Reducing Boredom at Work

“I am always bored at work, the clock just crawls by every day and all I do is just sit at my desk, bored out of my head.”

 

What exactly is boredom?

Contrary to popular wisdom, boredom is not the result of having nothing to do. Rather, boredom stems from a situation where none of the possible things that a person can realistically do appeals to them. Boredom is a distinct emotional state and has been described by more than a quarter of respondents in my research as something that makes them feel ‘tired’ whereas almost a fifth of respondents claimed boredom feels like ‘time is going slowly’.

 

Is boredom at work increasing?

The absence of any comparative study that has charted the rates of workplace boredom across the decades means that we cannot know the true answer to this question. However, it is clear that the world of work has changed dramatically over the last generation or so – and that the new. For example, research on boredom has long suggested that the most boredom-inducing parts of a job are those that are repetitive and routine, that underutilize skills/abilities, and those that do not afford opportunities for control by the worker. Now, if we examine the ways in which the world of work has changed, we will see that many of these changes have actually resulted in the introduction of many more work elements identified as ‘boring’:

 

Increasing automation:

Workplaces today are increasingly automated which means that the skill and judgment that previous generations of workers employed, are now replaced with scripts, computer buttons and automated systems. What used to be achieved with decision-making skill, knowledge and interaction with people can often now be achieved at the press of a few (boring) buttons. Take, for example, the highly trained pilot who spends most of the flight sitting back whilst autopilot takes over. Or the customer service operative whose responses are ‘robotized’ by the script they must follow in response to a caller’s enquiry. Or the fast food.Worker who must produce identical burgers time after time using automated and uniform processes

 

Technology interface:

A related issue is the increasing reliance we have nowadays on faceless technology acting as the interface through which many tasks are completed. We ‘talk’ to people via e-mail instead of speaking on the phone or even - heaven forbid - going to their office and chatting face-to-face. Given that other people can be a great boredom reducer (unless, of course, they are boring people), we begin to see how workers of yesteryear might have been less bored than we are

 

Mounting paperwork:

There is little that is more boredom-inducing to many than paperwork (apart, perhaps, from attending meetings– see next item). Half the participants in a study of mine cited ‘paperwork’ as being the element that causes them the most boredom at work. And there is little doubt in most people’s minds that the paperwork is mounting.

 

How to beat the boredom

§  Employers and organizations need to think seriously about minimizing boredom in the workplace of the future. Whilst it is probably unrealistic to expect to eliminate boredom, there are measures that can be taken to help reduce this potentially serious source of disenchantment:

§  Employees need to be given as much control and autonomy as possible. Empowering workers goes against the grain in the current climate but turnover costs (and associated recruitment costs) could balance any training needs Minimize ‘scripts’ for service industry employees in order to de-robotize workers responses

§  Examine the use of meetings. Cut down where possible and run those that are needed, more efficiently (tightly chaired, highly focused and above all, brief )

§  Simplify paperwork and streamline bureaucratic procedures as much as possible

§  Consider job rotation schemes whereby employees are switched into different roles to increase job variety. This requires more skills training but this would be an attractive proposition for most employees as it will give them more transferable skills

§  Allow individuals more autonomy over their working conditions; background music (or I-pods), scheduling of own work priorities, interspersing dull, routine tasks with more interesting ones – these can all help on an individual basis. Organizations need to stop and think about the human need for optimum levels of challenge, stimulation, creativity and variation. Just as high stress levels are no longer considered to be an acceptable part of working life, it is my aim that boredom will ultimately be managed and reduced for the mutual benefit of both employees and employers.