“The culture of a company is more important to me than the actual tasks.” -Matt Chevy of Life Without Pants
Will surrounding yourself with happy, inspiring people make even the dullest job worth your time?
I’m not sure. But I think it would make for a really interesting experiment. Something like counting macaroni or watching grass grow along with a few happy, motivated, fun peeps. Hm, I wonder …
The reality is: A lot of companies become a culture of 9 to 5, “work sucks and then you die” attitudes. Is it really that hard to see why people aren’t exactly leaping out of bed to join the workforce everyday? Any wonder we’re all starting to crave the simple life or popping a Xanax?
America learned some new words during the recession like furlough and wage freeze. The hours got longer and workloads, heavier …The paychecks didn’t. Check out the lunchroom and you’ll see a Debbie Downer or two, along with a Raging Robert and Stressed Sue.
I’m curious: What’s more important to you?
Or an amazing culture?
Would you go freaky happy insane to have both?
Photo by CodeFin
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Oh, this one’s big for me. For my day job I actually happen to work in a company where the environment is great (not perfect, but great) and the work … not the most exciting. So the pros: great people, a fun and relaxed environment, plus the opportunity to lead and learn on the job.
The cons: the work isn’t particularly inspiring on its own. And the problem is that a good environment can only sustain you for so long before the grind gets to you.
On the other hand, that tension is one thing that’s been motivating me to look for new and better ways to work. So I get to learn about leadership, experiment with new collaboration models, and find ways to make content productive interesting for everyone on the team (I’m still looking).
In a nutshell: environment and culture are huge factors in making a (mundane) job enjoyable. But sooner or later, you have to find ways to make the work itself inspiring – otherwise even the happiest office can wear thin.
Hi Melissa,
Having both would be ideal, of course, but I’d have to choose an amazing culture over amazing work. The downside to this, however, is that boring work tends to drag down the culture. When people aren’t inspired they don’t act inspired.
Well you know my opinion on this because, well, you quoted me up above. I honestly believe that a companies culture is MUCH more important that the actual day to day tasks. You present a very interesting idea though, and it would make for a hell of a social experiment – would a group of BEST friends have fun cleaning out toilets if they were getting paid well and got to work together all day? Would culture still be more important than the task at hand? I can’t answer that, but it’s really something to think about…
(PS – You should enable threaded comments on your blog here – all you have to do is – in WP Dashboard – go to SETTINGS, DISCUSSION, and then enable threaded/nested comments there – that way you don’t have to @ reply everyone).
I would love to have both, even if it’s almost unlikely possible.
Let’s face it, work is not always exciting, and that is why it’s called “work”
I have a passion for what I want to do but sometimes it’s not exactly what I do at work (if that makes sense). During this time, the culture becomes very important. As much as we all know we simply canot please everyone, from your colleagues to your boss, people in the workplace influence our attitude a lot, at least it’s in my case.
So if I can have both, I’ll be a happy girl.
I’m a educator by nature and a teacher by training. Before my current job, I taught adult ESL in Southern Los Angeles County. I love to teach, but teaching low level spoken English to both legal and illegal immigrants who have only minimal education got a bit dull at times. But I loved my students, I loved my coworkers. Now, I teach science to 4th, 5th and 6th grade. I love the material I teach, I love my students (even when they create issues in the classroom) and I love my coworkers. Its a small private school that pays about half of what the public school pays, but its so worth it (even when some conflict brings me to utter frustration and tears!). I’ve had jobs were I loved what I did (still teaching) and despised my coworkers. I’ve also had jobs where I despised what I did (clothing retail), but enjoyed my coworkers. Experience seems to say to me that what you do will out weigh the company culture, but only by a little bit.
I’m inclined to think that this is the same basic conflict as nature vs nurture. At times, one take precedence over the other, and at other times, its vice versa. but both are *always* in play. Perhaps its as much about your personal life-state as to which plays the precedence? (I wonder how much your situation outside of work plays into your view of work, also?)
I think that’s a very good point – the quality of life outside of work definitely follows you to work. So in a sense, doing what you love applies to work and personal life.
Hi Jason, welcome!
This brings up another fascinating question for me: does boring work lead to the boring, negative work culture?
Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Jeffrey – I love the way you put this – eventually you need to do inspiring work, too. I wonder how much? Do you think it’s possible to do amazing work on the side for inspiration and stay completely happy within your awesome work culture?
Thanks for the technical help! Love it.
Now which awesome people can we get to clean toilets all day for a year … hm …
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