CASE STUDIES
Paul the demotivated programmer
Paul is 38 and he has been working on the same project for five years. He gets on well with his team and likes his manager. He really likes the work he does and doesn’t want to change projects. He’s learning lots too - each week they have a book club and they talk about the latest programming book they’ve been reading.
Recently though he’s been feeling a bit down. He still enjoys the challenges of programming, he still loves learning and he definitely feels he’s getting better at his job, however sometimes he just doesn’t feel happy at the end of the day like he used to. He doesn’t know why, but there are days when he feels he’s just ticking things off a list, and often he feels he doesn’t know why he’s doing them.
Jane the unhappy marketing manager
Jane is 45 and the head of marketing for a small manufacturing firm. The other staff in the company are lovely, she really gets on well with them and there is a great atmosphere in the office. She enjoys the hybrid working too and the flexitime has made the school runs so much easier to manage.
She is struggling with her work though. It’s not giving her as much fulfilment as she’d hoped.
She is in charge of two junior marketing executives and reports directly to the CEO. When she started the job, six months ago, the CEO gave her very healthy annual budget and asked for a plan. Although she created the plan in her first month, five months later she’s still waiting to get sign off. She’s busy, she has lots of blog posts to write and lots of social media to keep up to date (it annoys her a bit that the CEO is still checking her content but she’s OK with it). The main problem is she hasn’t been able to get the big work started. She keeps being told that she’s in charge of marketing but she doesn’t feel that way. It’s making her unhappy.
Carlos the cautious contractor
Carlos is 32 and works as a contractor in IT. He’s been hired to join a well-established engineering team at a big company. On paper, the job is perfect: the pay is good, the technology is interesting, and the team seems friendly.
But Carlos rarely speaks up in meetings. He has lots of ideas and has spotted a couple of technical risks, but he doesn’t feel comfortable sharing them. Everyone else on the team seems to know each other well, and as a contractor he feels like an outsider. He worries that if he suggests something and it’s wrong, he’ll damage his reputation or even risk not having his contract renewed. So instead, he keeps quiet. Over time, this is leaving him frustrated and disengaged
Laura the tired tester
Laura is 29 and works as a software tester for a fast-growing start-up. She’s proud of her role – she knows her work directly helps improve quality for customers. Her manager values her, and her colleagues often thank her for spotting bugs before release.
The problem is the workload. The company is moving fast, with constant new releases, and testing is always the last step. That means she often gets tight deadlines, sometimes staying up late at night or logging back on at weekends to finish checks. She doesn’t resent the work, but it’s exhausting. She’s noticed she has less energy to see friends or exercise, and even though she likes her job, she’s starting to feel worn out.
Theo the struggling freelancer
Theo used to work in the corporate world in HR. He was pretty successful. Last year he took voluntary redundancy and is now working as a consultant.
He loves the flexibility and is really enjoying building something on his own. He now has a logo, website and a strategy to build his consultancy business. However he doesn’t always feel great and misses being in the office and the regular pay check.
He doesn’t want to return to full time employment (he’s loving the extra time with his kids) but he needs to change a few things to feel more content with his work situation again.