Since the pandemic began, it has been harder and harder to get people to work at a job.

Some jobs have tried to bend over backwards to try to make employees to stay at work. It is said that more and more workers are griping less about their jobs, and more about their companies. Sadly, at the end of the day, the company, employee and community might end up paying for it.

Even once-loyal employees share their complaints about their jobs with management, hourly employees, family and friends. The truth is they will talk about their job to anybody who will listen. The complaints are about job insecurity, lack of appreciation, no visible rewards for loyalty and hard work. They also complain about not enough other workers for the job they have to do. They sense a retreat to the “closed-door” approach that characterized company management from years ago.

This rising discontent with pay, benefits, training, communication and company leadership poses a “serious threat” to improved productivity in this day and time, says a study by the Opinion Research Corp. of Princeton, NJ.

“These are trends that have to be changed,” says William Schiemann, a former officer of the company. “Otherwise, I think we’ll see a noticeable increase in absenteeism, turnover, and unionism in the next few years.”

Discontent may not hinder economic recovery but, he says,”certain companies will be in a better position to recover quickly, with an exhilarated work force ready to go to work, while at other companies people come to work ready to leave work.”

The survey research firm, which has been tracking employees’ attitudes for years, says that workers were getting more and more unhappy with their jobs since after World War I. The pandemic just pushed some over the edge. Discontent has spread from just blue-collar workers to white collar. The challenge is when fewer than 5 to 10 workers believe their bosses are interested in them, and 70% feel management has “lost touch” with the rank and file, the likely result is sabotage, indifference, high-turnover and interdepartmental squabbling, Schiemann says. It is said, and it is true, “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. ”

“The typical response from management can be increased control, decreased communication and interest leading to more things that aggravate the situation. The companies that pay serious attention to their employees’ needs are the ones that will do great in the long run,” Schiemann says. “The textbook approach on things you should do is always very clear.”

Scientist recently studying beneficial effects of laughter and happiness found it to be similar to moderate exercise. “Muscles in the abdomen, chest, shoulders and elsewhere contract; heart rate and blood pressure increase,” reported a Newsweek magazine article. “In a paroxysm of laughter, the pulse can double from 60 to 120, and systolic blood pressure can shoot from a norm of 120 to a very excited 200.” A Stanford University doctor calls it a kind of “stationary jogging.”

After laughter and happiness, muscles are more relaxed and the heartbeat and blood pressure drop below normal, indicating reduced stress. A university psychologist suggests that “laughter and happiness is related in several ways to longevity.”

The truth is we are responsible for our own happiness. Our jobs are not responsible for making us happy. Our family and friends are not responsible for making us happy. Happiness is a personal choice and personal responsibility. No one can make you happy if you don’t want to be.

It is sad indeed to become like the duck which was grounded on an Indiana farm one fall as he and his fellow ducks flew south for the winter. At first, he felt very strange, but in the course of the winter he enjoyed receiving food from the farmer. When spring came and the ducks flew back up north, he started to go with them but decided to stay a little longer. In the fall he heard them overhead, looked up, but then went back to his new friends in the barnyard. But the sad day came when they flew over again and he didn’t even look up. He had gotten used to walking when he was born to fly. He belonged up there in the sky but was satisfied to remain down on earth.

You are meant to fly, you are equipped to fly, but you must choose to be happy and fly, fly, fly!

The Rev. Darrell W. Cummings is pastor of Bethlehem Apostolic Temple in Wheeling and Shiloh Apostolic Temple in Weirton.