Do You Need a New Job, or a New Way of Working?

Imagine yourself sitting at your computer on a Saturday morning, awake at dawn because your brain just won’t let you sleep in. You are feeling tired but also wired because your workweek was stressful. Your brain won’t stop spinning around the question “Do I need a new job?” You open a new tab in Indeed and start searching. And this leads to more options, questions, and spinning instead of the clarity you need about what is going on at work that makes it so stressful.

When you start with a different question, you can get a more precise answer.

One question to consider is whether your current work environment is a good fit for the way you work best. Ask yourself, “Do I dislike the work, or do I dislike the conditions in which I do it?” Those are two very important distinctions.

Research on career satisfaction suggest that person-environment fit positively impacts feelings of functioning well in the workplace (Redelinghuys, et.al, 2019). When you feel that your abilities match the demands of your work, your values match the culture, and the attributes you look for in a job are fulfilled then you will feel content at work. Without these factors, you will likely feel stressed, burned out, and that a mismatch is present.

For example, if someone who enjoys problem-solving but dislikes constant interruptions might explore different work conditions before abandoning their job. This could be as easy as bringing in headphones or asking their supervisor for a quiet space to work in for periods of time. Negotiating environment before changing your job entirely is one possible pathway before changing jobs.

You can do this as well. Instead of searching Indeed for jobs when you feel stressed. Make a list of five workplace conditions that are leading to your stress at work. Then pick one that can be modified in some way. Talk with your colleagues or a supervisor about possible changes for how you do your work.

Person-environment fit is one factor among many that can be changed to help create a sustainable, satisfying and compatible work for you. We will explore further factors in upcoming editions.

Remember, you don’t have to throw away your whole career to investigate what isn’t working. 

Take care, Dr. Marlinda