Who's really responsible for our poor job satisfaction?

According to research by the CIPD, job satisfaction is at its lowest ebb in two years. A quarter of UK employees are looking for new jobs; the highest rate since 2013.

Why are so many of us unhappy at work and where does the responsibility lie? If the majority of the press coverage is to be believed, it’s with our managers. More workers than ever believe they are over-qualified for their roles and few feel their line managers support their career development.  There’s also a gloomy theme doing the rounds in the media – that underperforming managers continue to receive bonuses and salaries far above those of their employees. And that those employees are not getting the recognition they deserve, with almost a fifth saying their organisations’ approach to performance management is ‘unfair’ or ‘very unfair’.

Managers can cut a powerful figure and, as such, can make credible scapegoats. When we’re unhappy at work we’re quick to spot a ‘them and us culture’. We project villainous traits onto our managers; of the sort that would bring them to turn unfair performance management processes to their advantage. Of the sort - even - that would bring them to dodge staff development entirely because it prepares their staff for the exit door.

I don’t doubt that those conspiracist musings would hit the mark in many cases. In many more, though, managers are simply constrained by lack of time, lack of imagination, and the sheer battle of staying on top of the operational day-to-day. Often they are not the Despicable Me types we imagine, but hard workers only slightly above our own payscales, doing a similarly difficult job for similarly little recognition.