Job satisfaction

I’ve done many things over the years. Being a psychologist – or anything for that matter – is rarely unidimensional. Beyond what people assume (i.e., directly treating individuals) are activities like teaching and supervision, liaising with universities, evaluating clinical programs, interviewing potential candidates, contributing to policy development, etc. I must admit I’d rather put a needle in my eyes than do some of these tasks but there are many others that can be a lot of fun and I would hate to give those up.

I was chief of psychology at the Douglas for many years. As you can imagine the job entailed many of the administrative tasks named above. I also had the privilege to chair the clinical ethics committee where many ethical dilemmas were debated. But one aspect was most unique. Whenever there was an assault, a suicide, or other traumatic event, the head of psychology was always called. I was asked to intervene after the Dawson shooting, the earthquake in Haiti, and many other public and private nightmares.

This task usually involved meeting the victims or family members. If I could help directly, I did. Other times I would refer them to appropriate resources. It sometimes felt as if I had a string of one broken family or person after another passing through my office. Nothing in school can prepare you for a meeting with a family after a child has committed suicide. As you can imagine, this is not a fun part of my job. Nevertheless, if I could divide up my responsibilities and delegate them to colleagues over time, this is the last one I would want to give up.

Surprisingly, the hardest part of my job is the one that keeps me there the most. The reason for this is simple: I know it is necessary and has a purpose. I can’t take away a person’s suffering. I can’t erase his or her trauma. But I can nevertheless help walk along beside them on the road of acceptance.

I was speaking to a colleague about job satisfaction once. We discussed research that showed commitment to be the primary factor in job satisfaction. I suppose nothing makes you more committed to a job than doing something you find great purpose in.

Palliative care is a perfect example of this. Most of us shake our heads and wonder how palliative care workers do it. Believe me, I have met many people who complain about every other job imaginable. Yet I haven’t met a palliative care worker who complains about how tough the job is. They feel their jobs have a strong sense of purpose so they become extremely committed.

Today’s Métro column explores the role of purpose in job satisfaction. It was inspired by a recent client who became depressed after he was put on a project that he knew was going to be discarded once completed.

Job satisfaction
(Source: La satisfaction au travail. Journal Métro, February 25, 2014). Voir plus bas pour la version Française.

How do you feel about your job? Many people hate what they do. They normally blame overwork, low salaries, or lousy managers. For sure these external factors are important but the formula for job satisfaction is a complicated one and no single dimension can guarantee it. While better salaries, recognition, the possibility of growth, and a fair distribution of workload will increase a person’s level of commitment and pleasure, one of the most important factors has to do with the sense of purpose.

What am I doing this for?
A sense of purpose can make a tough job palatable while the lack of it can turn even the easiest job into pure torture. I don’t know about you but if I spent the day working on a simple task such as painting a wall with the knowledge that at the end of the day I will be asked to redo the wall in a different color, I would be pretty miserable, even if the pay was decent.

A person I met recently was put in just such a situation. He was asked to work on a project that he knew made no sense and would be abandoned once completed. Nevertheless his manager asked him to do it purely for political reasons to satisfy the higher ups. Is there anything that could sap a person’s motivation more than that? Not surprisingly, this gentleman’s loss of purpose made him depressed.

Knowing the work you are doing has an important purpose is a major factor in job satisfaction. This is why there is very little turnover in jobs that most of us would consider extremely challenging such as working with the mentally ill or in palliative care.

When I was recruiting psychologists for the Douglas Institute, I had no difficulty finding candidates to work in most clinics but it was tough to find very many willing to work with the intellectually handicapped or with individuals suffering from schizophrenia. Most candidates felt they couldn’t offer much since these are chronic conditions that don’t respond well to psychological treatment.

Yet somehow once people start off in these jobs, they tend to stay for a long time. There are no miracle cures seen. Instead their work involves trying to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Those in most need don’t always get cured but their needs remain. We see little turnover in these positions and surprisingly few cases of burn out. The job may be tough but anyone working with these groups finds a great sense of purpose in the work they do. And it is this purpose that makes them happy to be there no matter what.

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Voici la version Française:

La satisfaction au travail

Aimez-vous votre travail? Bien des gens détestent ce qu’ils font. Ils blâment habituellement la surcharge de travail, le faible salaire ou le patron médiocre. Bien sûr, ces facteurs externes ont leur importance, mais la formule de la satisfaction professionnelle est complexe; aucun facteur pris isolément ne peut la garantir. Même si un bon salaire, la reconnaissance, les possibilités de croissance et une distribution équitable de la charge de travail favorisent l’engagement et le plaisir, l’un des facteurs les plus importants est le but que ce travail donne à notre vie.

Dans quel but est-ce que je fais cela?
Ce but peut rendre un travail difficile plus acceptable, alors que l’absence de but peut transformer le travail le plus facile du monde en une véritable torture. J’ignore ce qu’il en est pour vous, mais si je consacrais ma journée à une tâche assez simple comme peindre un mur et qu’à la fin de la journée, on me demandait de le repeindre d’une autre couleur, je serais plutôt malheureux, même si le salaire était convenable.

Un homme que j’ai rencontré récemment avait été placé dans cette situation. On lui avait demandé de travailler sur un projet qu’il savait incohérent et qui serait mis de côté, une fois achevé. Son supérieur lui a tout de même demandé de le réaliser, pour des raisons politiques : satisfaire les cadres supérieurs. Y a-t-il quelque chose qui mine davantage la motivation que cela? Il n’est pas étonnant que cet homme soit devenu déprimé.

Savoir que notre travail joue un rôle important est un facteur de satisfaction professionnelle crucial. C’est pourquoi on constate un très faible roulement dans les emplois qui comportent, selon la plupart d’entre nous, de nombreux défis. Prenons par exemple le travail avec les personnes souffrant de maladie mentale ou recevant des soins palliatifs.

Lorsque je recrutais des psychologues pour l’Institut Douglas, je n’ai eu aucune difficulté à trouver des candidats pour la plupart des cliniques. Ce fut par contre plus ardu d’en trouver qui étaient disposés à travailler avec des gens souffrant d’une déficience intellectuelle ou de schizophrénie. La plupart trouvaient qu’ils ne pourraient pas offrir autant à ces patients qui souffraient de troubles chroniques ne répondant pas bien aux traitements psychologiques.

Et pourtant, une fois que les gens ont débuté dans ces emplois, ils y restent habituellement longtemps. Ils n’entrevoient pas de cure miracle, mais ils considèrent que leur travail permet d’améliorer la qualité de vie des patients et de leur famille. Les patients qui présentent les plus grands besoins ne guérissent pas toujours, mais leurs besoins subsistent. Le taux de roulement est très bas dans ces emplois, et le nombre de cas d’épuisement professionnel est étonnamment faible. Le travail est peut-être difficile, mais les travailleurs se sentent très utiles. Et c’est ce qui les rend heureux d’accomplir ce travail, malgré tout.

Tagged as job commitment, Job satisfaction, workplace stress.

Posted in Happiness, Stress.

Posted on 25 Feb 2014