HR Departments across the world look to have company employees bond with each other through games, parties and rangoli competitions, but some people can go to great lengths to stay away from their colleagues.
A Chinese woman has left the civil service to work on a pig farm because she says that he feels less stress when her coworkers are ‘not human’. 26-year-old Song Song had a well-paying job in the Chinese civil service, but she switched careers to work on a pig farm. She says that even though the pig farm pays her much less than her government job, and the working environment is less than ideal, she feels more relaxed and carefree.
“Your stress is halved when your colleagues are not human. The pigs won’t call you in the middle of the night to tell you to edit a proposal,” she said about her new role.
“Before starting this job, I had the impression that [pig farming] was dirty. However, after giving it a go, I realised that it’s a very normal job. Only a person can make themselves appear unseemly,” she added. “I draw a 5,000 yuan (Rs. 58,000) salary, but don’t have so much anxiety. I get the rest I deserve on my off days, and it’s great,” Song said.
Song says she works eight hours each day, and while the job might require her to get her hands dirty, she considers herself lucky that she doesn’t have to deal with office politics and conflicts. She says she doesn’t have to deal with “complicated interpersonal relationships”.
Song isn’t the only corporate employee who feels that their colleagues are a source of unhappiness in their lives. A survey by WorkWorries.com had found that co-workers were a bigger source of stress than bosses: 62% of participants reported that co-workers caused them more stress than their managers. Another survey based on 40,000 anonymous employee responses brought out that employee happiness was more dependent on co-workers than direct managers. And some people — like newly-minted animal farmer Song Song — seem to be willing to take paycuts, work under the hot sun, and even hobnob with pigs all day to be as far from their coworkers are possible.