Are you unhappy at work? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is

Six Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Beth. Have you ever had a horrible boss,

not been paid enough or simply got tired of doing the same

old boring jobs? I love presenting Six Minute English, of course, but some of my previous jobs

have been pretty awful, Neil. When I waitressed in cafes, I was on my feet ten hours a day. It was exhausting! Most people have

had bad work experiences at one time or another.

Maybe a job that was boring, badly paid

or just working too much and getting burned out –

lacking energy or enthusiasm because of working too hard. But does it have

to be like this? Since most of our waking

day is spent at work, how can we make sure

our job doesn't make us unhappy? That's what we'll be discussing

in this programme and, as usual,

we'll be learning some useful new

vocabulary as well. Sounds good,

Beth, but first I have a question for you.

The worst job I ever had was the summer I spent working as a portable

toilet cleaner at music festivals. But, according to a recent survey

by Forbes Magazine, what was voted the

worst job in the UK? Was it: A. a call centre worker? B. a bartender? or

C. a traffic warden? I think the answer might be

a call centre worker. OK, Beth. I'll reveal the answer

later in the programme. Now, it's interesting that survey

was carried out in the UK because being unhappy

at work could be related to the British working culture which

emphasises working at a fast pace. Here's Damian Grimshaw,

a professor of Employment Studies at King's College London

speaking with BBC Radio 4 programme, Analysis. Really it's all about pace,

cost efficiencies, meeting targets and deadlines. So, this is why,

when people do surveys of what we call 'work intensity',

so how hard you work are you driven on pace?, is there a

supervisor breathing down your neck?, we score really badly compared

to European countries. Compared to some European countries British workers have to meet more

targets and deadlines – a time or date by which a particular job must be

finished. The pressure to work quickly means you might have

your boss breathing down your neck – an idiom meaning that

someone is watching you very closely and checking everything you do –

not a nice feeling to have at work. That's right. A good job is

about more than pay and conditions. It's one that uses your talents

and gives you some choice over how and when you work.

In 2022, Britain's biggest employer, the National Health Service, or NHS,

lost more than 15,000 nurses, many quitting because of the long

and inflexible working hours. Another sector

with long working hours is the construction industry. Low paid,

dirty and physically demanding construction workers also risk high

levels of work-related injury. Here, Emma Stewart, co-founder

of social business, Time Wise, tells BBC's

Radio 4 programme, Analysis, about her trial project to help

builders enjoy their jobs more. In the work that

we've done within the construction industry,

we have trialled what we would call

an output-based way of working, which means we shift away

from the sense of presenteeism, this sense of: you

are paid by the day, you are on site

from seven in the morning until the last person leaves,

maybe seven in the evening... to a task-based way of working, which

means you're going to do five tasks over the course of this day, when

you've done those tasks, and you've done them well,

you can go home, but we will still pay you the

same amount for the day. They were able to deliver the

projects that we worked on with them on time, on budget, but, critically, the

feedback from workers was that work-life balance scores doubled

and they were able to reduce the amount of overtime that they did.

It's a win-win. Emma describes

the current working patterns using the word presenteeism –

staying at work longer than usual or going to work when you're ill

to show that you work hard, but this isn't an

effective way to work. Emma thinks a task-based approach is

better both at getting the job done and for improving work-life balance –

the amount of time you spend at work, compared with the amount of time

you spend relaxing with your family and doing things you enjoy.

In other words, flexible working

is a win-win – a situation that's good for everyone involved. Maybe more flexible working

would help some of the jobs I mentioned earlier

in my question, Beth. According to a

recent Forbes magazine survey, what was voted the worst job

in the UK? I guessed it was a job

I've done myself – working in a call centre.

That was... the correct answer! Although I think my summer job

cleaning toilets was even worse. Right, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme, starting with burnout – lack

of energy or enthusiasm because of working too hard.

A deadline is the time by which a particular job

must be done. If someone is breathing down your

neck, they're watching you very closely and checking everything you do.

Presenteeism means staying at work longer than usual to show

your employer that you work hard and are important to them.

Work-life balance is the amount of time

you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time

you spend doing things you enjoy. And finally, a win-win

is a situation or result that is good for everyone. Once again,

our six minutes are up. Join us again next time,

but for now, get back to work!

Goodbye. Bye.