Four in five considered changing jobs over lack of appreciation

Four in five people have considered changing jobs because they felt undervalued, according to a survey reported by ORF Tirol. IMAD Marktforschung Tirol conducted the poll in autumn, and the results were presented on Friday in Hall in Tirol.

The survey, commissioned by the Occupational Medicine Centre of Tyrol, found that 70 percent of 400 respondents believe appreciation has a significant effect on their health, particularly when it is lacking. The centre held an event on appreciation at work in Hall on Friday.

Bernadette Taferner, medical director of the Occupational Medicine Centre in Hall, said a lack of appreciation can be associated with symptoms including low mood, high blood pressure, headaches and gastrointestinal problems.

Veronika Haselwanter, head of occupational psychology at the centre, said appreciation involves several factors. These include respect, collegial relationships, recognition of performance, sincere praise and friendly, polite interactions.

Psychiatrist and author Reinhard Haller, who spoke at the event, said society was experiencing an “appreciation blockade”. He linked this partly to growing narcissism, saying that people who need too much appreciation for themselves have less to give others. He also argued that the digitalisation of emotions makes genuine appreciation harder.

Haller said older people and other large groups in society were no longer sufficiently valued. Everyone wants to be appreciated, he said, describing it as a form of “emotional nourishment”. Without it, people can become joyless, depressed, listless or unmotivated, and may develop psychosomatic problems.

Appreciation is the most important motivator, Haller said. Genuine appreciation, he added, can come through small, heartfelt gestures that anyone can offer and have a powerful therapeutic effect.