Wrong job, Dentist! Issue
Lack of passion at the workplace.
Description of issue
Through my daily interactions with friends and family, the topic on job dissatisfaction has been relatively prominent. Most of them expressed unhappiness with the demands of their job requirements and their lack of motivation to work. As work becomes an integral part of our life, dissatisfaction at work is synonymous to dissatisfaction in life, especially for full time employees. If not managed responsibly, this would cause repercussions to one’s own physical health, mental being, family life etc.
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, reinstated, “the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did”. Certainly, it wasn’t how much he could earn. However for many of us, the chase for immediate rewards such as salaries and job statuses has become the sole criteria of a job search, and unfortunately, this is done at the expense of forgoing what we genuinely enjoy doing.
For example, my friend who graduated as a Mechanical Engineer decided to forsake his strong interest in robotics and machines, to pursue a career in a prestigious bank as a finance officer. His reason – the bank offered him a higher salary as compared to the engineering job. In a span of two years, he has switched between three other banks and he constantly complains of being unhappy with his job. Consequently, this has affected his self confidence and esteem.
Therefore, I feel that there is an immediate need to emphasize the importance of incorporating passion to work, which eventually leads to a better quality of life.
General Research Question
How passionate are Singapore graduates about their job?
Why survey?
This survey would be used to validate the above-mentioned research question. Questions would encompass aspects of the employee’s degree of enjoyment at work, satisfaction of job scope etc. With the data collected, detailed analysis can be performed to highlight the areas which need to be improved in order to increase the passion an employee has in his/her job.
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The only way to increase the passion of an employee at work is to decrease the workload and increase the pay exponentially coupled with more holidays.
This will hardly be in agreement with slave-driver bosses. With your study you will be able to find out how to improve the working environment for the employee but practical application still lies with the bosses, who will probably turn a deaf ear.
passion at work = interest in job+ good pay + nice boss + good working environment
Cheers,
Chong Guan
Like what you mentioned, working in an area of your passion and interest is definitely the key to being happy with your job. However, one cannot escape the reality of working to survive. Hence, a resonable pay would be important as well. I like what Yun Nian pointed out about the equation on "passion at work". Even with the interest in the job and what we do, without a good working environment, low salary and mean boss, these could very well end up killing the passion at work.
I guess the only difficulty in carrying out this research would be in conducting the survey. It is difficult to measure enjoyment and passion on a fixed scale.
Other than that, I personally feel its a topic worth looking at! Nice! (:
I think that your research topic is very relevant and interesting. Having to have the chance of interacting with my colleagues, I realise that many of them work for the sake of working. Their attitude towards work is at times pretty heart-breaking. They would stand at the counter and talk to the counter staffs while the student would be in their room, waiting for them to teach. How responsible is that!?
In any case, I totally believe in passion when it comes to work. Working what you like is like having a hobby. How nice is it to wake up everyday and think that "WOW! I am going to go to WORK!"
I believe that this is not the case in many people's life. In my case, I felt sorry for the school that i am working for. Their reputation would be tarnished eventually. However, most importantly, the interest of the students would be affected. I see this as a selfish and irresponsible act of the teachers.
Anyway, this is a good topic to research on. Good job!!
What's your definition of a graduate? Do they include polytechnic graduates? Would these students face the same kinds of problems as university graduates?
Good reasons given for why you would carry out an attitudinal survey. My only concern is that the topic might be too wide - it covers Singapore graduates in all types of professions and occupations. As such, who would be responsible for increasing "the passion an employee has in his/her job"?
There are many factors that affect a person's enjoyment in their work. Financial burdens, office politics, social pressures, various job mindsets. I feel that a person's attitude towards his job can be greatly affected by his work environment as well.
Take for example a doctor. Initially he might have genuinely wanted to help patients and offer his services to the public. However, he might be put off by the huge amount of administrative procedures and paperwork he has to do each day. He might be also affected by the patients poor attitudes, the large number of patients to see each day and the limited time he gets to attend to each patient.
That being said, I feel that it is still good to carry on with this survey so that we can find out what are the major factors affecting professionals' motivation in their workplace today.