I know many of you will already have an answer to the above question. Hopefully it's no. Maybe it's yes. But if you're unsure, the folks at management website BNET recently offered up “Five Signs That You Have a Crummy Job.”
It's part of a larger package of articles entitled “Return of the Crummy Job.” The idea is that our current economic troubles could be turning your good gig into a crummy job.
“We're talking about what happens to otherwise compelling and rewarding work when a serious economic slump hits inside a company,” according to the site. “That great job you landed a year ago starts to feel a little... crummier each day, as you're asked to do more with less, demand more of your people, and keep your own aspirations and integrity intact.”
Along with helping determine if your job has turned crummy, BNET also offers some good advice, from “How to Manage Your Team in a Downturn (and Come Out on Top)” to “Recession-Friendly Employee Perks.” You can also watch a video about “Motivating a Stressed-Out Staff.”
But back to those crummy jobs. Here's the number three sign that you have one:
Crummy Factor #3: A Climate of Fear Sets In
Day-to-Day Impact: Coworkers get political.
Dwindling resources and shrinking headcounts rattle the psyches of all employees. “When scarcity is upon us, we fight for our share of the pie,” says executive coach and business psychologist Debra Condren. “It's survival of the fittest.”
That's exactly what happened at Deloitte Consulting in the run up to the 2001 recession, says a former operations consultant for the company's L.A. office. “The culture got really ugly,” he says. With only 35 percent of the workforce assigned to consulting jobs, it's no wonder the political jockeys came out. Consultants started brown-nosing higher-level partners with Dodgers tickets and offers to babysit. “One coworker actually started subscribing to a horse husbandry magazine because he knew one of the partners owned horses,” the consultant adds. In crummy times, the workplace becomes more about political maneuvering than actual work.
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