The job of your dreams

What is your ideal workplace and what do you need to be fulfilled at work?

We all dream of working in an environment that brings out the best in us...that place where we fit in and where our contributions are valued. Many of us have a vague idea of what this entails, but it’s an intangible sensation that we long for, which few of us can put into words. What are the components of this mythical “dream job”? Let’s start with the tangible basics:

1. A decent salary- everyone wants to earn enough to meet their basic needs and provide a comfortable life for themselves and their loved ones. 

2. Clean and physically safe work environment - Nobody wants to work in an environment where their own health is endangered. 

3. Psychological safety - This refers to feeling mentally safe in your workplace. Knowing that you will be treated with dignity and that you will not be bullied or harassed or treated unfairly.

4. Decent hours - People need decent working hours to lead balanced lives and get enough rest. It is a well-known fact that sleep-deprived doctors make more errors.

When looking for a job it is important to keep these things in mind and to look for work that will at least meet your most basic needs. We may feel forced to accept less than this, but in the long term, it's just not worth it.

A salary is not the only reason that people go to work. We also need to feel happy and valued at work, as happy employees outperform unhappy ones. Unhappy employees ruin team culture and disrupt the workplace, driving away good employees.

So, how do we create a happy workplace? In the famous words of Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. If each of us would be the ideal worker, all workplaces would be ideal workplaces. What is the ideal worker? Someone reliable, polite, honest, hardworking and sensible. Essentially, it is the good person we all aspire to be.

However, as people often fall short, it is important to educate yourself on workplace standards, so that you know what you are allowed to expect from a workplace.

Sometimes you have no choice but to work in a “bad” job or for a “bad” boss and all you have control over is your immediate environment. In this case, all you can change are the things you have control over (make your little corner the best, happiest and most productive), limit contact with toxic individuals and build a happy life outside of work. Let your little light shine. The ideal, however, is not to work for a toxic individual at all as they will leave scars on your soul.

Nowadays, there is so much negativity and fake news drifting around, it’s important to work in an environment with positive people who can be trusted. Feeling like you’re constantly being undermined or kept in the dark causes employees to subconsciously adopt similar patterns of behaviour. If I don’t trust you I won’t fully disclose anything, I also may not offer my best work for fear of being undermined. Monkey see, monkey do. People unintentionally pick up on the behaviours of their bosses/peers and begin doing the same things. Then what started out as one person’s bad behaviour becomes the team ethos. Work for people who will bring out the best in you.

Everyone wants to work in a place where they feel they are making a difference, but also being enriched in the process. Are you learning something in your current job, are your skills developing? At the end of your contract, will you be able to say that you have improved in any sphere of life? If you feel you are being sucked dry and have gained no value, then this may not be the dream job for you. Even worse, maybe you feel you have actually degenerated and become worse than when you started, if this is the case then you should have quit a loooong time ago. Maybe you have gained innumerable skills but have lost that intangible thing called a soul in the process, and are no longer truly satisfied. This is why work-life balance is so important, so that happiness in one area is not sacrificed in pursuit of excellence in the other.

Don’t be another member of the overpopulated rat race, who spends 8+ hours every day doing something that brings you little joy and insufficient reward.

Work in a place where you are constantly being inspired and stretched in a positive way, where you feel that you are constantly progressing and heading towards a long-term goal. Don’t be a hamster, running very fast on a wheel to nowhere, exhausted but never progressing. 

How does one spot a “bad” work environment? First, you need to understand yourself, what makes you tick and what you want out of life. A bad work environment is a place where you don’t feel you “fit”, where your needs, basic or psychological, aren’t being met. One person’s dream job could be another person’s nightmare. For example, if you are an outgoing person then working in a quiet secluded workplace is not for you; the opposite is also true.

Sit down and think about what you need to do to feel fulfilled in life and purposefully steer yourself in that direction.