Imagine the draining monotony of a job that fails to challenge or engage you. Welcome to the world of 'boreout', a silent workplace epidemic with damaging effects. Let's delve into its impact and potential solutions.
What is boreout?
Boreout is chronic boredom
- It occurs when we are bored by our work to the point that we feel it is totally meaningless
- The fundamental experience of boreout is meaninglessness – the experience that the work doesn’t really have any purpose, that there’s no point
- Chronic boredom can lead to cyberloafing and slacking, job dissatisfaction and poorer mental health
Can you fix it?
There are some quick fixes
- Take on work tasks that are more interesting to you
- People are more likely to be able to rediscover enthusiasm for their work if they had it in the first place
- A 2016 study showed that people who had boreout were less likely to engage in constructive activities like trying to find new, interesting challenges at work
‘Bring boreout into the discussion’
Organisations need to learn what boreout is, he says, and have resources available
- It is up to management to create an office culture that makes people feel valuable
- Preventing boreout in workers can boil down to “plain old good leadership”
- Leaders should take time to communicate to workers why what they’re doing is valued and valuable
