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It may be a new year, but for many, its the same old job, desk and routine. Barbara Harding finds out how to rise above the monotony

We all know saying Happy New Year is a polite gesture of goodwill, but when you’re suffering from a severe case of the January blues, it can often come across as downright annoying. After all, it’s near impossible for some employees to feel happy about starting yet another year in the same stagnating role, where the boredom of seeing the same faces day in, day out or sitting at the same desk on the same chair with the same coffee cup is all that awaits them every morning.

But don’t fret; there is no need to feel so robotic. A book titled Happy at Work addresses these and many other issues in an employee’s working life and offers tips and problem-solving solutions for a more positive outlook. Written by occupational psychologist and career coach Sophie Rowan, it contains coping strategies for such problems without feeling the need to jump ship to another company.

Rowan explains: The book is not psychologically heavy, it’s more about the practical problems I have encountered in my experience with clients. I’m a practitioner, not an academic, so I wanted it to be based on best-practice psychological theory with excellent solutions.

A lot of what we see in the workplace is anxiety to do with relationships, workloads and compatibility issues. This book encourages us to have an honest conversation with ourselves about what it is we want from a job, and then communicate our decisions to bosses, colleagues, partners or whoever else will be affected by it. If you can get the basics such as communication and managing yourself at work right, they are great preventive measures for combating stress and anxiety.

Rowan works full-time for Dublin-based company Pinpoint and regularly helps employees who are fed up in their roles. People have come to us with specific issues they don’t know how to deal with, such as a difficult boss, a nasty colleague or feeling they are just a number in a corporation. We find 50pc can make a radical change to their career and 50pc can’t, as retraining or further education is too big an investment for some with families and mortgages.

So Rowan helps them make the most of their current skills and creates a clearer picture of how they may want to redirect their career rather than change it.

She outlines three general themes in her book: managing yourself, managing relationships and managing your workload. These are translated into 10 steps to ultimate job satisfaction.

The first theme tackles the issue of self-awareness, so employees can gauge what their ideal scenario at work would be, and set about achieving it. If an accounts assistant, for example, is not great on detail and is discouraged by this, he or she should look at their accounting experience to see if working in a different area such as performance-related pay or pay policies would better suit them.

The second theme looks at managing your relationship with colleagues to achieve a more respectful working environment. If you’re unhappy with the person you sit beside, for example, it can have a ripple effect in that you may not like aspects of your job and hence not like going to work.

Rowan says employees can communicate well when things are going smoothly at work but it’s a different story when the atmosphere is rocky and full of tension. She believes we must know how to deal with such conflict.

The third theme looks at our daily tasks at work and addresses how we can approach them in a more positive manner. A lot of complexities can arise out of boredom, for example, where the day-to-day enjoyment of a role is gone. This book teaches you to diversify from what you do at work by simply moving around in a department or seeking extra responsibility.

Take stock

For employees currently feeling a tad pessimistic, Rowan says its quite a normal position to be in at this time of year. You just had a couple of weeks off and had time to think and readdress things. You also had space from work and your colleagues. Remember, repetition sits well with only 10pc of the population; the other 90pc need some sort of progression or variety.

Rowan advises employees to use the following strategy in order to successfully get through this downbeat period.

Write down what was good and bad about last year what you enjoyed least and most about your job and the types of people you worked well with and those you struggled with. She adds: A career change isn’t always the answer; sometimes all you need is to do is manage issues more effectively.

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