Determining Your Ideal Work Environment
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How satisfied are in your current job? If you were to rate your satisfaction level on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being high, where do you see yourself? Get clear on where there may be some gaps in your current job. Take a look at the following list of questions in different categories and jot down your thoughts:

Physical surroundings/location:
  • Are you in an office or are you moving from one place to another?
  • If you are in an office, describe its appearance.
  • Is it a formal or informal environment:
  • Are there distractions or is it quiet?
  • Are you is isolated or surrounded by people?
  • How do you get to work?
People:
  • What kind of people do you work with, e.g., creative, energetic, technical, or mechanical:
  • Do you prefer to work with many people or a few?
  • Do you socialize with your colleagues outside of work?
Activities:
  • Are are you working with other people, equipment, or information?
  • Are you managing or directing people?
  • Are you reading reports?
  • Do you attend meetings regularly?
  • Are you responsible for complete tasks or are you responsible for a piece of a task?
  • Do you attend meetings of external professional associations?
  • How much do you travel?
  • Are you a decision maker?
  • How much freedom do you have to carry out your responsibilities?
Style:
  • Are people formal or informal in how they relate to each other?
  • What type of management style is typical?
  • Do people prefer to communicate mainly through talking or in writing?
  • What are people wearing?
Recognition/rewards:
  • What types of recognition do you receive?
  • How are you rewarded?
  • Are monetary rewards based on individual or team performance?
  • What are your work hours?
  • Do you have flexible work hours?
The above questions will help you determine what area or areas might be causing you to feel less than satisfied in your current job. Having this clarity can help you determine what steps you can take to improve those areas in your current job or move on to another job.