Is Boreout the new Burnout? How to keep your staff engaged and motivated

While we’ve rightly been giving lots of focus to the worrying issue of burnout  and how to protect and improve people’s mental health, we may have overlooked another damaging work trend that sits at the opposite end of the stimulation spectrum – boreout.

“I’m so bored at work I could cry!”

“I’m so stressed at work I could cry!”

As an HR manager , overhearing either of these comments should set alarm bells ringing.

In some ways, boreout is the opposite of burnout. Where burnout results from being chronically ‘on’, never able (or allowed) to switch off and recharge, boreout is more akin to chronic disengagement. When work is so boring, so mindless and easy that it feels utterly pointless. While perhaps less dramatic, it’s noted that it can still result in health problems – for the worker, and the business. In fact, the symptoms of underwork and overwork can actually look pretty similar.

Table of Contents

• What’s the problem?
• What causes it?
• How to tackle boreout
• Avoiding boredom
• Providing meaning
• Opportunities for growth
• Key takeaways

What’s the problem?

So some people find work boring – surely this isn’t new? It’s just one of those things, right? Not everyone can love their job and wake up raring to go every day.

But we’re not talking here about a slow day in the office. Or the last week before Christmas when you’ve mentally clocked off for the year. Boreout is chronic boredom. Total disengagement from the role, task, project and/or company. It occurs when staff are completely demoralised, disinterested and unchallenged over an extended period. They’ve checked out entirely. It can be summed up as feeling that their work lacks any purpose, meaning or value.

This is not a good situation to be in. The results of boreout are predictable and severe: low productivity, little to no innovation or creativity, absenteeism, a negative culture. And that’s just at work. On a personal level, it’s linked to depression, stress and anxiety and can cause physical symptoms such as insomnia and headaches.

In this article, we’ll explain what boreout is, how it comes about, what managers can do to avoid and fix it – and why you should make this a priority.

What causes it?

Experts have suggested various factors that contribute to boreout. The work environment itself is a big one, with unstimulating, monotonous surroundings such as ‘cubicle farms’ being particularly uninspiring for staff. A lack of purpose is another, whether that’s due to lack of work itself or lack of meaning in the work being done.

Picture thumb twiddling in empty retail stores. Blank faces staring as screens refresh. Facebook scrolling waiting for the phone to ring. But also, plugging away for months on a project only to have it scrapped without warning – especially if this is a common scenario.

Constantly having shifts cancelled at the last minute. Being repeatedly passed over for a promotion, or having requests for further training denied. Working under the persistent threat or rumour of redundancy. Being made to work on something you disagree with, whether morally or professionally. Never being heard.

How to tackle boreout

To address boreout, we need to know how to spot the warning signs – in ourselves and others. These can include irritability, stress/anxiety, withdrawal from and/or lack of engagement with colleagues.

Boreout may not look or manifest the same in everyone, and can differ depending on the root cause. There are three main types of ‘boreout’ crisis:

• Literal boredom
• Lack of meaning
• Lack of growth

Avoiding boredom

At the simplest level, to avoid boreout you need to avoid boredom. That means maintaining appropriate staffing levels, and keeping things interesting. People are bored when they have nothing to do. Worse, they may be stressed and anxious that the company is struggling and their job is at risk. If they’ve got nothing else to do, they’ll almost certainly be looking at the door as well as the clock.

The job of management is to ensure that people are busy and engaged, that they always have both something to do and a reason to do it. If there’s more staff than there is demand for their time, then you’ve got a workflow or staffing issue.

This is why many companies working in seasonal industries or environments with fluctuating demand use contract staff, so that they can remain agile and quickly adjust their staffing levels as needed.

Repetition can also create boredom, so try to rotate any repetitive tasks if possible and create opportunities for learning new skills wherever you can. When assigning tasks, try to link these to people’s strengths, interests and preferences, as these will be more satisfying for them to complete and so more stimulating.

 Having multi-skilled employees makes it easier for tasks to be rotated, keeping things interesting and offering new challenges, so encourage skill development and knowledge-sharing.

Providing meaning

At a deeper level, you need to be looking at culture. If you want people to be engaged, they need to feel invested and connected. The work has to have meaning – people must feel that there is a point to what they’re doing. Vision is important here – a clear and compelling company vision, and a sense of one’s own role in achieving it, can help staff to feel that they are part of something bigger.

As well as the job having purpose, people want to feel that they themselves have purpose – and that they are fulfilling it. So make sure you are utilising your staff’s full potential. If they’re over-qualified and underutilised, they can easily start to feel bored and like they’re not adding anything. Your employees have skills – make sure you’re using them, for their benefit and yours!

Opportunities for growth

We need to feel like we are on a forward trajectory, that we are making progress towards something. Goals, targets and milestones help people to feel like they are moving up, moving down a career path that is taking them somewhere new and exciting and that will create opportunity for them. Without this, people can stagnate, which doesn’t feel good.

If someone feels like their career is going nowhere, and they’re under-stimulated and under-used at work, they’re going to start looking for other paths. The only people who will be happy to maintain a status quo of stagnation and doing the bare minimum are those whose interest and focus is already elsewhere – is that kind of energy going to drive the business forward?

To create a sense of opportunity and growth, give people responsibility. Offer training and support staff in obtaining further qualifications. Ask for their opinions on things they’re experienced in. Think about promotion pathways and career development plans, and make sure to communicate these and track progress to show that you’re invested in their growth. You’re less likely to be bored when you’re moving, so help people to feel like they’re moving forward a little bit each day.

Key takeaways

Boreout is a truly 21st century condition. With the decline in manual labour in both work and the home, we need meaning, intellectual stimulation and challenge to avoid feelings of despondency and pointless. We need to feel like we’re ‘doing something’, and that there is a point to that something. We need to strive, and to achieve.

Like most workplace issues, the key to avoiding or overcoming boreout lies in recognising it, understanding it and talking about it. HR managers should seek to nurture a culture where people feel free to challenge, ask questions, vent frustrations (in appropriate ways and forums) and talk about their feelings. This communication must be two-way – when people talk about their career ambitions, managers need to listen .

Both burnout (too much stimulation) and boreout (lack of stimulation) are productivity killers, causing general dissatisfaction with work and life. You don’t want to find yourself or your staff at either of these extremes.

How do you fix/avoid it? An open and compassionate culture. Active and engaged management to keep individuals and teams working towards future goals that they feel invested in and integral to. Recognition of people’s strengths and career goals. Communication. Communication. Communication!