Work: What's Missing?

...Hard to say whether that is even a fair question! Nevertheless, the WSJ had a short article (love the picture) entitled "The State of the Workplace is Meh" in which a Gallup poll "finds that 52% of all full time workers...are not involved, enthusiastic or committed to their work." The figure of 30% who enjoyed their jobs was actually the most improved number since the tracking began in 2000. Another significant outcome of the study was that groups or teams under ten members were more engaged with one another. Thinking back, I do recall happier workplaces being the smaller ones.

Some oddballs such as myself think that work is supposed to "matter" and occasionally go all sentimental about it. Of course the first post-college work experience didn't feel that way (especially in that I didn't finish the degree, perhaps). That particular department store, in downtown Houston, was one I had a special affinity for, as a child. But after employment, being forced to remain in one part of the store, there were times when I paced back and forth like a lion in a cage. For someone who needed a fair amount of challenge (who didn't have a managerial position, at least) in what gets defined as low skilled jobs, it was hard not to get restless after about two years, even in jobs that held plenty of good memories afterward.

When the subject of work comes up in conversation, think about the people we know and how they react: especially the people we know to be considered vital in the workplace in some capacity. And yet we often hear, "Deep down, I'm essentially lazy." Oh, really? This is a hard driving and very focused person, giving us an explanation that doesn't quite ring true. Let's briefly examine what would make them say such a thing.

They are quick to tell you what they like about their job. "I'm in control. Most people go about their own business and allow me to tend to mine." It's the being in control part that makes the larger picture manageable as well, at least to a degree. Why the qualifier? A managerial position generally means being in control up to a point, which is nonetheless a very important distinction meaning we are supposed to remain "in the zone" of full focus, for the full duration of the workday Likely, no one is actually around enforcing that, but the fact of specifically designated paid time, in a single unified block, says it all. Natural physiological rhythms be damned, there's a clock to mind to - yet it's a strict rule we unwittingly placed on ourselves for many reasons, some of which still apply.

Herein lies the problem - our bodies and minds rebel against such a full focus for eight hour stretches at a time. We may in fact love time periods of driven purpose - but in more natural circumstances (including when our activities were more season oriented) we tend to approach such focus in bursts of energy. Much prescription medication of the present tries to deal with the fact that we are fighting our own bodies and minds in this regard, in the workplace, on a daily basis. Even if we don't personally, consciously rebel as to the overarching expectations of our work environment, it seems that some of our organs will, just the same. Not sure what the American Medical Association would think about that...

Hence, the hard worker's daydream of just getting away from it all, meaningful though the job may be for their lives and identities. How might this process be any different for the entrepreneur, as compared to the manager? Generally, there would be a greater degree of choice, i.e. one can do some of the work at three in the morning if they want. Not only does this matter for the work we think of as intellectually challenging (usually one finds books extolling work along such lines) but also for the everyday mundane work of life. For instance, I got a bit restless in the department store, when there was only so much responsibility designated to me. But when I was a retail store owner - had circumstances allowed - I would have willingly spent time in the same exact retail environment till the day I retired. Indeed, the same thing is true of washing dishes. If it's your restaurant, those dishes aren't going to bother you one bit.

What's often missing, then, is the kind of control which also optimizes our own rhythms, not just those of the business or perhaps even the expected societal hours. It makes all the difference to pay attention to our own rhythms when we can, even if only in health based terms: that goes double if we don't want extra trips to the doctor for medicine or other procedures, just to meet our ongoing obligations. To an extent, even as business owners, we must meet requirements that match fairly closely to what society expects in other regards. One hears "the customer is boss" and that's true in an ultimate sense. But having customers as boss is not such a bad thing, because the customer will generally consider the product you offer, even if he rejects it. Whereas, the boss is not always going  to consider your opinion! There's flexibility to be had in entrepreneur and consumer arrangements, that is one of the best work challenges of all. Not everyone relishes the idea of becoming an entrepreneur, when all else fails. But it's really not as bad as one might think. It's also a way back to a better freedom than we have now.