I have worked in numerous roles and sectors, full time, part time, and freelance. Some jobs, including my current freelance career, I have loved, while others have brought a feeling of dread every single day. But what matters more – the job itself, or the people you work with? And should your potential coworkers impact the role you apply for or accept?
Who Do You Spend Time With?
Studies conducted between 2009 and 2019 in the USA show how the average amount of time we spend with others changes throughout adulthood. Time spent with friends peaks at 137 minutes per day in our late teens and early twenties, then falls to a steady 30 to 40 minutes per day for the rest of our lives. It makes sense that the time we spend with our children is at its highest in our 30s (256 minutes per day), but then rapidly falls as they grow up.
But from a career perspective, it’s time with coworkers that we need to take note of. From our early 20s to our mid-50s, we spend around 150 to 215 minutes every day surrounded by those we work with. Even in our mid-60s, we are still spending an average of an hour a day with colleagues.
During your career, you are likely to spend more time with your coworkers than with friends or family. In the worst case scenario, you could be spending several hours each day, for 35+ years of your life, with people you don’t even like. Surely we need to make working with the right people a priority?
Choose Your Colleagues Wisely
In September 2021, Forbes reported that a record 4.4 million Americans had resigned in just one month. 900 workers were asked their reasons for quitting, with 65% saying they didn’t feel valued by their manager, and 64% reporting that their relationship with their colleagues played a part.
In 20 years of work, I have been employed in various roles, including as a doctor, sports coach, waitress, lifeguard and healthcare manager. Even when the role wasn’t right for me, working with people I liked made the job enjoyable. In some cases, I stayed longer than I should have done. Despite not feeling excited by the job, the camaraderie and workplace environment made it easy to earn a living, and that counted for a lot.
Conversely, jobs that, on paper, I should have thrived in, left me drained and unhappy because of difficult colleagues, absent managers or a toxic culture. These are the jobs I should have left sooner but didn’t, because I incorrectly saw the role itself as being ‘right’ for me.
I have now stepped away from employment and love my freelance career. Although I no longer have colleagues, I do have clients, some of whom I work closely with each week. My long-term clients are polite and creative, and provide excellent briefs with timely feedback to push everyone forward. The professional relationships that develop make working together a pleasure.
Like most freelancers, in the beginning I could not afford to be picky about the work I accepted. I would write any article, for any fee, within even the most unreasonable of deadlines. I worked for clients who were friendly, and those who were unpleasant or rude. As my business has grown, I have learned the value of my work, the characteristics I appreciate in a client, and which projects will fire up my creativity. This natural process has taught me to predict who I will enjoy working with, and therefore which projects to accept.
Finding the Right Colleagues
Working with people you don’t get along could negatively impact your career as well as your mental health. Being part of a brilliant, supportive team is likely to pay off in terms of career development, even if the role doesn’t completely fit with your current aspirations. It is not always possible to predict what a team or business will be like to work for, but indications of workplace culture may be found in the following:
- Team relationships. Do employees work well together, respect differing opinions and invite alternative perspectives? Whether a team socialises outside of work may also be important to you.
- The attitude of bosses. Are the leaders pleasant, approachable, agile and flexible? You can tell a lot about a person based on how they treat team members, with great workplace culture coming from brilliant leaders.
- Retention rates. Is staff turnover high, and if so, why? Unhappy staff will likely move on, even if the role ticks all the boxes otherwise.
- Employee recognition and satisfaction. If employees’ efforts are recognised (simply being thanked goes a long way), team spirit is likely to be much higher. Colleagues who value each other make for far happier workplaces.
Final Thoughts
My careers lessons at school focused purely on the descriptions and requirements of each career. There was no mention of anything other than the job itself providing satisfaction or happiness. As we spend a huge proportion of our lives at work, we must remember to prioritise finding colleagues who are supportive and dedicated to helping us succeed in the roles we feel passionate about.
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