My husband and I were talking about his work this weekend, and he said he was about a 6 out of 10 on the happiness scale with this job (10 being the happiest). He also said that it is about as good as it ever gets for him. That got me wondering where most people fall on the job happiness scale.
So, the question is, how happy are you with your current job, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the happiest)? If you currently aren’t working, how would you rate your overall happiness with your working life so far? Are you happy with how happy you are?
I’ve posted this before, but I’m incredibly lucky.
I teach chess, roleplaying and computer games at a private school in England.
Recently (I’m 55), I went part-time.
I dropped all the marking, homework and invigilating and just teach kids who have chosen my subjects and want to learn.
I do clerical / admin work for a government office. Somehow I ended up in the clerical work stream after making a poor career choice in my early 20’s … and haven’t been able to get out of it!
It’s not a job that is well suited to me, as I get bored easily and don’t really like working with people all day. sigh.
My “happiness” isn’t lower than a 6 because I get paid decently, most of the people I work with are nice enough, and the work isn’t unpleasant.
Wow, now I’m depressed reading this over, what a sad way to spend 37.5 hours a week …
About a 3. I do almost nothing all day (I’m sure nobody noticed…) and when I do, it’s either grunt work or something that’s annoying, I’ll have to redo a dozen times, tacky, a pain in the ass, or some combination of the above.
I don’t quit because I doubt I could find a job where they’ll let me go to school four days a week in the middle of the day and my job is close to home and school.
I have my own business and I work at home. Things are going great for us now (it’s our 8th year in business).
I work my ass off…on regular days I work 9-5 and other days, sometimes for a month at a time, I work 16-hour days (like right now) but it’s rewarding, it’s creative, and I feel like I’m really good at what I do.
It would be a 10 if I made more money and some of the clients I have to deal with weren’t so completely clueless, but you can’t have it all.
Probably 8-9, maybe even 10.
My job is boring as shit - I get absolutely zero enjoyment, satisfaction, or fulfillment from any aspect of my job duties.
But it is incredibly easy, pays well, supports my family in a really comfy lifestyle, is incredibly secure with secure retirement bennies, lets me work out over lunch, and gives me pretty much more leave than I can use.
So being basically a lazy sack of shit, I’ll go with the easy golden handcuffs instead of being challenged.
Weather was sweet and I shot an 87 today.
Work will still be there tomorrow…
I would say an 8 or a 9. Probably would be a 10 if I really got back into it. But I have to admit I am just coasting a bit lately at my job. I have a good team working underneath me, and they do a great job for me. But I am not really feeling challenged by work per se and not really sure why.
I love what I do for a living. I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else. There is a lot of satisfaction out of creating something out of nothing and it feeds very well into both my artistic side as well as my analytical side.
I get paid very well, do wonderful projects and travel when I want. I have a flexible schedule and get good bonuses and it is job that will allow me to retire early. I get to spend lots of time with my wife and kid and I feel I get a lot of respect for what I do.
But…it isn’t personally fulfilling in that my clients tend to be people who frankly can’t/won’t appreciate what I do for them. I honestly think if I did pro bono Architecture I would be happier. It is what I plan on doing when I retire at age 55–donating my services for people who really can’t afford an Architect but who would benefit greatly from some advice. Then I do think it would be a 10 all around.
Between an 8-10, depending on the day. I teach AP Language and Composition (which is a non-fiction/argumentation class), AP Macroeconomics, and coach an Academic Decathlon team (academic competition team). All three are awesome for different reasons. I am at a small school and feel like I am part of a community that values me. I also feel like I am doing good in the world. My kids are great: all juniors and seniors, all AP kids, so I can cuss a little and make risque comments and I don’t have to be the potty police. The pay isn’t amazing, but it’s enough to live a middle-middle class lifestyle.
Plus, summers off. I cannot emphasize this enough. Those days are all tens!
In the past year it has dropped to a 3, mainly because my new boss has decided to change my job description without consulting me or even notifying me. Things just started being done differently. The thing is… I don’t think I can even talk to our Superintendent about it because I think he is part of the problem.
Too bad I can’t find a job somewhere else or I would leave in a heartbeat.
I enjoy what I do and I’m very good at it, I’m respected at work by my bosses and co-workers, the people I work with are nice, it pays pretty well, etc.
Which is not to say there’s nothing I would change, but on the whole it’s pretty good.
I work at home doing software development, primarily web sites. Working remotely, I never have to deal with assholes, which is a big plus in my book. And honestly, the planets have aligned, and nobody I deal with on a regular basis is an asshole.
There’s only a couple things I don’t like about my job. One is that I’m finding I have some downtime (like right now), which is a two edged sword - it’s great having time off, it’s not-so-great not having an income. I do set my rates to take that into account so it’s not like the mortgage is not being paid, but I like having spare money around.
The other thing is that web development can get very dull. My background (before moving to the middle of nowhere) was in high-tech startups, where you’re always wearing ten hats and using the latest technology and doing way cool software stuff. Web development is great in that I can do it at home, but man-oh-man it gets dull.
My dream job is to write a book and become a best selling author. That’d be a ten, for sure.
I’m probably a 7. The manger I have is probably the best boss I have ever had. She generally cares about her employees and wants what is best for them. The only thing that doesn’t make the number higher is that I need to make more… and I’d like to be in another position in the company.
While I don’t mind where I am right now, it’s not where I want to be in years to come… It’s to “retail” for me.
See my job is pretty similar to the above. Granted my lifestyle is only very moderately comfy, instead of really comfy and although I get more vacation than the average American drone, more is always welcome ;). But otherwise it’s a pretty sweet gig.
But I gotta agree with this…
All in all I’d rather be a trust fund baby and just plain not work. Hugh Grant in About A Boy would have nothing on me in terms of useless slackerdom. The fact that I have to work, at a job that in the big scheme of things I really I don’t care much about at all, means I can’t give it more than a 7. Maybe 7.5.
But to me most jobs would start at 5 or 6 and work there way down. Working for a living just sucks ass in general :p.
My work is a 10. I have partners but pretty much set my own schedule. I talk to interesting people. If I want to do one on one meetings I can. If I want to talk to larger groups I can. If I want to travel or stay home I can. We’ve always been successful, but the last three years we’ve been very successful. The money has never been that important to me, but it’s gone from good to better. I can’t imagine finding anything to do in retirement that will be better.
I’d give my job about a 7.5 out of 10. 9 of 10 really if I’m properly grateful. There aren’t that many physician jobs that combine clinical work with administration, let you work 7-3 M-F, no weekends, no nights, no real on call, with great benefits and no eye to production quotas.
A 2. It’s just barely above minimum wage, insulting to my intelligence, part-time rotating schedule . . .
After being out of the job market for a while for reasons I’m not able to explain (or all that willing), I was willing to take anything for the short term with the goal of getting my self-esteem and perception that I’m hirable back. It’s not working.
On the other hand, this is day 8 in a row at a brand new job, so I don’t have any friends, only idiot co-workers and less idiot co-workers and managers who are routinely described as idiots by my co-workers. And getting a paycheck will be a good thing even if it’s insultingly low. So things may improve.
