Photo sourced from The Blue Diamond Gallery
A large percentage of people in employment are not content with their job. In America for example, 30% of workers view their current work as a ´job to get them by´ and 47% of employees state that they do not identify with their current job, according to statistics carried out in the US.
With so many individuals struggling to enjoy their job, it comes as no surprise that those who do find a career they value, are considered to be very fortunate. One measure of satisfaction is the experience of getting a sense of identity from a job. Interestingly, 62% of adults working in the healthcare industry and 70% of those working in education claim to get a sense of identity from their career. However, rewarding jobs are not often valued enough by society or even paid sufficiently. Indeed, some of the jobs that we as a society rely upon to keep a country running are some of the most underrated.
Care Staff
Care staff are carers who work in care homes, hospices, hospitals, and nurseries, as well as in-home carers who care for family members of yours; offering support for them to stay in their own home. We give them the task of looking after some of the most vulnerable in our society. However, care jobs are simply not paid or even valued enough. If you have been in direct contact with a care worker and witnessed the impact they can have with those they look after, you gain an insight into what it takes to look after a vulnerable adult or child. Caring for elderly or discapacitated individuals requires an immense amount of compassion and understanding from a carer, which means that a care worker has to take on a lot of emotional baggage as well as the physical demands required for such a job.
Armed Forces
The armed forces is another section of society that is overstretched and underpaid. Those who serve are quite literally risking their lives to provide national security but quite often are not given the support that they need. Apart from undertaking dangerous tasks and undergoing daily stress, once they leave the armed forces, often through injury or trauma, they may find themselves unable to adapt to civilian life for a variety of reasons. Fortunately, there are ways to help these individuals, following a legal route if needed, through organizations that provide lawyers for veterans, and also by drawing attention to these issues.
Teaching Staff
We, as a society, task teachers with the most precious thing we have- our children. Why is it then, that teachers and teaching staff are often the first ones to experience a feeling of being overworked, often have to stretch limited resources due to funding cuts, and receive lower rates of pay compared to similarly qualified professionals such as doctors or lawyers?
Despite claiming to enjoy job satisfaction, there is a general decrease in people applying to study degrees in teaching, which can be catastrophic when the future of a country lies in the hands of the children that they teach.
If you want to check out some of the most overrated jobs of 2016 click here.
