We can feel our psychic sense tingling and we know that you had to resist the urge to google “what to do when you hate your job” more than once this last month. We also know that you did google it at least once. Not all jobs are made equally, and very few of them are perfect so it is quite natural to feel stuck when Monday comes around again. There are likely days where you’re stuck with repetitive thoughts like I hate my job, what should I do? or Why do I hate going to work so much? but the answers to the questions are fleeting.
In those moments it can be tempting to give in to the urge to rage quit and walk out but your rational side usually gets you through the workday. Living this cycle can be awfully draining and it becomes more important every day to try and find a solution to make the experience easier on you. To do this, it is important to understand where these emotions come from and find a way to make the experience easier for you.
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What to Do When You Hate Your Job? Start Answering Some Questions
If you are actively thinking about what to do when you hate your job, you are not alone. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report found that only 23 percent of employees are actively engaged. 59 percent of employees globally are currently “quiet quitting”—entirely disengaged and lost at work. 18 percent of workers are loudly quitting, that is, they are actively disengaging and causing disruptions at work. Such numbers can be both reassuring and alarming. Reassuring because you know you are not alone in wondering what to do if you hate working. It is also alarming when you consider that switching jobs may not really be the solution if all jobs similarly cause distress.
To find an answer amidst all this chaos, we’re going to have to recommend the zen approach of introspecting and reviewing why you hate going to work so much and what could make the experience easier for you. Some reasons are unfortunately out of your control and might require you to take a call on whether the effort is worth it for you. Other reasons are more navigable with time and patience, in maintaining this job is an immediate priority for you.
85 percent of the Gallup survey respondents who were quite quitting had answers to “Why do I hate going to work” and were aware of what they would change about their environment. The top three changes they wanted were in relation to engagement or the work culture, pay and benefits, and their work-life balance. Armed with insight into your own preferences, you can find ways to approach your company and put in a request for change. If quitting is already on the table for you, then there can be no harm in trying your luck before you make the move.
What to Do When You Hate Your Job? Strategize and Act
Once you realize that your negative thoughts are getting too frequent and you can’t stop saying “ I hate my job, what should I do” to everyone willing to listen, it’s about time to start answering the questions for yourself and taking some action. We have already discussed the need for self-reflection to understand what in particular makes this such a difficult situation. This conversation with yourself might lead to the realization that the problem is temporary, such as a bad week with your personal health or a bad month on a specific project that should end soon. Short-term measures can help you fight out the rest of the job hate phase.
The self-exploration might also help you see that the problem is not actually short-term and might require more extensive work to make a change.
1. Open Up Communication: I Hate My Job What Should I Do?
If you are able to identify specific people who are the cause of the distress, it can be productive to initiate a conversation with them and try to find a middle ground. If you are not able to work with a particular coworker or the project requirements are extremely unreasonable, approach the person in charge with a request for a conversation and explain your perspective. Do this without being accusatory or rude and express your willingness to accommodate any requests for them as well.
In another survey by Gallup, it was reported that managers can account for up to 70 percent of the variance in team engagement. They play a big role in maintaining a balance at work and if your dissatisfaction stems from them, it is essential to have a conversation with them. If they appear unwilling to listen, it is also within your right to take the matter to HR.
2. Review Your Workload
You might hate your job because of the workload and it is often a factor that will not change on its own. To start addressing this concern, you can review a week’s worth of tasks and responsibilities and chart how productive you are. This will give you some insight into whether there is something you can try before approaching your manager. Improving time management, rescheduling tasks, finishing similar assignments together, setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals, etc. are some ways in which you can try to adjust your workload.
If this still fails at making the workload easier to manage you can then approach the person in charge, likely your manager. Before you do, try and come up with your own strategies for how this workload can be better handled. This could involve setting more realistic deadlines, delegating some responsibilities, changing the division of work, prioritizing tasks differently, eliminating distracting activities, or even hiring another team member if there truly is a need.
Hiring should be the last suggestion as it is unlikely that a company might hire again without truly exploring all their options.
3. Additional Training
Do you hate your job because of the new policies or technologies that you are unfamiliar with are constantly introduced? You could ask for support or additional training to help you and your team better settle into work. Such a move can provide clarity to everyone affected by changes who might not have spoken up with their question.
On the other hand, if you hate going to work because you feel underqualified or unprepared for the work itself, certification courses can help you upskill and gain some more confidence in your abilities. This will reduce the stressful thoughts about work while also introducing you to new ways of approaching your work and career.
4. Ask Your Support Network “I Hate My Job What Should I Do?”
Asking your team members and professional support groups the question verbatim might get you into trouble, but you do have the option of approaching them for assistance. Connect with your colleagues and ask them for advice specific to the areas you are struggling with. They might be able to direct you to tools and resources that can simplify your struggles considerably.
You can also reach out to communities within your organization there you might find people who are able to listen and understand from lived experiences. A listening ear might be all you need to come back to work feeling understood. Your support network at work might also provide clarity on questions that you have, making it easier to see why certain policies are in place or why specific mechanisms are used.
5. “Why Do I Hate Going to Work?” It’s Because Your Work-Life Balance Is Skewed
No job-related article is complete without the mention of a work-life balance at least once. This is because it is indeed important for you to maintain. Even work that you are really passionate about can get draining and unappealing if you overdo it or manage it haphazardly. Making sure that work only constitutes a part of your life can significantly reduce the time you spend thinking about it. This can also reduce how much you hate the work itself.
Set up various fail-safes to fall back on when your job becomes too overwhelming for you. Conduct check-ins with yourself to assess your mental health, meet your loved ones as regularly as you can, schedule time to disconnect from technology, plan how you want to spend your time off, get some fresh air regularly, and exercise every once in a while. If possible, you can even consider reaching out to your HR team and having a discussion on wellness initiatives you hope they consider in the future.
6. Flexible Work Arrangements
The hybrid and online work models have highlighted how businesses can always find a way to adapt to changing circumstances. If you hate your job because of specific criteria that can be worked around, consider negotiating such an accommodation with your employer. Travel time, unsafe workspaces, poor health, caregiver responsibilities, and many other additional reasons can be resolved by changing your work timings or working from home. Check with your employer to see what arrangements they can make, at least on a temporary basis until you can deal with the external pressures to an extent.
7. Evaluate Company Culture
The company culture can vastly change your experience of working at a company. If there are certain elements of the company’s work culture that make it difficult to work there, you might have a more serious question of compatibility in front of you. If your organization has ways of speaking up about such conflicts then make use of those avenues to call attention to issues. Harassment, discrimination, abusive language, unfair promotions, forced hustle culture, etc. are all serious experiences that can negatively impact your well-being.
Try to speak up and report to those in charge. If the company is unwilling to listen, it might be time to start looking for another job. If these experiences are built into the company culture, it is unlikely to change anytime soon. As a result, you will have to make a choice between accepting and tolerating these terms or moving on.
If you are still wondering what to do when you hate your job, you should consider taking time off work and reevaluating why your job is not working for you. A career change might also be on the books if you cannot find a way to resolve this issue even with a potential job change. Your job takes up a majority of your time and energy every day, and sticking to it without any hope of relief can become more difficult with time. Ask yourself what to do if you hate working, and give it some honest thought before you decide what to do.