Cursèd be my cubicle

Two flimsy gray walls, three filing cabinets and one rarely used dry-erase board make up the landscape of my work cubicle. My mind travels often to places I have been and those I long to see, yet this is the daily scenery starving my adventurous soul.

I used to love my job. That was before it became three positions in one.

Since corporations began laying off millions during the economic crisis several years ago, there’s a phrase that’s became all-too-common. Somebody complains about work. Somebody else replies that, “At least you have a job.” We can all use a silver lining on our dark days, but after awhile these six words lose their power to console.

Five days a week, we drag ourselves into the cube farm, into temporary, makeshift work spaces, many of us banging our fists against our internal walls in hopes that someday it will end. One recent study shows that 82 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with their current jobs. Harvard Business School puts the number at a 23-year low. This, I would say, is a problem.

We often compromise happiness for the sake of keeping a stable job, the promise of a pay raise and a well-deserved promotion up the corporate ladder. But what is that all worth when our sanity is in jeopardy? For many, it means a place to live, money for food and insurance for yearly doctor’s visits. But in my three years with the same organization, I’ve received a one percent raise, a position title decrease (in other words, a demotion) and a tripling of my responsibilities. The result of staying at my job: countless stressful days and a platinum membership in the 82 Percent Dissatisfaction Club.

Corporations have many of their employees cornered. Managers keep piling on more work, knowing that their employees have little choice but to take it in stride. These employees were the lucky ones who survived several rounds of layoffs, after all. But I question how many managers have shifted their focus toward stabilizing (or improving) employee morale. In my organization, concerns about morale were like the weather: everybody talked about it but nobody did anything about it. It appears my colleagues and I were not alone. According to BusinessNewsDaily.com, 84 percent of Americans plan to look for new jobs in 2011. We may be stuck in a corner, but we’re not happy being there.

The problem is that those fortunate enough to be offered new positions end up facing similar problems in their new companies – little training, increased responsibility and pressure to meet the same expectations as their predecessors. As a result, researchers predict this same 84 percent searching for new jobs will either remain in their current positions or wind up equally unhappy in their new ones.

We graduated college with the promise that hard work would bring us success. As it turned out, many of us battled several rounds of corporate layoffs by the time we reached 25. Now, those of us holding steady jobs sit in our file-piled cubicles hoping something more glamorous will come along.

My plan? Hide in grad school for the next two years, rack up college loans and jump back into this world with my eyes closed once someone hands me a diploma.