You think you need your job, but is it that your job needs you?

[ThisWiseEagle]

I’ve been thinking about how much value employees bring to a company. We’re often made to feel like we should be grateful for having a job, but doesn’t the company also need us to function? After all, without employees, no business could succeed.

Do you ever think about whether your job needs you more than you need it? Or is that just wishful thinking in most cases? AIBU to wonder if we underestimate our worth in the workplace?

I'm very good at my job and my managers and colleagues really appreciate that.

However, look around a graveyard and you'll find it's full of indispensable people.

It is beyond arrogant and fantastical to think your job needs you. No employer or job needs anyone. People come and go and it makes no difference.

I think it’s wishful thinking that your ‘job’ needs you. You might be valued and important etc, but if you quit and died tomorrow they would replace you and move on. Of course people would be sad but the workplace continues. A colleague of mine died suddenly last year and we were all sad but the business didn’t skip a beat. It’s really taught me not to be careful not give more of myself to work than I do to my family.

No one is indispensable, no matter how good they are.

No, my employer doesn't need me. There is always someone who can replace an employee. I've had employers try to retain me because they think I'm a good employee but, when I've stood my ground, they find someone else. I'm only irreplaceable to my family.

I work on VAWG policy specifically access to housing and I hold a lot of historical knowledge hence why having me is easier for my workplace as it's quicker to problem solve

I'm near retirement, at this point my job needs me more than I need the job.

When I go they'll hopefully be able to recruit someone else to the team but they won't be able to replace my knowledge. We had someone else retire last year, same thing - new hire is good and has new skills but there's still a massive hole.

It's the sort of business where it really does make a difference who comes and goes.

I thought my company valued me after 17 years and more knowledge of the business than any other member of staff but they've just fucked me over by announcing 2 months before I go back from maternity leave that they actually aren't ok with the arrangement and hours we've been discussing since before I went on leave, so clearly I thought wrong 🤷🏼‍♀️

Maybe if you are not very good at your job this is true!

Everyone in my workplace is replaceable, but all of them are valuable and when people leave we have a real dip as the next person is recruited and trained up, it makes work much harder for everyone around that role and we often have to decline activities.

I think it’s a two way street. My last (dysfunctional) workplace very much put out the atmosphere that you should feel lucky to have a job. They struggled to retain staff, so many good people left. Including me to a much better paid and more rewarding job where I actually feel appreciated.

My job needs me. I'm a recognised international expert in my field and they would find it difficult, if not impossible, to replace me in a like for like manner. If I left, they'd lose about half of the funding. That may make me seem arrogant but I think it's important to acknowledge our worth sometimes.

On my side, I don't need to work financially 🤷🏻‍♀️

Mmm I know I'm good at my job but I don't think I'm appreciated at all. And while I'm good and it'd cost more and take a lot of time to get someone in and train up, I think they'd let me go without saying anything. Ie I'm not important to them. So no I don't think they need me.

I need them because it gives me money and it's convenient

Even so, if you left someone else would step up and be the expert, get funding. That doesn't mean you aren't valuable, but you're not indispensable.

@PreferMyAnimals Of course I'm not indispensable but the question is one of value. I'm more valuable to them than they are to me.

Every place of work has those who are more knowledgeable than others.

Yet the company keeps going and the world keeps turning when these people leave 🤷‍♂️

I suppose you could go elsewhere and take your funding with you.

I think that can be true even in a less well recognised job or profession. I have been free to take roles well below what I could do, because I value the project and what it achieves rather than because of the pay or recognition involved. In that sense, I guess my skills and position in the industry are more valuable to the employer than they are to me - because I would quit in a second if my family needed me to. Replacing me would rely on finding someone willing and able to take the personal hit in stepping into the role.

You're in a pretty good position when employment is optional and you can give an employer the flick on a whim. So yes, I suppose from that POV you and me are more important to the employers than they are to us, because we don't need them.

This sounds a little bit like how people like Jeff Bezos are so valued by society and how some people say the earned all their money. We don't need billionaires, billionaires need us. They need us as workers and customers, they didn't earn all their money themselves.

Similar. My job needs me more than I need it. I could easily get another job, they would struggle to find someone as good as me for the same money.

I do intend to leave though!

No, we overestimate our worth in the workplace and often take it too much to heart, to our own detriment.

Our directorate lead told us, nobody is indispensable, everyone is replaceable, so don't sweat it, have a good work / life balance. Work should never be that important.

Like a couple of other posters, I'm at the end of my career, and they value me more than I need them. I'm recognised nationally for my experience and insight into a fairly niche area. If I go, someone else will develop (as did I), but it will take a few years to gain that experience. I am actively backing off key roles and recommending others or mentoring them

We have a mutually beneficial arrangement 😁😁 I'm near the end of my working life and work two days a week for a charity. I'm focused on making sure my team is ready for a life without me, but my experience and skills are financially very valuable and add credibility when we pitch for business. I'm getting a good deal in that it's hard to get senior jobs part time, they are getting me for a good price. No one is irreplaceable but in small companies the right person is very valuable and losing an experienced person really hurts. I also don't need to work but I enjoy it and chat regularly to my boss about how to make sure it works for the business and for me. I do think it changes the dynamic when you don't need the job. If I left they would miss me but they would be fine.

I think it’s wishful thinking that your ‘job’ needs you. You might be valued and important etc, but if you quit and died tomorrow they would replace you and move on.

Indeed, but equally, if your employer went bust / made redundancies or for whatever reason got rid of you, you would get another job and move on.

To answer the original question - it is going to depend on your job. Some people have skills or experience that are in very short supply, in which case it isn't necessarily easy to just replace you. On the other hand, many people do jobs that most people could learn how to do with very little training, so you are in a different position.

In terms of how you feel, I have to agree, that once we paid off our mortgage, my mindset shifted quite a lot, as I realised I could resign at any point, my salary was no longer crucial. It was a nice feeling, and also I did begin to realise that actually it wasn't that easy to replace me. Obviously, they could / would when I chose to leave, but it's a long process, and (as proven when a colleague retired) not easy to fill the post.

And yet your replacement with less experience will go into your job at the same salary you leave at even though you didn't start on that salary and have built it up over the years.

And yet your replacement with less experience will go into your job at the same salary you leave at even though you didn't start on that salary and have built it up over the years.

Unlikely, that's really not how it works in many cases.

Possibly, yes! It doesn't bother me. I hope they do a good job and, as I say, am mentoring to enable that. I've had a great varied and interesting career. I know I've made a mark. But I'm also ready to leave and enjoy my retirement. I'm a little bemused to find myself at a peak and turning down work