Job satisfaction IS the bottom line

Trying to increase the bottom line is all well and good, but what happens when a company’s actions actually hurt the bottom line?  One such strategy often used is to move people around, moving them from one department to another as jobs are consolidated or even removed.  Such a thing actually happened to me and I propose that it cost the company more in the long run than what they supposedly gained.

I know people who love to write training manuals, but that is not me.  I need the human interaction, the constantly evolving process that comes with interacting with different customers under different circumstances.  I had successfully applied to become a Project Manager and absolutely loved the job as it fulfilled all of my job requirements.  I was constantly working on different projects – projects that had a start and finish so I could get a sense of accomplishment.  Plus my customers looked to me to help them improve office efficiencies.  I love taking something and making it better, it’s in my blood.  Then the unimaginable happened, they eliminated my position and moved me into Documentation.  I was put in charge of writing training manuals of all things.  Imagine, limited customer interaction, the same writing assignments day after day, month after month, year after year, with no end in sight.  At no point was the project ever finished since the software was constantly evolving.  I felt as though I was suffocating and it became inevitable that I began to dread going to work.  Dreading work in turn stressed me out because I have always defined a part of my self by my work – the better work I produce, the better person I am.  I began to take sick days on a regular basis – I couldn’t stomach another day of looking at a computer screen and typing the same things over and over.  There were other mitigating factors that involved my new position, factors that amplified my unhappiness and unproductiveness. All of this finally came to a head where I just gave up.  No more inventiveness, no more trying to go beyond the expected, no more trying to find better and cheaper ways to do my job.  I simply came in and did only the bare minimum.  Does the company know how much they loss in potential revenue?  Probably not. 

I finally was moved into a different position that has taken me back into my beloved customer interaction, but after 4 years of stress, depression, and a sense of hopelessness I will never be back in the game.  I will never get to the point where I actively look for ways to bring profits into the company.  Being a small company, that will hurt the bottom line, but again I doubt that the company really understands this.  I still get ideas, great ideas, but I no longer put them forward – I’m tired of being considered “only” a trainer. 

My bottom line?  A happy employee is a productive employee – especially in a specialized field, within a small company where people are not always replaceable.