Workers Say They Are Entering Their ‘Employee Villain Era’ Because Of 3 Frustrating Job Issues
We all hit a moment in our careers where we end up stuck in a rut, and it's usually because of three things.
Elnur / Shutterstock All of us eventually enter a rut in our careers at one time or another. It's a point where things feel stagnant, you're completely over it, and there's no clear idea of what to do about it.
A career expert called this the 'employee villain era,' and she said it arrived because of three frustrating job issues.
"Anyone else entering their employee villain era?" work culture expert and TikToker @gnarlyoodles said in her video on the subject. "It's a phase in your career where you just don't seem to care about your job anymore."
We've all been there (a lot of you might be there right now as we speak, in fact!). But it's important to note that this isn't due to laziness or a bad attitude.
Rather, it's more like the much-talked-about concept of "quiet quitting." It's about pulling back, doing the bare minimum to get by, and simply letting that be good enough.
But whereas "quiet quitting" has a sort of retaliatory undercurrent to it, gnarlyoodles explained the "employee villain era" as the spark just having gone out of your work life.
"It doesn't necessarily mean that you're being a bad employee," she explained. "It's more about feeling disengaged, unmotivated, and disconnected from work." She said it often comes down to the following three frustrating job issues, which frequently arise in the messy middle of your job tenure or your career in general.
1. Burnout at work
"When you've been pushing yourself way too hard for too long, the demands of the job start to take a toll on your enthusiasm," the TikToker explained.
We've all felt this at one time or another, and in recent years it's reached epidemic proportions. A 2023 survey of 1,000 professionals by management consulting firm Deloitte found that a staggering 77% of us are feeling totally burned out at our jobs nowadays.
Even those who don't feel their situation is quite that dire are struggling mightily: 91% of respondents said they have an "unmanageable amount of stress" that is negatively impacting their work.
2. A lack of appreciation for your job
The TikToker said it's a natural response to pull back and feel unmotivated when you're already unmanageable workload is unappreciated and "you don't feel valued or recognized for your efforts."
Experts say that this is sometimes an indicator that it's just time to move on to a new job. But there are some things you can try to combat the problem first.
These include speaking to your boss about your feelings and recognizing and highlighting colleagues' accomplishments that will also underline your own.
3. Doing the same tasks over and over at your job with no growth
"Sometimes even doing the same tasks over and over without a sense of growth or challenge can really make [your job] feel unfulfilling," gnarlyoodles said. Much like being underappreciated, this can often be an indicator that leadership has gotten so comfortable having you in your role, they're not looking to promote you out of it.
Experts say this often means it's time to re-evaluate your job and career and ask yourself some hard questions about the career path you've traveled and where you hope to end up in the future.
But sometimes, it's hard to even know that, right? Sometimes this stuff just happens in the messy middle of a job or career in general. "I'm here to tell you that it's totally normal to go through this," the TikToker said.
And if big changes feel like too drastic a solution to these "messy middle" problems, she urged workers to keep one simple thing in mind as a guide. "Just remember that your work should be fulfilling and part of your life, and not a source of stress or disengagement."
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.