Work is a huge part of our lives, so it’s no wonder that people want it to be meaningful, lucrative, and—y’know—not have to spend a third of the day slaving away in a literal Misery Factory(™). Feeling underpaid, undervalued, utterly bored, and having to deal with awful managers is something that unites employees all around the globe. And there’s nothing like a bunch of good memes to prove that nobody’s ever in this alone.

That’s where the ‘Work Memes’ Facebook group comes in. The online community does exactly what it says on the tin and shares incredibly relatable memes about work. We’ve collected some of the best ones to share with you, so enjoy them on your third coffee break of the day or while you’re pretending to be productive while your boss is walking around the office (nobody’s judging you). Remember to forward the funniest memes to your coworkers—especially if it’s during work hours. Trust us, they need a break.

We got in touch with workplace expert Lynn Taylor to ask her how to find the courage to look for another job and how to avoid focusing just on the negatives at work. Taylor is the author of the book ‘Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant’ and the head of the fashion brand ‘Behind the Buckle.’ Read on to see what she told Bored Panda.

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Workplace expert Taylor told Bored Panda that leaving a job can be a stressful proposition. “You’ve invested a lot of time and energy into it, but now you realize it’s time to move to greener pastures.” She gave us some advice on what employees can do to move forward if they feel like there are no alternatives out there for them.

“Take heart… You’re already halfway there by deciding to make the move. Many people languish in a state of inertia as they try to make big career or life changes. The employment market is strong and the talent shortage is pervasive. Fortunately, now is still a good time to explore opportunities,” she said.

“Touch base with those you admire who have made career changes successfully. Finding a mentor is also helpful in your motivational level. Start networking activities in your professional network. You’re likely to discover just how marketable you are after getting feedback,” the workplace expert said.

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Taylor also suggested creating a ‘kudos file’ of your achievements and reviewing it often. “This includes letters of commendation; complimentary emails from bosses, coworkers, clients, and outside colleagues; and a list of accomplishments and awards. Keep it updated. This will also help you prepare a powerful résumé, as you’ll be reminded of your skills and successes.”

Meanwhile, you should study the going salaries for your position in the market. If you happen to find that you’re underpaid, you’ll “feel more empowered to move on.” Taylor pointed out that life is not a dress rehearsal. “Having a job that’s familiar and routine may have given you a sense of comfort. But once you start envisioning your next career phase, it will make it easier to take the leap.”

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We also wanted to get the workplace expert’s thoughts on constantly being mired in negativity at work. “It’s easy to spiral downwards when you’re frustrated with your job. Negativity can breed more negativity, but you can ‘jam the system’ of your repeated patterns with more positive thoughts and practices. Not always simple to do when some habits can die hard,” the author of ‘Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant’ told Bored Panda.

“When you’re mired in negativity, your work product suffers and your office life starts spilling into your private life. It’s difficult to ‘turn off’ a bad job, boss or coworker who is making your life miserable. It’s human nature to want to resolve these matters, and that often affects you after hours,” she said. “The best antidote is to get into the driver’s seat with some proactive steps. Create a document that outlines the problem, how and why it’s affecting you. Then address the issue(s) with all the options. For example: Your ‘terrible two’ Boss is demanding too many projects within too short a timeframe. You have choices.”

Here are some of your options going forward:

“Ask for more time on the projects, e.g., in email or on a call.
Have a candid talk with them about priorities and workload.
Start sending more frequent and/or thorough status reports to your boss for greater understanding of your workload challenge.
Ask if ‘John’ in your department can help out.
Find out if the client or other parties can wait”

Taylor added: “Of course, if you’re in an unbearable job you have many other choices, including new job avenues.”

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The ‘Work Memes’ Facebook group was created at the height of the pandemic in November 2020, and has since amassed a huge following of meme-lovers from around the world. At the time of writing, nearly 564k Facebook users called the group their home.

The founder of the page notes that the focus of the group should be on work memes. However, not all memes have to be work-related. A few off-topic memes here and there are perfectly fine, but if the situation’s getting out of control, don’t be surprised if some of your more random posts end up being tidied up and removed.

The ‘Work Memes’ group has absolutely no tolerance for bullying and political posts and comments are not permitted. “We get enough politics crammed down our throat by the media. We do not need it here as well,” the founder writes.

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Meanwhile, if you want to be an active and wholesome member of the community, try to “give more than you take to this group.” There’s no room for self-promotion and spam. But there’s a deep and abiding love for witty, silly, and relatable work memes.

As we’ve covered on Bored Panda very recently, there are a few things that can help memes go viral and have more longevity. Luck is one factor that we can’t control: there’s an element of randomness as to what content will end up being popular and what will be left by the wayside.

However, some of the things that content creators can control include what the format of the meme is like. For instance, memes that the audience can quickly read and understand are more likely to be successful. Surprising or making your audience happy is also a good way to ensure a meme’s popularity.

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Meanwhile, how relatable people find a meme to be is absolutely essential to the content’s virality and long-term success. It’s natural that we ‘vibe’ with memes that resonate with us. They build on a sense of belonging and create a relationship between the content creator and all members of the audience.

However, behind all the hilarious, silly, and incredibly relatable memes lie some harsh truths about the workplace. Like burnout. Chronic exhaustion. Lack of growth. Quiet firing and quiet hiring. Unpaid overtime. Having to deal with poor management.

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Some other common problems include feeling like your job has no purpose and you have no control over the direction of your career. Bullying at the workplace. Dealing with nepotism and unfairness. Having someone keep stealing your lunch from the office fridge.

These are just some of the workplace issues that many workers deal with on a daily basis. What all of these things have in common is how the employee sets and enforces boundaries to protect their physical and mental health, as well as maintain their work-life balance.

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The fact of the matter is that you and you alone are responsible for what you’re willing to tolerate at work. Yes, you’ll likely run into unfair bosses, bad managers, lazy colleagues, and mind-numbingly huge workloads at some point—it’s practically impossible to avoid. However, you can control how you react to all of this.

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One thing that you can do if you constantly find yourself dealing with unfair practices in the workplace is to raise the question with your supervisor, boss, or human resources rep. There is no substitute for diplomatic and open communication. Instead of suffering in silence, have a friendly but frank discussion about the issues that affect you every single day. Propose some solutions and look for a compromise that would make both sides happy. It takes real guts to be the one to shine the spotlight on the problems that everyone sees (but few actually address).

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However, you have to be honest with yourself about whether you’d actually be willing to stay at the company if things were to change for the better, like you want. It could be that you’ve simply outgrown the place. Or maybe the company’s values are completely at odds with your own and there’s no real future there at all. Or (and this is quite likely) management doesn’t want to consider any of your suggestions at all.

If that’s the case, you may want to consider looking for employment elsewhere. No, there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ workplace. But it’d be naive to think that every company is equally bad!

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Which of these work memes did you relate to the most, dear Pandas? Were there any that you cheekily forwarded to your fave colleagues? How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? We’d love to hear what you think, so grab yourself another cup of coffee and swing by the comment section to share your opinions.