Feel like quitting your job? Hang on

“I hate my job! I keep wishing for the day I will wake up and I am my own boss, and do not have to work for these people anymore. The man is a womaniser and the woman is very jealous and does not want to see her husband talk to any female worker in the shop. She only wants to see him speak to a female employee when something has gone wrong and he is blaming her for it. I am married and not interested in her husband, I just want to work to feed my family,” shares Immaculate Torach, a cashier at a cosmetics shop owned by a couple who are frustrating her.
She adds: “The woman even told me she will frustrate me until I leave the job but because I have a lot of pressing needs, I cannot quit now.”
Like Torach, Esther Nabukwasi, a librarian at a secondary school, feels frustrated at work. She says she has to go through daily criticism from her boss, which is demoralising but has to keep working because she needs the money.
“My boss is so principled in that even when you arrive five minutes late, she will deduct a large amount of money from your salary yet she even pays late, which is ironical,” says Nabukwasi.
She adds that the boss is very annoying: “She wants to teach you how to do your work which makes you look inadquate. This is demeaning, especially if she does it in the presence of the students.”
Levi Ainebyoona, a banker, says there are bosses who are very frustrating at work and if you are not careful you may quit because you cannot work under them anymore.

Develop love for your job
Sometimes you keep working because you have no other job to turn to. It is not good to work just for survival but develop love for your work so that you can do it effectively and leave no room for complaints. Usually, it is better to find a way to start loving your job and avoid the circumstances that make you frustrated at your work place.
Ainebyoona says it is very hard to keep working when the people above you do not appreciate your efforts and seek to find fault in whichever thing you do. However, he advises that for one to manage in such a situation, they should work without caring about the frustrating boss’ opinion as long as they do their work well.

Ignore negativity
Ainebyoona adds that you should stop seeking attention that you will not get from those you know cannot give it to you but rather do what you do best and leave the rest to others.
He also says if the reason is fellow workmates, then you may need to cut some circles. He, however, adds that work is supposed to be done as a team so it is better you stick to work and not go personal.
Dorothy Nabatanzi, a procurement officer at Rota Tech, Bugolobi, says you do not need to quit your job without being sure of the availability of another because you may end up jobless and the company you left cannot take you back.
She says employees and employers should seek to live in harmony with those around them because they are the ones who make life worth living and enjoyable at their workplace.
Although she says that sometimes it is the employees who make their lives in a company unbearable, especially when they do what is not right but do not want to be blamed for it.
“When you tell an employee that what they are doing is not right and you try to put some pressure on them so that they improve, they will think you dislike them and are malicing them,” says Nabatanzi.
She further says in such cases, the employees should seek to have a talk with their employer so that they can know what is causing it and seek to find solutions.
On the other hand, Mary Namukose, director at Darfur Company, says if the pressure to leave is because of the little pay, then maybe the employee should seek to start something of their or her own since money will never be enough.

Keep working
She says it is better to work and get experience, and more exposure because you meet new people each day and when the opportunity sets in, those contacts could connect you to something better. She says you should keep a positive attitude and ignore the things that are stressing you because sometimes they are not worth leaving your job for.
Namusoke adds that it is better to play a fool while in a stressing environment so that people do not see a reason to stress you, and you too, can concentrate. More to that, she says you should have target and purpose when working because these will motivate you to keep going.
“No one should make you leave your job without you being fired so do not let negative energy get to you,” Namukose asserts.

STRESS AT WORK

Work has a lot of ups and downs. What stresses one may not be the same as what stresses the other because things are different on each one’s side.
Deogracious Okou, a senior human resource officer at Educate Uganda, says there are a lot of things that stress an employee to the extent of them wishing they could quit.
“Some people may be facing harassment from their bosses and this may not only mean sexual harassment but also hatred from the people above,” says Okou.
He says this is the most difficult thing to deal with because they will find fault in everything one does which will stress an employee and make their stay at office hard.
He says little and delayed pay also stresses people. Most people claim they only work for transport and gain nothing at the end of the month which makes people opt to leave their jobs.
He further says office conflict is one of the biggest issues and this is as a result of having band wagons and groups at you work place.