Designed for Life

How many people do you know who love their work?

Look at the people around you. Look up, down, and sideways. Look at people you work with in other departments and divisions, and those employed by your suppliers, and customers. Recall your history with colleagues and bosses and subordinates. How many would you suspect are a mismatch in the job they occupied? One out of ten - one out of five - three? How about two out of three...minimum?

It's like a secret that everybody knows and has suffered throughout life but nobody talks about. Make your own survey by using grade school as a starting point. How many gifted teachers do you remember? Most people can't get beyond the fingers of one hand despite 16 years of formal education to draw upon! How many bosses have you had who made good use of your talents? How many real leaders have you served under? How often have you occupied a job which fit you like undersized shoes? How many people have tried to sell you, mentor you, serve you, correct you, counsel you, train you, preach to you, fix your car------who were gifted at their job?

Job mismatch is the most pervasive and insidious problem undermining the organization's quest for profitability and competitive advantage, and the individual's quest for life, liberty and happiness. Little is done to even recognize (much less deal with) the issues.

Job mismatch has a variety of downsides, all adding up to less productivity, less job satisfaction and less competitive muscle. The time and money spent in training employees to do what they are not interested in doing is wasted. The energy and effort devoted to uncovering and improving weaknesses has a negative effect on performance. All the arduous strain and boredom accompanying mismatch effectively cripples individual job performance, and dampens the group's competitive ability. Add to this the destructive effects of mismatch stress on the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of the employee and family, and you have something other than a life.

Not only do people under this stress suffer frequent headaches, heightened cardiovascular risk factors and gut problems, but their attitudes turn sour and sullen, and employee depression becomes a common experience. This negativity infects cooperation and morale. Inevitably, people seek destructive ways of escaping and finding relief from pain. Exaggerated reactions to perceived slights and innuendoes result in an emotional roller coaster .... at work, and at home.

Whatever the obscene impact on people, organizations lose twice in excessive costs and reduced profitability. Labor costs are unnecessarily inflated because executives, managers, supervisors, and workers who do not fit their jobs are under constant stress, stress which is destroying them. But, destructive stress is not inimical to work itself. It is a direct and proximate result of job mismatch resulting in boggling and unnecessary costs. For a single year, the National Science Foundation reported stress related costs reaching $100,000,000,000.

JOB MISMATCH - THE END OF PERSONAL IDENTITY