You work so hard, and nobody appreciates it.
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You put in overtime, you're available on weekends, you give everything you've got.
Then you ask for a raise, better conditions, or some vacation days — and you're met with dismissiveness and silence.
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So first of all, yes: your workplace doesn't appreciate you enough.
But it's also not supposed to.
A company is not a person with feelings, unlike the people working shoulder to shoulder with you.
To the company as a virtual entity, you are a resource — just like a printer or a desk — and a resource must deliver more value than it consumes, or it has no right to exist.
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Your manager will be replaced, the CEO will grow old and retire, the chairman will be fired by the board, and the company as an entity will carry on as your employer without missing a beat.
Expecting "the workplace" to appreciate you is naïve, because there is no one on the other side with feelings — only financial reports and numbers in Excel spreadsheets.
When a wave of layoffs hits the company, your department will be shut down if it isn't profitable, even if you are the most wonderful people in the universe.
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So what, then?
We need to lead with our heads when thinking about our employer, and with our hearts when thinking about the people we meet there.
When you sign an agreement with a company, the only thing driving it is a meeting of interests and mutual benefit — and you need to make sure that the value you bring, and the value you take away, are both maximized.
When you go in to ask for a raise or negotiate your employment terms, don't expect understanding or sensitivity.
Use your head, and explain why improving your conditions is in the company's interest — because without a clear business case, there is no logical reason for them to give you more than you're getting now.
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But after the cold, indifferent reality of an employment contract, the real joy begins.
You will meet people you genuinely like, people who genuinely care about you.
People who will celebrate your birthday with you, or cry with you when things go wrong.
They will have eye-opening conversations with you over coffee breaks, and become lifelong friends even when fate leads you down different paths.
They are the reason the day ahead makes you happy when you get out of bed in the morning.
And if it doesn't — you're probably not in the right workplace.