Working Wounded: Employed But Unhappy

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The media does a pretty good job of covering what it is like trying to survive when you are unemployed. And this serves an important role of reminding us how tough it can be out there. But we seldom spend much time looking at people who have jobs but are still miserable. The e-mail below clearly describes what it means to be Working Wounded.

I know your readers don't want to hear about someone working in a seemingly good job with good pay who is still unhappy. I am and I'm not alone.

In the current economy employers can force anything onto any employee, take benefits away or otherwise abuse the employee. Where is the employee going to go? There are hundreds of people that are lined up ready to take my position. Even worse is the fact that our jobs are all going overseas where you can literally have six people in India for the cost of a single salary in the U.S. My company uses this and the threat of termination so much that it is part of the corporate culture: "The offshore people work 15 hours a day and all weekend," implying that we should all do the same.

In less than two years they have quadrupled healthcare co-payments, taken away most of our vacation time, forced us into a much longer commute and told us we aren't working hard enough. Some would say, if you don't like it, well then leave. But realistically where can you go? How many of your readers are surfing the job boards every day to no avail?

Remember the days, not so long ago, that you called a recruiter and they found you a job? Try to get a recruiter to call you back these days. Most of them are searching the job boards and posting positions that they weren't hired to recruit for in the hope that they will get a commission out of it. And, when you do talk to a recruiter, their suggestion is "have you tried the job boards?" It is so frustrating. I know there are SO MANY people MUCH worse off than me, but what about all of the people like me?