning to January 1st. It's not bad to look forward to the next chunk and what you'd like to plan. But when you set hard expectations for things to happen in a particular way, you may get disappointed when they don't. The beauty of this life is in the varied shapes it can bring that are not in your control. That lack of control can feel liberating as it brings fresh opportunities. You just have to be open to it.

Get excited, not expectant

You don't have to assign the new year as the date with the pressure of being The Fresh Start. You can also set other points in the year, like your birthday or the first day of spring. The best is to wake up on any random day and decide to do it. Give up drinking, or eat healthily or write a great novel.

Lighten the pressure

You may attribute meaning to stages in your life - experiences you should have had at 16, 18, 20, 21, 25. Things happen when they are supposed to happen. If you put in a fair amount of effort, there's little that would really knock you off course. Trust yourself to do what needs to be done, and it will all work out.

Don't attach meaning to milestones

Go easier on yourself this year - RescueTime Blog

<ul><li>Think outside the box will allow you to be creative and to come up with novel solutions.</li><li>Connect with other people from other industries and analyze other businesses. This will help you to find new ways of thinking.</li></ul>

1. Problem-solving

<ul><li>Use "what if" scenarios to role-play different strategies.</li><li>This technique allows you to determine the best strategic direction and to protect yourself from uncertainties by having other plans.</li></ul>

2. Strategic planning

<ul><li>Analyze rationally data and situations.</li><li>Learn how to exercise good judgement.</li><li>Trust your instincts.</li><li>Keep making decisions, because that's what true leaders do.</li></ul>

3. Decision-making

<ul><li>Listen to other people whatever how much different they are.</li><li>Active listening helps you to gather insights and data (necessary before taking decisions).</li></ul>

4. Listening

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Prioritize your time and your ressources.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Manage to get to your objective efficiently without getting lost.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">If you do that, you are mastering the art of logistics.</li></ul>

5. Logistics

Futurist Scott Steinberg shares the career skills to learn in 2022, and where to find free online courses to master them.

problemsolving

Problem Solving

communication

Communication

These are the 5 most valuable skills to learn in 2022, says futurist—and where to find free online courses

Cultivate a hobby to restore balance. Carve out designed nonwork time to cultivate a new hobby that is fun and interesting to you.

Work-Life Balance: Hobbies

Have meaningful conversations that are not about work. Engage with people about topics other than work in order to keep a healthy work-life balance.

Work-Life Balance: Meaningful Conversations

Schedule meditation and movement time. Fit at least 10 minutes your day to rebalance. Listen to your body and find the time that works best for you.

Work-Life Balance: Meditation

Spend time with friends that are different than you. Expand your comfort zone and learn about people different than yourself.

Work-Life Balance: Friends

Read non-work related books. Even if you like your field of work, give yourself the pleasure of escaping into a great or inspiring book.

Work-Life Balance: Reading 

Take a vacation, staycation, or daycation. Real time away from work is essential for your well-being. Friendly reminder: holidays do not count!

Work-Life Balance: Breaks

Schedule friend and family time to explore and discover new things. Find an unexplored park, attend a fun exercise class, or take a class in something new.

Work-Life Balance: New Discoveries

Plan a time to be unproductive. Follow your instinct and have some fun!

Work-Life Balance: Free Time

Working the body can help reset your mind. Go for a walk with a friend or join a class on your favorite app. And don’t forget to stay positive during your workout; working towards a healthier you is great, but it’s better if you’re enjoying what you do.

Work-Life Balance: Exercise 

Make sure to revisit your goals often. Get real with yourself: are you doing what you do because you love it or because it’s a means to an end? Don’t get stuck on the hamster wheel! Make sure you’re connected with your goals.

Work-Life Balance: Goals

Without true self-reflection we cannot achieve a “clean mind, clean body”. 

A life-changing 21-day detox for body and mind from wellness expert and Strala Yoga founder Tara Stiles. Most of us are constantly plugged in and stressed out--tethered to our phones and e-mail, overworked and inactive at our desk jobs, and out of touch with what our bodies and our brains really need. Clean Mind, Clean Body is your reset button, an immersive experience in mental and physical self-care that will transform your daily routine and your habits. Beginning with an intensive jumpstart cleanse, and moving on to a three-tiered program for nourishing and elevating your body, mind, and spirit, Clean Mind, Clean Body covers: MENTAL CLEAN UP - Eliminate toxic relationships, create a home sanctuary, establish a meditation practice, and unplug from devices. BODY DETOX - Eat clean and eat mindfully, move your body and exercise with the seasons, and embrace the power of physical rest. CLEAN LIVING FOR LIFE - Establish a sustainable, balanced lifestyle that works for you! Packed with ancient healing practices adapted for modern living, Clean Mind, Clean Body is your personal blueprint for physical and spiritual realignment.

books

Books

meditation

Meditation

"An easy reset for feeling and living better." -- DEEPAK CHOPRA"Tara makes purposeful self-care easy and enjoyable!" -- DAPHNE OZA life-changing detox for body and mind that will transform your daily routine and your habits, from wellness expert and Strala Yoga founder Tara Stiles.Most of us are constantly plugged in and stressed out--tethered to our phones and e-mail, overworked and inactive at our desk jobs, and out of touch with what our bodies and our brains really need. Clean Mind, Clean Body is the ultimate reset button, an immersive experience in mental and physical self-care that will transform your daily routine and your habits. In Clean Mind, Clean Body, Tara leads readers on a 4-week detox for body, mind, and spirit that can be done easily at home, and that covers: WEEK 1 - MENTAL CLEANSE - Eliminate toxic relationships, create a home sanctuary, and unplug from devices.WEEK 2 - SPIRITUAL CLEANSE - Establish a meditation practice, slow down, and live with intention.WEEK 3 - CHANGE THE WAY YOU EAT - Embrace an East Meets West diet, eat clean, and love your body.WEEK 4 - CHANGE THE WAY YOU MOVE - Redefine exercise, get outside, and embrace the power of rest. Packed with ancient healing practices adapted for modern living and clean living rules for life, Clean Mind, Clean Body is your personal blueprint for physical and spiritual realignment.

Tara Stiles

Clean Mind, Clean Body

At different points in our lives, we want different kinds of jobs:<ul><li>Growth point: When we prioritize learning and earning more — and we’re willing to put in the time</li><li>Lifestyle point: When we want to prioritize our time outside work, such as taking care of family</li><li>Reinvention pointWhen we want to completely reinvent ourselves, including the role and even industry we work in</li></ul>

Different Points = Different Wants

Whenever Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, asked people what they wanted from a ”dream job”, one of the most striking things about their answers was how different they were. Some people wanted to step back into their career full time after a hiatus. Some wanted to be able to spend more time with young kids. Some wanted to pursue meaningful work in another industry. All Dream Jobs. All completely different!

Dream Job: To Each His Own

But, then, as well as now, if these people ask for help with how to reach their Dream Jobs, the common answers are all the same:“Just follow your passion!”“Just be thankful you have a job!”“Just do good work and you’ll be rewarded eventually.”(Have you noticed how so much bad advice starts with “just”?)Our career goals aren’t generic and one-size-fits-all. So why is all career advice generic and one-size-fits-all? Why are the tactics we use — like surfing job boards and shotgunning out resumes — so generic?

Career Advice: To All The Same

We all go through different phases in each of our careers. Some of us are early in our careers, looking to grow and soak up knowledge. Sometimes we want to downshift, or prioritize family. And sometimes we want to reinvent ourselves entirely.Ramit Sethi calls these different phases “Career Seasons.” Just like the seasons throughout the year, they’re natural. They change over time. And you may cycle through them more than once.“Your Season has profound implications for the jobs you look for and even the way you search for your job.

Introducing “Career Seasons”

Most of us started in this Season early in our careers. Some of us are still in it! In the Growth Season, we’re motivated by moving up the career ladder and making more money. We’re willing to put the time in and we don’t mind working hard. Here’s a quote from someone that instantly tells you that they’re in the Growth Season. “I feel like I’m falling behind compared to my peers. They’re moving on to senior management titles, director titles. I’m seeing everyone else have upgraded titles, so I say, ‘I want it too.’”

The “Growth” Season

People in the Lifestyle Season still value their work and career, but they also have other equally important goals. Here’s a classic quote describing the Lifestyle Season:“I want to spend as much time with my kids as I can. I do not want to work 60 hours a week anymore.” Notice these phrases, which instantly tip us off to the Lifestyle Season: “Flexibility” (or “flexible schedule”), “downshift,” or “family.” You may think about work/life balance if you’re going into a Lifestyle Season.

The “Lifestyle” Season

Reinvention Season describes people who want to totally reimagine and change the course of their career, usually by switching industries. Imagine a lawyer who wants to leave her firm and join a start-up. Here’s a quote from someone in Reinvention Season: “I have 12 years of financial sales experience, but I feel pigeonholed onto a sales track and don’t enjoy the work. I’ve always wanted to transition to a computer science field, but have no formal experience.” You’ll hear typical phrases like “fresh start” to describe this Season.

The “Reinvention” Season

1. No Season is better than the others.No judgment against any Season — it’s your Season. You choose what’s right for you now. Think of the previous quotes. For some, one or more of them sounds terrible. For others, this is exactly where they are.That’s the point! The right Career Season sounds exactly right to you… and wrong to everyone else. .

A Few Notes About Seasons

2. We naturally move in and out of Career Seasons as we get older. Just like actual seasons. While it makes sense to want all of these things to happen simultaneously, some things are just more appropriate for certain Seasons. You can choose the right Season for you — but you can only pick one.For example, it’s very difficult to embrace the Growth Season and the Lifestyle Season at the same time. Think of what each one asks of you or what you ask of it. So, you can try, yes… but doing so makes it difficult to make any meaningful progress in either.

3. Finally, EVEN if you feel like you could be in multiple Seasons, you NEED to pick ONE. This is hard, especially for top performers who like to go above and beyond. But you will find that trying to do more than one at a time means not doing your best at either. (And Ramit Sethi knows he is repeating here, but he’s repeating this because it’s so important.

Ramit Sethi argues that, just like there are seasons in our life, there are - and must be - seasons in our career and that without understanding “our” Career Season, we can’t and won’t find a job that’s perfectly made for us. 

I’d like to introduce the concept of Career Seasons to you — which will help you find a job that’s perfect for you in this season of your life.

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

Career Seasons: Choosing a Job Based on the Lifestyle You Want

How can we introduce a product with a rejection free approach.Starting with "I'm not sure if it's for you but.." will make impact on the listener.First the listener will feel less pressure,Second by having "but" in the end of it will make subconscious mind to focus on the rest of sentence as a more important message.Example.I’m not sure if it’s for you, but would you happen to know someone who is interested in this product.

I'm Not Sure If It's For You

While approaching someone it's often common to get replies about no having enough time and keep pushing dates.Asking "when would be a good time to.." will provide a serious approach and leaves no chances to say No.ExampleWhen will be good time to look into this idea?

When Would Be a Good Time?

Indecision is big hurdle for progress. People have confidence on decisions taken before them and work out fine.By adding "most people" does will make more confident in the suggestions given.ExampleMost people will grab this opportunity, it might not happen again

Most People

"The Good News is .." can convert negative conversation into positive and turn the topic from a positive perspective. ExampleThe good news is we already have backup ready to restore the damage

The Good News

It is always the case when we need someone's help to make thing work or easier. Asking for favor is really powerful, a good trigger to ask this will be when someone says "thank you". Thank you comes as feeling of gratitude. Asking "can you do me a favor.." can make things work in your direction.Example"Can I ask you a favor to refer this to someone you know will get value from this product"

A Favor

This book is very quick read and can be practised. I summarised my favourite 5 points out of many presented in the book

Phil M. Jones has trained more than two million people across five continents and over fifty countries in the lost art of spoken communication. In Exactly What to Say, he delivers the tactics you need to get more of what you want.

business

Business

Often the decision between a customer choosing you over someone like you is your ability to know exactly what to say, when to say it, and how to make it count. Phil M. Jones has trained more than two million people across five continents and over fifty countries in the lost art of spoken communication. In Exactly What to Say, he delivers the tactics you need to get more of what you want. This collectible hardcover edition contains several new examples of the magical phrases that will help you increase your impact.

PHIL. JONES is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. PHIL. JONES has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. PHIL. JONES's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

PHIL. JONES

Exactly What to Say

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. I see it as “walking in their shoes”, and trying to see the world from their perspective.

Humans versus output

Empathy is being concerned about the human being, not just their output.

We see both sides of that all the time. Some companies push to get a specific output from every shift no matter what, while others work to make sure their employees are well taken care of for long-term health and growth. If you manage people, you can choose whichever one you want.

Your choice

When it comes to business, Simon Sinek has a very simple definition for empathy.

I've talked about empathy on this blog quite a lot, and the idea is simple -- it's the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. I see it as "walking in their shoes", and trying to see the world from their perspective. When it comes to business, Simon…

teamwork

Teamwork

Find 100+ Career Tips & Insights - Curated from inspiring sources like Books, Podcasts & Articles - Genuine Insights from like-minded Users like You!