Side Effects of Underemployment: Emotional, Spiritual, Relational

In the past few months, underemployment has been on my mind.

In the calling I've been serving in for that past while, I get to visit with a bunch of bishops in our stake. While visiting with those bishops who serve in mid to upper age YSA' wards, multiple bishops have indicated that underemployment is a frequently occurring area of concern among a good sized demographic of their ward members.

When we see the research behind unemployment, we see the urgency expressed in an early Church welfare pamphlet saying, "A man out of work is of special moment to the Church because, deprived of his inheritance, he is on trial as Job was on trial -- for his integrity. As days lengthen into weeks and months and even years of adversity, the hurt grows deeper... The Church cannot hope to save a man on Sunday if during the week it is a complacent witness to the crucifixion of his soul." Helping Others to Help Themselves: The Story of the Mormon Church Welfare Program (1945), 4.  

Clearly employment is much more than a temporal matter.

I have been taken back by how very emotionally and spiritually challenging, job dissatisfaction and underemployment have been for some of my friends that I look up to as "spiritual giants."

Individuals who are underemployed are less likely to be thriving in their personal lives

and are more likely to be struggling.

From the data we can clearly see that job satisfaction is much more than merely a temporal matter. It influences emotional and spiritual matters as well, and may influence a person to sense decreased personal readiness to progress and fulfill the most meaningful, purposeful parts of life and self-actualization.

Does this data relate with anything you have experienced? If so, what was the experience like and what helped you get through it and eventually out of it?  Professional goals? A professional network outside of your specific workplace? Going back to school? Improving life outside of work? Maintaining perspective beyond the workplace?

If you have any insights or advice to pass on, share in the comments section below. I would love to save your suggestions here as a resource for friends in this phase now, or who may experience it later on.

Here's to hoping the experiences and insights of some can be of benefit to others,

Ali~

*The research & bargraphs in this post were based on interviews with over 40,000 working US adults and can be found on the Gallup website here.

For further reading on this same topic, I highly recommend the book Well-Being, Gallup Press, by Tom Rath and The Dip: The Extraordinary Benefits of Knowing When to Quit and When to Stick, by Seth Godin.