Symptoms and Consequences of Bore-out
– Symptoms of bore-out include depression, listlessness, insomnia, tinnitus, susceptibility to infection, stomach upset, headache, and dizziness.
– Bore-out can lead to psychological consequences such as boredom, dissatisfaction, frustration, loss of self-esteem, and constant anxiety.
– The unsatisfactory situation of bore-out can cause further stress and paralyze the individual.
– Bore-out can result in serious mental disorders like personality destruction, depression, and even suicide.
– Physical consequences of bore-out include certain types of epilepsy, severe sleep disorders, hand and voice tremors, shingles, ulcers, and increased risk of cardiovascular events.
Elements of Bore-out
– Bore-out is characterized by the absence of meaningful tasks and low work-related arousal.
– Key dimensions of bore-out include boredom, lack of challenge, and lack of interest.
– Bore-out is not caused by laziness but rather by a loss of interest in work tasks.
– Individuals with bore-out are frustrated at being prevented from fulfilling their potential and receiving recognition.
– Bore-out is underreported due to the risk of social stigma and adverse economic effects.
Coping Strategies for Bore-out
– Employees with bore-out adopt coping strategies to appear busy and avoid additional work.
– Stretching work strategy involves intentionally drawing out tasks to take longer than necessary.
– Pseudo-commitment strategy includes pretending to be committed to the job by staying at the desk, attending work after hours, and masking personal activities as work-related.
– Bore-out sufferers aim to avoid new work, maintain the appearance of busyness, and prevent job loss.
– Coping strategies allow employees to create the illusion of being heavily in demand and under stress.
Consequences for Employees
– Bore-out leads to dissatisfaction, fatigue, ennui, and low self-esteem among employees.
– Despite hating the situation, employees often feel unable to ask for more challenging tasks or raise the issue with superiors.
– Employees may also be reluctant to look for a new job due to the paradoxical nature of bore-out.
– Bore-out can have a negative impact on the overall well-being and motivation of employees.
– The lack of fulfillment and recognition in bore-out can hinder personal and professional growth.
Reasons for Bore-out
– Bore-out is less likely to occur in non-office jobs where specific tasks or helping people in need are involved.
– Certain individuals or the organizational structure may allocate all the interesting work to a few individuals, leaving boring tasks for others.
– Fear of being fired or laid off discourages employees from calling attention to the dispensable nature of their role.
– Many employees give the appearance of looking busy to avoid negative consequences.
– Bore-out is often overlooked and underreported by researchers and employers due to social stigma and economic effects. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreout
Boredom boreout syndrome is a psychological disorder that causes physical illness, mainly caused by mental underload at the workplace due to lack of either adequate quantitative or qualitative workload. One reason for boreout could be that the initial job description does not match the actual work.
The syndrome was first given this name in 2007 in Diagnose Boreout, a book by Peter Werder and Philippe Rothlin, two Swiss business consultants.
It had earlier been published about under the name "underchallenged burnout" by American teacher Barry A. Farber in 1991.
