People Hate Work

Most people hate work. They only do it for the money.

That’s not strictly true because some people love what they do and would continue to do it without being paid. But that group is only a small minority.

The majority work because they need the money. More correctly, they need the things that money can buy. The housing, food, education, clothing, holidays, toys and more.

Everyone is born randomly into the world, at the whim of someone else. There is not a person on the earth who asked to be here, but they are, and they will depart at an age to be determined. There are close to 8 billion people on the earth today and around 120 billion people who have already passed through.

So, the aim of most people is to have some fun while they are here, live a comfortable life and not think too much about dying. Very few have the goal to work their whole life at the behest of someone else. People crave freedom and the autonomy to make their own decisions and manage their own lives.

They want to be treated well and want to treat others well. Very few people crave conflict.

If they must work, they want their ideas to be valued. They want to be engaged, empowered and coached, rather than directed. They want to work in both physical and psychological safety, with the skill and encouragement to speak up, with respect, on any issue.

They don’t want to feel like a slave at work.

Research by the Perception Mapping group finds most people like their managers but hate being managed. They hate bureaucracy and the lack of freedom to be involved in the decisions that affect their work.

Their research also shows clearly that high performing worksites treat people well and engage them in the decisions that affect their work, while the poor performing worksites treat people badly.

Most people don’t like going to work. They would rather be doing something else; something active, something challenging, something engaging. It’s not that they don’t want to work; they just want choice, variety and ownership over what they do.

People need stimulation and an opportunity to think. An invitation to participate in the decisions that affect their working lives. What they don’t need is little or no freedom and some arbitrary person, called “the manager,” giving orders.

Taking orders is rarely motivating for the majority of people but giving orders is the normal practice in most families, schools and workplaces.

Most people work to live, and they enjoy it more when their work journey is on a smooth road where their workplace is built on a base of five crucial culture dimensions where everyone is treated well, engaged, empowered, led well and able to speak up freely.