As a teenager, I loved hanging out with friends but sometimes they had to leave to do chores. I figured out that if I helped them with their chores we could continue to hang out and the time spent would be more enjoyable for both of us. This was reaffirmed when I worked on an assembly line, as a laborer, assembling F150 seats. The work was repetitive and sometimes hard, but we found ways to make it more fun (it seems blue-collar folks have white-collar workers beat here). We would socialize, tell jokes, play tricks on each other, and time ourselves on some of the harder assembly tasks to see who was the fastest. I was the second fastest at putting on the seat cover cushions.
When I am at work I think about these times and and wonder what I can implement that would make work more enjoyable. I don’t have a complete answer but here are some ideas I came up with.
Working around people who we enjoy and having little time to socialize. This will not work in all knowledge work tasks but there are many tasks that this would apply. Maybe reserve a conference room for certain types of work where friends could work together.
Music when it fits the task. It is always nice to work with music you like in the background.
Being allowed to focus on one thing until it is done without being pestered. Imagine creating a multiple drawing inspection plan and you don’t have any meetings to attend, your manager is not pestering you to reprioritize, or other employees are not asking you to do more unplanned work.
Having the right amount of work. It is always stressful to know you essentially have an infinite queue of things to do. When I was working at the assembly line we knew how many seats we had to complete each night. The work was planned and a daily limit was set. Then when I went home the job stayed at the job.
Working at a natural pace. When people are regularly adding unplanned work to your task list, your manager is resetting your priorities, and you already have an infinite task list then it makes you always feel hurried adding stress to the work.
Seeing the outcome of your work. When you dig a hole it is hard work but you get satisfaction seeing the hole and the pile of dirt next to it. We now work in a world where the only thing we really do is move ones and zeros on a computer.
Lack of competition in the workplace. I understand we need to measure employees to stay competitive in the market but measuring employees adds a “icky” feeling to the workplace.
This is by no means a complete list and you may have items that could be added to it but what actions can we take that would allow us to enjoy our work a little more?
Everybody is working for the weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-upBhWNO8kw