Our 2022 Salaries, Rates & Trends report identified that a huge percentage of engineers were feeling under-resourced, underpaid or working above their station for less reward; but what if you’re unhappy in your role and you’re not too sure why?

Our identities largely revolve around what we do; after-all, we spend most of the average week in the workplace! Job satisfaction isn’t just about salary anymore; especially not in building services engineering & sustainability. Work bleeds in to our lives and if the last 2 years has taught employers anything, it’s that trust and flexibility are valued above all else.

If you’re feeling a little stuck in your career, it’s so important to identify what’s making you unhappy so that something can be done about it – and something can be done about it!

Discard the guilt and anxiety that work brings. Take some time to really explore what's going on with you. If you need to take a mental health day to analyse your state, do it!

Here’s 6 things you can do to get yourself out of your work rut:

1. Find the Root Problem

Whether you feel generally satisfied with your engineering or sustainability career, or deeply frustrated, it is important to check in with yourself. We have conversations with members every day where we help them uncover these root causes. Often, what they believe is the issue is either likely resolvable, or once we get them to dig a little deeper, it’s not what they initially thought.

Some recent examples we've uncovered is a role that was mis-sold, a boss that chips away at self-esteem, or a simple need for more complex challenges. Here’s some questions you could ask yourself this week:

Where do I spend the majority of my time?
How do I feel on a day-to-day basis?
Am I lethargic and moody, or motivated, inspired, and energized?
How are my coworkers' moods? Am I surrounded by happy people or are my coworkers a more negative bunch?
When my mind wanders at work, am I experiencing positive or negative thoughts?

Examine how your work affects you, both mentally and physically. Then it’s time to assess what you truly desire:

What am I good at?
What makes my heart beat faster?
Would I say I am generally fulfilled in my career?

2. Talk it out

85% of the time, it’s as easy as talking through your answers to the above questions with your manager to find a solution that will improve your happiness at work. Sit down and have an honest discussion with your boss or supervisor to examine your options.

If you’re more productive early in the morning and want your afternoons free, ask for flexible hours. This is something many engineering businesses are now taking on board. If your work can be completed on a remote basis, ask if there is flexibility to work from home.

What if you love your company, but your role just isn’t fulfilling enough? Perhaps you’ve been dreaming of being more client facing. Maybe you want to step-up your responsibilities and lead a team. Whatever it is, open these discussions up because 9 times out out 10, your employer will not want to lose a great engineer to a competitor and will do whatever they can to ensure your happiness.

3. Develop workplace relationships

Engineers spend 40 hours+ at work in a typical week. Spending all that time in the workplace itself is somewhat of a distant memory now, with flexible and remote working taking centre stage.

However, as human beings, we need human interaction. We’re sociable creatures (most of us at least!) and it’s really important to fulfil that part of us.

Making an effort to befriend workplace companions with similar aspirations and positive attitudes can go a long way to contributing to your happiness at work. Whether it’s lunch together, signing up for a charity event, heading to a pub quiz or just having someone you can confide in, workplace relationships are super important.

On the flip-side, it’s not all on you. If you identified in step 1 that it’s perhaps the workplace culture getting you down, talk it through with us.

4. Immerse yourself in a hobby

You don’t go in to engineering ‘just because’ right? It’s a passion. Making buildings work is what gets you out of bed in the morning. However, you are a human being with other needs that extend outside the workplace.

Finding a hobby contributes to your self-care, which is important for your overall stress levels and general mood. Hobbies contribute to your purpose in life and can help you to feel more fulfilled.

There are a lot of engineering practices with comprehensive social programmes nowadays, but if these aren’t an option for you or don’t float your boat, turn to your local area to find exercise classes, painting classes, amateur theatre or whatever it is that makes your blood pump a little faster.

5. Banish toxicity

Our Mental Health First Aider, Jayde, recently taught us about positive and negative coping mechanisms. A good example of the negative are things like alcohol, smoking, drugs, impulse shopping – even pointless social media scrolling. We all have a vice, and it’s usually where we turn when we feel a little lower than usual.

The trouble is, most of the time our coping strategies are pretty toxic and can quickly become addictions, because we’re so eager to get that dopamine hit to make us feel happier. It’s important to be aware of your own vices and identify when they’re turning in to a negative coping mechanism.

Replacing these things with something more positive and uplifting like a beach walk, a good book or yoga session can work wonders for your mental and physical wellbeing.  

6. If all else fails, then yes, leave your job

Knowing when to quit is a strength. It’s important to have gone through all your options first, but there does come a point where we must rid ourselves of what is no longer serving us in order to make room for the next step.

When it comes to your job, it is essential to pay attention to what is, and is not, working for you. YOU. Yourself. Don't worry about all the noise around you. It will always be there. Drown it out every once in a while and focus on you.

Greystone offer free career coaching to our members to help them gain perspective, assess their situations and create opportunities either within their current business, or elsewhere.

Enquire about your free membership.

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