Why hardworking employees feel depressed at the Job they love?

Did you know that according to ASSOCHAM 42.5% of Corporate Employees in India suffers from depression? You can say that most of them can't handle the work pressure or not on the job they love etc. But what about those people who really love their job but still end up quitting it. Do you know the main reason behind this is lack of RIGHT AMOUNT of Appreciation? Yes, it is not just the appreciation but the right amount of appreciation which they miss. 

Let me tell you a story to make it more clear.

Once upon a time, there was a merchant who had two Donkeys, Careful & Carefree. 

Every morning the merchant used to take both his donkeys with him putting two bundles of clothes on each of them to the city to sell. And if the merchant ends up doing good business, he used to treat his donkeys with one apple. Later in the evening, he used to return home putting the equal amount of leftover clothes on each of them.

While Careful was very hardworking, simple & dedicated towards his work, because he used to love going to the city daily, enjoying the road, market and most importantly his apple treat in the evening. The Carefree, on the other hand, was happy-go-lucky. He hardly cared about the work or going to the city. But he had no choice other than going with the merchant. 

Slowly the business of the merchant started growing so instead of taking 4 bundles of clothes he started taking 8 bundles to the city daily. But this didn't go well with carefree as he didn't like the extra burden of work on him. So one day he played a trick with the merchant. When the merchant tried to put more than 2 bundles on him he sat down like he is very sick and can't handle the burden beyond it and no matter how much the merchant tried he just never stood up. So the merchant put those extra 2 bundles on Careful. The minute he did that Carefree stood up & started walking with them. 

After that day it became a regular activity wherein the end carefree ends up with 2 bundles & Careful ends up with six. Still because of his nature, Careful was trying to cope up with it doing extra work to please his boss hoping he will get more attention and perks for it which never happened. Gradually he realized that he is doing much more effort than the other doneky but instead of getting appreciation and love from his owner he gets scolded when he couldn't cope up with the speed of another donkey. They both get the same amount of food, water, and exact one apple as an extra perk for their work.

On the other hand, the merchant failed to notice that Careful is overburdened and that's why slow in comparison to Carefree and he expects more love & appreciation for it. He needed two donkeys for his work irrespective how much one is doing and how much other because eventually his work was getting done. So he loved both the donkeys equally and treat them with an equal amount of food & water.

One day when everyone was asleep Careful managed to break his rope and ran away in the field. He wanted to be free from daily humiliation & workload where he was not fairly treated. 

Next day when the merchant couldn't find Careful anywhere he put eight bundles on Carefree forcefully. Scared with its owner's temperament Carefree started walking slowly but ended up being extremely tired and exhausted plus because of its slow speed the merchant reached city quite late and lost a big amount of business. 

Well, that's exactly what happens in our corporate world. Every organization or let say every team has one Careful on whom the team relies completely & one Carefree who never cares much. He too does work but to a certain point so after that, it is Careful whom the team look up to for completing the task. And he does it happily even if it means sacrificing his leaves or missing some personal moments with his friends. But when he sees that he gets the same perk and benefits as others he feels depressed and cheated. Like he was being used while at the time of appreciation or appraisal he hardly gets a little or no more than what his other team members got. 

While the team leader/manager try to provide equally good appraisals to every member of his team so that they don't think that he is biased and he can create a positive image for himself of the most loved boss by everyone and attain more of his team members, he ends up losing the most important member of his team.

Sometimes it is not enough if you just appreciate the employee for his work but at the same time, you have to be very open-minded to see if that person is feeling so much valued in your company or not. If he is getting the right amount of appreciation or not.  In every organization, the most hardworking & soft person ends up being overburdened not because of his work but of others too and the managers mistakenly take him for granted instead of a valuable asset. That's pushing them at the edge of wondering that why they are letting this thing happen to them self? What is the benefit of working double hard than others if we are enjoying an equal amount of perks & benefits? 

Judging anyone's capability & work is tricky and that's why no matter how good the Appraisal process is if the immediate boss fails to recognize the real talent of his team, the company eventually loses a valuable asset for themselves.