Boredom at work is a phenomenon as common as it is disconcerting, mistakenly assuming that it is a lack of professionalism on the part of the employee. The reality is that the company has a lot to say about it.
Maintaining attention at work is essential to achieve the planned objectives, fulfill all tasks on time and contribute to the smooth running of the business, whether working alone or in a team. However, many employees relatively frequently experience a number of symptoms that indicate boredom at work .
Self- absorption or recurrent yawning are the two most easily recognizable expressions. Obviously, we are not talking about falling asleep in the office , but about disconnecting for a few moments or going through difficulties to concentrate on pending tasks .
A trend that, according to different studies such as the one prepared in 2012 by the Karolinska Institute of Sweden, not only increases but, in extreme cases, can incapacitate the worker . But how does boredom occur at work and what can the company do to prevent it?
What is boredom at work?
There is no clinical definition in this regard, but by boredom at work we understand a state of dissatisfaction on the part of the employee, influenced by both the characteristics of the job and the perception that the professional has of them.
In other words, boredom at work is caused most of the time by the performance of mechanical tasks and / or the low satisfaction of the employee with his situation in the company.
The signs of boredom are very varied but the most common is that the employee :
- Spend more time than necessaryto accomplish a certain task
- Need to repeat the same step several times
- Don’t pay attention to certain indications
- Feel the hours pass with infuriating slowness
- Living with anguish the moments beforethe start of the working day.
For all these reasons, a bored employee at work is a constant source of problems , even if these seem quite mild at first.
And is that, boredom, as a consequence of job dissatisfaction, can affect the worker’s commitment and, by extension, their productivity . There may also be a worsening of the work environment.
Bored at work, fault of the employee or the company?
Go ahead that boredom at work does not necessarily imply malpractice on the part of the professional or the company.
However, in order to find solutions to combat boredom at work, it is interesting to know which party is most responsible for this situation .
On the one hand, the professional may feel poorly fulfilled at the work level and, consequently, lose much of the interest they had in their responsibilities in the company .
This can be due to unrealistic job aspirations on the part of the employee to a generalized situation of dissatisfaction in which elements of work and personal life come together.
The company also has a lot to say in this regard, because staff boredom can be symptomatic of poor Human Resources management , poor management of work teams, or an excess of bureaucratic burden for workers.
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Boreout syndrome
As a result of the spread of this problem internationally, researchers Rothlin and Werder coined the term “Boreout syndrome” to refer to a situation of “chronic boredom” from which it is very difficult to get out when it has lasted too long in the weather.
This explanation is closely related to the principle of ” labor presenteeism “, that is, the scenario in which a worker is physically present in his position but his mind is in another place .
Monotonous tasks, a poor organizational structure , few possibilities for internal promotion, the performance of functions for which the professional is overqualified or the lack of an incentive plan to improve work performance , are some of the causes of Boreout syndrome. .
How to spot boredom at work
Finding out that an employee is bored at work is a bit more complicated than stopping to see who the first professional to yawn or appear to doze off is (although these signs cast little doubt on this).
There is somewhat more subtle evidence that the staff is not motivated or satisfied.
- Irascibility: bored employees can react aggressively when they are reproached for an attitude or are called for greater attention.
- Apathy: the other side of the coin is the workers who, far from getting angry, face criticism with apparent indifference.
- Tardiness and absences: as the worker loses motivation to perform their duties, delays and absences tend to increase.
- Productivitydecline: Bored workers typically experience a sustained drop in productivity.
- Recurrent conflict: if the situation of work boredom has spread to several employees, the risk of conflicts increases significantly.
The easiest way to diagnose boredom is to check for a drop in worker performance . To measure this, human resources software automates and refines performance appraisal and analysis.
Consequences of boredom at work
To the above signs, which already represent a long list of problems and dysfunctions , the extension of boredom at work can lead to other more serious consequences for both workers and the company.
- Stress: Although stress due to boredom at work may sound like something paradoxical, the reality is that dissatisfied workers can feel a strong anguish that, finally, leads to stressful situations.
- Mental health: linked to the above, workers’ mental health can deteriorate significantly as a result of their professional frustration.
- Low cooperation: poorly motivated or bored workers are not exactly interested in cooperating with each other, negatively affecting work teams.
- Loss of competitiveness: internal dysfunctions and lack of employee commitment will soon have repercussions in a decrease in the competitiveness of the company.
- Lower Talent Retention: The bored employee at work won’t think twice when the prospect of taking on more challenging responsibilities at another company arises.
- Deterioration of the brand image: As a final consequence, companies with bored employees can see their brand image weighed down , both by negative opinions of these and by their possible problems with customers.
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7 strategies to combat boredom at work
Accepting that the best solution to combat boredom at work is to act proactively and react quickly when this problem is detected , companies can follow a number of strategies to get their workforce back on track.
1. Internal promotion programs and career plans
It is not about making employees believe that they may end up being CEOs, but it does mean that their effort and dedication will be rewarded with greater responsibilities in the future.
The career plans are key to maintaining high motivation and reduce staff turnover rate .
With a view to building training plans, training software can help detect training gaps and train workers to take on more demanding and higher value-added functions. In this way, skills and theoretical knowledge will not be an obstacle to job promotion.
2. Motivational leadership
The leader takes on a special role to prevent employees from falling into the spiral of routine and demotivation that ultimately leads to boredom at work. The business leadership can help workers feel committed within teams that are directly challenged to keep improving .
3. Work-family conciliation
Although the company does not bet on family conciliation, it does not have to lead to a bored employee at work, however, any facility in this regard can be sincerely valued by this.
That is why this and other measures of time flexibility can increase the degree of commitment of the workforce and thus avoid that arriving at the office is little less than a trauma. Another option would be to implement teleworking to give the workforce greater autonomy.
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4. Check the evolution of the work environment
There is no more blind than the one who does not want to see and, unfortunately, in many companies this problem is repeated systematically. The deterioration of the work environment can be a sign that workers do not feel comfortable in the company.
The software employee surveys allows different calibration variables affecting work performance and helps RR department. H H. to anticipate problems or to check if, after the first actions, they are still latent.
5. Incentive plans
Even if a certain job has apparently attractive salary conditions, an ambitious employee will appreciate having a recognition plan that they can access if they make an effort in fulfilling their obligations. Or if you develop additional tasks for the team or the company.
An incentive plan can be highly motivating for staff , reducing the room for boredom.
A performance evaluation software facilitates the task of measuring the work performance of workers in order to verify whether or not they are worthy of receiving a certain bonus or work benefit. The system allows evaluating different variables according to previously defined criteria.
6. Avoid over qualification of jobs
Holding highly trained employees in jobs that do not pose any professional challenge or that require low levels of demand and attention is a manifest invitation to boredom .
An organization chart software helps to shed clarity on the organizational structure of the company and allows to define with greater precision the available jobs .
7. Regular and constructive communication
On certain occasions, the disconnect between staff and managers is behind boredom at work. The employee and manager portal enables a regular communication channel between both parties and provides privacy and trust to the conversations between them. In this way, workers feel listened to and problems do not escalate .
Reducing Boredom, a very feasible goal
The antithesis of Boreout syndrome is the philosophy of Reducing Boredom , a trend that is gaining weight in Human Resources departments and advocates proactive workforce management to combat boredom at work.
Some of the most common measures in this regard are staff turnover (employees assume different roles in teams on a temporary basis) or professional challenges, that is, the definition of specific challenges for the most demanding workers .
Generally, these are issues related to the search for new operational solutions and that require high creativity . There is no room, therefore, boredom.
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