Better to keep a focus on what you can do
Although success stories can be easily found in social media, word of mouth, news, and the internet, not everyone has the privilege to experience such successes. It’s expected for everyone living within the society to contribute back in the form of “work”. The common form of “work” is to participate in the labour market and be employed by an organisation. Exchanging one’s time for monetary compensation. Given that most organisations have a hierarchical structure, it is common to be perceived as successful if you hold a relatively higher position in the hierarchy. It is especially true as you age without climbing up the corporate ladder. Even though there could be many reasons (e.g., childcare responsibility, health condition) that might be plaguing you and not others, most people tend to judge without thinking too deeply into other possibilities that lead to the current situation.
There is a group of individuals where the external environment is not enabling them to strive to be the best version of themselves at work. Depending on the organisation that you are in, competition may be stiff and colleagues less likely to collaborate and share information in order to protect their place in the organisation. That could be done through various politically “correct” ways such as exclusion of key information required for your work, lack of effective communications in terms of your progress and providing constructive feedback based on the project’s objective or organisation’s goals (instead of personal opinions), not establishing a proper documentation process of previous work, discussions and decisions and relying on individuals’ memories, and not converting staff based on performance but seniority. It’s difficult for one to find a reason to continue working at such an organisation once the contract has ended.
So have the staff voiced his/her concerns?
Human resource (HR) representatives represent the organisation and many are there to protect the organisation from staff instead of staff from organisation’s exploitation. This is one of the many common ironies among others that exist in the system. Being in the labour force for close to ten years, I have never once seen a HR personnel stand by an employee even if the organisation is the one that breached the employment contract. The claims of anonymity are mostly empty. Afterall, they are compensated by the organisation. As such, voicing opinions and giving honest feedback could be a double-edged sword depending on how receptive is the person or group of individuals at the receiving end. “It takes two hands to clap. If one refuses, both ends will never meet.” Given an open labour market where supply is abundant, an organisation typically has a much greater power over an employee in employment. The same can be said for when an individual holds a higher position in the organisation, they tend to have more say and power over those serving them. It is commonly expected for an individual to behave in accordance with the norms of the position he/she holds in the company during work. Therefore, there is no bargaining power for an employee to begin with. So how could one safely voice his/her opinions and provide his/her feedback in the first place?
Then what could one do?
Choices are abundant, however, opportunities require time to explore and test out. Instead of focusing too much on the external factors that influence one’s plight at work, why not focus on what you as an individual could do to change and get out of the situation. Though not everyone has the privilege to change their work at the snap of the fingers, one could always change their personal perspective and outlook that no one should have control over.
You could determine their personal goals instead of striving to achieve organisational ones. It could be work or non-work related. As long as it interests you and achieving them would provide a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction. That would serve you well and provide motivation and something to look forward to when you are up each day.
Investing in your personal growth could also help you get out of this situation in the long run. Upskilling is important to remain competitive in the labour market, especially if you are located in cities with high growth (potential). These cities naturally attract talents with higher compensation, greater opportunities and even carefully crafted policies by the authorities. Hence, the competition in search for a better work environment could be stiffer comparatively.
Usually opportunities will not come knocking at your door. Instead, you’ll have to put in the effort to knock on the doors of others, peek in and look at whether there is an opportunity which you could leverage on. Being proactive instead of reactive would definitely help in this case.
Last, but not least, it might be good to just give up on the meaningless complaints and put away the grievances or injustices that you may have faced at work. It lowers the morale of your teammates and also affects the emotions of your loved ones. Furthermore, it could give one more excuse to those who put you down in order to justify their decisions and actions.
