One of the more interesting things that we do at Redgate is regularly ask workers to evaluate their environment. We use a company, called Thymometrics, and periodically employers as asked to rate various factors, both in terms of how important are they to us, and how satisfied are we. I tweeted the general dashboard, but essentially there are a series of sliders we use to rate things, between a max and min. No scale, just a visual choice of are things more or less important. Am I more of less satisfied.
The range is factors are here:
- Work Environment
- Wellbeing
- Salary
- Benefits
- Culture and Values
- Giving Something Back
- Leadership
- My Manager
- Personal Growth
- Recognition
- Redgate's Purpose
- My Team
- My Role
When I log in, I can see how I last set things. I can also reset everything to the middle and re-evaluate how I view the world. Usually I look through and see if I want to change my satisfaction. Rarely do I think that some part of my job situation has changed in importance. However, at least once a year I do reset things and start over.
While I know plenty of people see this as a pain in the sitting part of the body to go through, I appreciate it. This lets me evaluate how I feel about my job situation, and about my company. I get to think for a few minutes about whether I am truly satisfied with my position and how I am treated by this organization.
This is a somewhat formalized process. I checked with the team that looks at this and they get anonymized rollup of data, unless someone puts in a comment and asks for a reply. Even then, they don't send the raw data to managers, but attempt to mediate if there are issues. It's a good idea, and really, this is what I do and recommend for others.
At least once a year I take a serious look at my employment situation, in conjunction with how my personal life is going and think about what I like and don't. I think about my other options, and discuss this with my wife. Is this the best way to live my life? So far it has been every year, since I think I have one of the best jobs out there. That doesn't mean I should assume there aren't other options or ways that I might want to change my job.
I think you should do the same thing yourself, at least once a year. Honestly evaluate your situation, ask others about theirs, and make the best decision for you. After all, you only get one chance to go through this life. If it's not working, plan to make a change.
