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Suppose you got a job in Australia as a plumber. When you return back home on your first holiday, will you be telling all and sundry about your new career? The chances are that you will keep very quiet about it and resort to vague answers when asked directly. That’s because you are a job snob; there are certain categories of jobs you regard as demeaning...
In India, where unemployment is rampant (despite the recent jobs boom) and there is no social security for the jobless, a job snob will simply starve if he takes his conceit to extremes. Down Under in Australia, where the alternative to holding down a job is that you enjoy unemployment benefits, there is a growing shortage in many key professions. There is even a word for the work shirkers ? bludger. “A bludger is the worst thing you can be in Australia,” says a newspaper report.
In recent times, Australia has been one of the most vociferous critics of India’s business process outsourcing (BPO) success. Now you know the reason why. Everyone wants to be cosseted in a cool call centre with a mug of beer at his side. Meanwhile, the government has had to put people with the missing skills on the fast track for immigration. “With about half a million Australians out of work and unemployment still at record high levels in the bush, you’d imagine jobs which pay as much as $750 a week would be hotly sought after. But many Australians think the jobs are beneath them,” says an analysis by Seven Network.
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Australian health minister Tony Abbott has started a controversy by demanding that action should be taken against job snobs. The obvious route is to make dole more difficult. Any measures in this area, however, could be putting more power in the hands of the employers.
Job snobs are to be found in other countries also. In the UK, many people dislike retail jobs. According to research by the Work Foundation, “job snobbery is rife in the UK and hampering efforts to fill skills shortages and boost productivity”. Reports Management Issues News, an independent online resource which focuses on leadership, management and people issues: “The findings reveal that Britain is a nation of snobs when it comes to the world of work. These inbuilt prejudices mean that some types of jobs ? particularly those involving serving customers ? are looked down on. The job snobs choose status and prestige ahead of more hidden benefits like training and career progression.”
Companies like McDonald’s, which have been affected by these attitudes, have been educating people about the intrinsic worth of the jobs they offer and the training element built into them. The company has even launched a virtual marketing programme involving a game styled Job Snob Challenge.
In India, job snobbery has always existed ? the original caste divisions were on the basis of occupations. This, however, did not percolate to the workplace. With the arrival of a large number of BPO jobs (considered downmarket), job snobbery may move to the centrestage. If you don’t like it, you have to lump it. Or learn plumbing. It could take you to Australia.
